No poser

There is always a fear in me when I go see a live I’ve invested a lot in: I want to feel this magical moment, there’s always one in a live, or at least one, the moment where you feel that your money was worth it. It’s not about the money, surely, it’s just everybody’s fear that maybe –maybe– the artist you’ve gone to see is not really into this, that maybe he or she is bored and not good at lives. That maybe this is not going to be an experience as you want it, but a fake.

With Björk there was no such fear. I saw her last night, in the Greek summer heat (nb last post) in a closed stadium, half-empty due to impending holiday plans of my compatriots. I’ve been wanting to see her for a long time, I think she is the definitive artist of the last 15 years. She is a classic, deeply idiosyncratic songwriter that I think is a symbol for female artists of our era. She is modern, current, but miraculously she is not part of any trend. Even when she works with the most contemporary of artists (like Antony and Timbaland in her last album) she is still herself, her alien, waif-like self.

But the most important thing about her is that she is no poser. She wears ridiculous clothes, dances around the stage like a little goat, moves her hands around like a witch, looks at her crowd with funny faces, but nobody laughs. Everybody looks at her in awe as if she is Dionysus himself.

Long live the Goddess, then (necessary voodoo).