Sep 4, 1988 (35 years ago) Visage Orlando, Florida, United States
Concert photos courtesy of Jim Leatherman https://orlandocultureshock.word... https://orlandocultureshock.word...
Poster source: https://visage13.wordpress.com/2...
SUGARCUBES GET SWEET AND SOUR REVIEWS By Thom Duffy of the Sentinel Staff THE ORLANDO SENTINEL September 4, 1988 The Sugarcubes, the first hot rock band to tour the United States from chilly Iceland, are finding some curious misperceptions of their homeland among American fans.
"Some think that we are sort of not a Westernized culture," Einar Beneditkson, vocalist-trumpeter for the six-member band, said with amusement. "They ask, 'Do you get radio there?' "
In fact, the small nation has five radio stations even though music programming is still dominated by British and American bands.
But the Sugarcubes turned the tables when they scored their first international success: Three of their impressionistic, punk-inflected pop tunes -- "Birthday," "Coldsweat" and "Deus" -- topped the independent singles chart in England. Now those songs are included on Life's Too Good, the band's U.S. debut album.
Their tour will bring the Sugarcubes to Orlando tonight for a concert at Visage. On the road, they've checked out what American radio has to offer and been, well, you might say inspired.
"The best influence for us has been to listen to the radio here," Beneditkson said.
"And then we know that we don't want to sound like that.
"For a number of years, people have misunderstood what pop music should sound like," the singer said. "You're always hearing these same sorts of songs and attitudes today. People are bored with it. For us, a song has to give something. Musically and lyrically, there has to be some room for interpretation." Interpretations of the Sugarcubes' style, however, have been strongly mixed. A critic at their recent San Jose, Calif., show complained it was "a boring assemblage of avant-garde atonalism and minimalist repetition" while a writer in New York reported their concert there "lived up to the tantalizing promise of the Sugarcubes' album."
On record, Beneditkson said that "our songs are very carefully planned and structured and it takes us very long to compose each one.
"But then we look at concerts as different from recording because we're not striving to sound like a record when we play. For us, it's very important to play live and have a face-to-face effect on people."
Uploaded by A Roto
Concert photo courtesy of Jim Leatherman
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