Björk Delivers Stunning Orchestral Set at Coachella

Björk Delivers Stunning Orchestral Set at Coachella

“It’s a Björk thing, you don’t have to understand it.” That was the sentiment expressed by a woman in the crowd to her friends during the Icelandic singer’s orchestral set on Sunday night at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. And she was right. The “Björk thing” we were all exposed to included the iconic singer, who has twice headlined Coachella, being backed by a 30-person Hollywood string ensemble conducted by Bjarni Frimann, singing an operatic-style progression of songs with limited on-stage theatrics but accented by a colorful drone show in the air to the right of the stage.

Most of the senses were covered as Björk’s unmistakable voice pierced the air. Like watching an opera in a different language, the orchestral arrangement and the urgency of Björk’s voice – and even the choreography of the drones – let the audience know what emotion they were supposed to be feeling. Despite it seeming like a start-to-finish composition, the set included a variety of Björk’s most popular songs over her three-decade-long career like “Joga,” “Isobel,” “Quicksand,” and her encore finale on Sunday, “Pluto.”

Björk is known for her outlandish get-ups and she did not disappoint at Coachella. She performed wearing a tight black dress with a sort of iridescent top with spiky shoulders that looked like thousands of lit-up twist ties sticking out of it. She also had on a floor-length skirt made from a rigid plastic material that held its form, forcing her to pick it up and move it around the stage over speakers and lights. And on her head, she wore what can only be described as two black plastic crabs covering her ears with the crab legs coming out onto her cheeks.

She wore that the whole night before exiting stage left. Then when she came out for an encore, she was inside something more like a full pod with only her feet exposed so she could walk. The pod was made up of thousands of glowing tendrils.

The stage show was limited, which in a way made it more powerful. The right-hand big screen was trained on Björk the whole time as she walked side to side on the stage. Its left-hand equivalent was trained on the orchestra, which did an amazing job, filling the desert air with a different sound than the bass beats and guitar-shredding that normally permeate.

But to the right of the stage was an occasional drone show that really accentuated the performance. About 100 drones weaved among themselves to create something like a blue ocean wave at one point. Then, later, the drones created a red grid. During the tumultuous closing song “Pluto,” the drones were helter-skelter, sometimes red, sometimes blue, chaotic – just like the strings of the ensemble and Björk’s voice. It all meshed together beautifully.

Of course, this was not Björk’s first appearance at Coachella. She’s an important part of this festival’s lore. Björk was a headliner in 2002, the first female to accomplish that feat. In fact, she played three songs on Sunday that she also played 21 years ago during her historic set: “Joga,” “Isobel,” and “Pluto.” She then returned as a headliner in 2007. She is one of only nine acts to ever be a headliner multiple times, and the only woman to accomplish the feat.

Björk, 57, is now – and always has been – what this festival is all about. Giving music lovers something different and unique.