Back in December I headed over to London to catch Iceage’s last show of 2018, which also included a spate of talented opening acts. Here’s what it looked like:
I also had the chance to hold a short conversation with Iceage’s scenographers Dicki Lakha and Christian Friedlander after the show:
Tell me about the backdrop.
DL: It’s a reference to the album cover. I tried to make an effect almost like a mirror with the shiny silver background, and then it’s fluid latex on top that is colored with liquid colors
Why fluid latex?
DL: I was working with fluid latex on another project and I was really in love with the material. It’s like skin. From afar it’s not that evident, but it has this nice effect of something more organic and tactile and layered rather than printed. I felt personally that fluid latex has this human body-like quality. This was also kind of a test because we didn’t know exactly what the venue was like and we had to fit everything in our luggage.
CF: The band had a lot of trust to say, “you do whatever, we trust you.” The curtains are old curtains from the royal theater in Copenhagen, so they’re actually from the 50’s and 60’s and we used them for something totally different. I originally did textile design before doing stage design so it’s an old love to work with textiles. It seems that working with textiles can give a contrast to this kind of music. The band is very theatrical. They’re not afraid of theater, they know theater, all their parents come from theater – they’re actors and such – so it’s probably the most theatrically-aware band that I know. They’re quite open to this and they know what we do, and it’s nice to have a project that’s ongoing, because we’ve been doing a lot of experimentation with stuff that is specifically made for them. I think the next show in Copenhagen will be more like this. But it’s incredible that this curtain with the logo, it’s made from material that’s 50, 60 years old and it’s lasted 140 concerts.
That is pretty impressive.
CF: It’s pretty impressive. They had plenty more stuff that they lost along the tour. But it’s the perfect band to work with.
Iceage are playing their hometown Copenhagen once again on 1 March at Vega.
