Review: Björk astounds at Carnegie Hall

NEW YORK — Selling out the cavernous, 2,800-seat Carnegie Hall on a Saturday afternoon requires the kind of feverishly devoted fan base only a handful of artists possess. Among them is Björk, whose larger-than-life persona and eclectic career of more than three decades is reason enough for many people to shell out as much as $150 for the opportunity to see her live. The same weekend her mid-career retrospective opens at the Museum of Modern Art, the Icelandic singer kicked off a slew of New York shows in support of eighth album Vulnicura, released in January and the primary well she drew from for her two-hour set.

First impression: Björk opened her show in typically Björk fashion — resembling what could only be described as a sort of futuristic bride: wearing a flowing, white dress, chunky heels, and pale, yellow tights, with her face veiled by a spiky, translucent headpiece. Although her face wasn't visible for the first hour, she couldn't have been more expressive as she worked her way through Vulnicura, starting with the sweeping, reflective Stonemilker; and proceeding into the exotic, slithering strings of Lionsong, flitting about the stage with jerky movements and arms outstretched toward the audience.

Highlight of the afternoon: Black Lake, without question. Where to begin, really? Björk pulled out all the stops when it came to this mesmerizing, 10-minute performance of epic proportions: bathed in deep blue light, with a variety of neon-colored shapes and lines soaring, then exploding, on the wall behind her. What starts as a soft, melancholy ballad about the ravage of heartbreak becomes a foreboding, pulsating and frankly, heart-stopping number as producer Arca on electronics and percussionist Manu Delago come in midway through.

Biggest snooze: Although it's unfair to call anything as artfully put together as Björk's live show a "snooze," History of Touches felt exactly as it did on the album: a sleepy interlude between the more arresting Lionsong and Black Lake. Accompanied only by Arca and minimal projections, the three-minute track doesn't lend itself to the most invigorating performance, despite its sexually charged lyrics.

Most welcome surprise: After pulling solely from Vulnicura for the first half of the show, Björk delivered some fan favorites after intermission — face now fully on display, and donning a tight, silver dress paired with a lilac cape and tights. Starting with Pleasure is All Mine off 2004's Medúlla, the subsequent Come to Me, Undo and I See Who You Are were all met with bursts of knowing cheers from the crowd. If the first half felt like a soundtrack for the chilly, winter's day outside Carnegie Hall, these more vibrant numbers were like spring creeping around the corner (or maybe the forest and insect projections just made us feel that way).

Is it worth the money? Yes. Like any show you're going to pay a minimum of $45 to see (or more than four times that on StubHub), it helps to already be a fan of the artist. But in the case of Björk, all you really need is an open mind. This isn't the type of show where the crowd is singing and dancing along — instead, everyone just sits back, mostly in silence, and allows the spectacle to wash over them. For this reviewer (who was only minimally familiar with Björk's catalog and Vulnicura before the concert), it didn't feel like anything was lost being a relative newcomer to her work. She's just that dynamic of a live performer.

Loose ends:

The crowd: Pretty evenly split between posh, older couples and tragically hip, young professionals in their late 20s and early 30s. Thankfully, snapping photos and video during the performance was prohibited, so the distraction of bright, smartphone lights was mostly nonexistent (save for a few rule-breakers).

The venue: Sitting nearly in the middle of the orchestra seating at Carnegie Hall, it's hard to lodge any complaints about sight lines or acoustics. While the sound was occasionally muddled in more severe sections — particularly when the percussion, electronic and strings were all dialed up to the max — the concert, technically, seemed to go off without a hitch.

Supporting act: There was no opening act, but it was an equal treat to see chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound, Delago and Arca accompany Björk for the entirety of the two-hour show and encore (which included Harm of Will and Wanderlust). When Björk broke her string of small-voiced "thank yous" to introduce the band, Arca was singled out by especially loud cheers and shouts from the crowd — understandable, given the Venezuelan's career as a solo artist, and producer for artists such as Kanye West and FKA Twigs.

What did everyone else think? Aside from a few overheard complaints about the performance being "messy" and Vulnicura being a lesser album of Björk's, most reactions from the audience walking out tended to be enthusiastic.

And because this is too great not to include: