Iceland Airwaves 2011 Review

So here's the thing, and I say this with the credibility of someone who goes to precisely zero other music festivals most years, Iceland Airwaves is without doubt the greatest music festival in the world. I've done it for years and years, and it's only getting better. This year was, in a nutshell, every bit as good as always with the addition (permanent) of the incredible Harpa building and venues, the addition (temporary) of Björk's too good to be true Biophilia shows and the addition (again) of more great people to meet and friends to keep. The curation of international artists was as good as ever (bands on the upwards curve) plus the additions of Yoko Ono and Sinead O'Connor added a different kind of buzz. For me of course the international part of the line-up is of secondary interest compared to the continued amazement at the volume and talent of the local acts.
 
The high points were many, and I'll get to them very soon. The disappointments were few: Late running shows at the otherwise brilliant Bakkus programme of events (not official Airwaves) on Friday meant I missed out on seeing HAM (according to the Airwaves brochure, "If you miss this show, kill yourself" - eek) for the second year in a row. An enormous downpour left me stranded (like a wimp) in Nasa whilst Prinspóló played at Tjarnarbío. Hoffman cancelled their show, not for the first time. Glaumbar is a great venue if you are one of the 30 people who can stand around the stage, but it's a terrible, chattering, obscured view bar-room if you are not. The Aurora Borealis that appeared as a green smudge on Saturday night never developed (whilst I was watching anyway) into a real show.
 
That's it, a handful of minor inconveniences from four days of partying in Iceland (no Sunday for me this year). The organisation was perfect, the queues were no worse than usual apart from the occasional punchy drunk, the beer prices were very mixed (three cheers for Bakkus, slap in the face for Hressó). There seemed to be more than ever going on off venue. I've still never made it to The Nordic House for any of their shows, the reports I heard were good and bad. I still find any show in a bookstore totally irresistible and a unique experience, and I'm utterly addicted to that marquee in the backyard of Hressó - it's a fun space and the line-up is unfailingly strong.
 

I've had my say on the Björk show here, and two weeks later I really can't believe how good it was to be so up close and personal and see that unique show during Iceland Airwaves. Trying to pick individual songs as highlights isn't easy, but Crystalline and Cosmogony of the new songs and Isobel and Nattura of the older ones are rarely out of my head. The other new star of the show of course was the Harpa building (above) which now, controversially, is finished. I understand the local reservations about the building and its long, drawn out completion but as architecture Harpa is a stunning achievement. From the outside it is beautiful and fits in its position in Reykjavík harbour perfectly. Its look is stunning by day and glittering by night. Inside, it is a light, open and airy building housing four world class music venues of varying sizes plus cafés, free wi-fi and, fantastically, a brilliant new 12 Tónar store (below). And then there were the shows, day and night, relentlessly...
 
Wednesday was the travel day. After a rapid airport to guesthouse to Hressó transfer, I started Iceland Airwaves 2011 with Retro Stefson and a beer. I had arrived in the best possible fashion. Retro Stefson are a wonderful live band that never quite captures it on record but on stage, here or elsewhere, very few can match the sense of fun and excitement they bring. The bulk of the night was obviously spent at Harpa watching Björk. After we tipped out of there, the evening was spent running around venues catching as much of the Airwaves opening night spirit as possible. The new sight of Krummi (the singer from hard rockers Mínus) playing from behind a laptop in Faktorý was 15 minutes well spent, as was a few songs from hip-hopper Blaz Roca in Gaukur - the Icelandic language certainly lends itself to rap, and this guy is the best I've seen. Then into Bakkus for an affordable beer and a good set by newly formed band, Dream Central Station, which features either 2 or 3 members (depending on who you believe) of the now sadly defunct but once utterly outstanding Jakobínarína. From there it was back across the (very) windswept harbour to discover two more of Harpa's halls - Norðurljós for functional sets from Dikta and then Pétur Ben & Eberg and Kaldalón (seated only, a little disappointing) for a bit of Markus & The Diversion Session. Of course Björk dominated day one, with honourable mentions to Retro Stefson, Dream Central Station and  for the late night snack.
 
Thursday was a hectic day, daytime and evening, and featured more bands than any other this year for me. It started with recent iceblah interview 'victims' Porquesi down at the tiny space of the downtown hostel. I often struggle with instrumental guitar/drums/bass bands, but Porquesi have enough in their armoury to hold the interest. They play with the pace of songs very effectively and in their tune "Obvious Harmony", had one the songs of the week for me. I was to see them play twice more. Running around town during the afternoon I saw, in very quick succession, a bit of Borko in the Hressó marquee, I heard but couldn't see Mugison at the new (and very beautiful) Kex hostel, Mammút at Kaffistofan and then Þórir (right) at the great original 12 Tónar store - watching him alone, seated, with an acoustic guitar in that shop is loaded with great memories of Airwaves past. His set was made up only of Icelandic language songs, so the language was lost on me but the voice and playing gets me every time. Finally for the afternoon session it was back to Hressó again to watch the wonderful and charming but a little late running ("I was at my job, I forgot about the show!") Sóley play an excellent solo show in support of her new record before joining Sin Fang on stage for their brilliant show packed full of indie pop songs, which was performed to a packed out venue and delighted crowd.
 
Thursday night got underway at Bar 11 to see excellent UK band Yunioshi (right). They are not only a really good live band, but also deserve massive love for enjoying Iceland Airwaves 2010 so much they came back again to play a series of off-venue shows (Iceland Airwaves does not have repeating overseas acts). Just prior to Airwaves they played several dates all around Iceland with their friends Bloodgroup. Much respect! From there I went to see Dream Central Station at Iðnó, having really enjoyed them the previous night. This show wasn't as good as in Bakkus though, the bigger (and frankly, emptier) room did them no favours and perhaps neither did the earlier slot, they definitely sound like a late night band. However, given that they formed a matter of months ago there's a load of potential here, I'll be keeping an eye on them for sure. There then followed some running around, starting at Nasa where I was delighted to see Estonian band, Iiris. They weren't in my plans at all but were one of those typical Airwaves delights of being in the right place at the right time - a whirlwind of a front-woman backed by a tight and loud band, Iiris was a total and unexpected delight and everyone in a half full Nasa knew it. Off to Amsterdam to see Porquesi's only on-venue show amongst their dozens (it seemed) of off venue efforts. Still, this was a relatively small venue and their instrumental indie sounds filled it very well indeed, there was much nodding of heads and tapping of feet. Back in Nasa, Lára Rúnars (right) was putting on a slick show to a sadly quite empty room. The front few rows were clearly loving it, and although she's not really my kind of thing it was clear she was doing a great job up there. I had picked out Karkwa weeks ago as a (shock! horror!) non-Icelandic band I'd like to see so I headed to Tjarnarbíó to catch some of their show. It started slowly and I was left slightly disappointed that they seemed to be playing a less characterful, and more pedestrian, version of the recorded stuff I had heard. I got the impression the venue wasn't helping them, at Hressó 2 days later they were much, much better. Next, off to the Art Museum to see the last part of Hjaltalín's big show, they finished with a wonderful "Feels Like Sugar" and the packed house couldn't get enough, there was a tremendous atmosphere in the cavernous space. It was set up nicely for Retro Stefson, I was really keen to see how they would do in this big room, essentially as supporting act to one of the festival's biggest overseas acts, Beach House. Of course, I thought they did a great job - the music really works live but so much more than that, these kids can work a crowd so incredibly well - they had everyone crouching, then leaping, then parting down the middle so they could run up and down the created corridor.

It was a show, and the (not quite full by now) Art Museum knew it. Beach House were next, and although there were fears of disappointed queuers I think everyone got in OK, there was certainly some space towards the rear. I like the Beach House record, but two songs in I had had enough. It's true that plenty of people were loving it, but the dreamy pop just didn't connect with me. I headed out, knowing that the excellent Sin Fang would be on stage in Iðnó. And indeed they were, playing to a hot and heaving crowd, there was not one inch of space left. Sin Fang's music is the very definition of indie-folk to me, and not the crappy kind. It's always a pleasure to see them but actually this show was so crowded that it was less brilliant than earlier in the day at Hressó. Time to end the night with a crazy party and a chill out. the crazy party was going on at Amsterdam where The Fist Fokkers (not as scary as they sound) were doing a few of their own tunes but also a load of covers that had been "crowd-sourced" on "social media" sites, all very 2011. The result was a bit sing along party where hairy, topless men with fairy lights for necklaces and headbands led a bar full of drunkards through renditions of the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage", Sinead's (sorry, Prince's) "Nothing Compares 2 U" and No Doubts' "Don't Speak". A crazy, brilliant yet totally typical Iceland Airwaves moment. The chill out at the end of this Airwaves night came at a unusually full Glaumbar where the lovely Lay Low was singing with her acoustic guitar. It was beautiful and it was sleepy. And it was a 5 minute walk home, after a 19 band day.
 
Friday's daytime session was more curtailed than others. I started at Hressó again - the shows are always good, the food is always good. The beer is also good, although it is amongst the most expensive in town. I saw Caged Animals, but *may* have been a little distracted by my incredible burger during their set which I could certainly hear but not really see. They are an American band playing guitar tunes with an electro edge. It was fine. Finnish rockers Murmansk were next up and they were a lovely surprise. I was a little worried, they had been described as "goth to the core" - but they sounded like a good, noisy, occasionally brooding rock band to me. I had expected to quickly go off to check out other events, but I stayed for the whole set and checked out where and when they were playing their main show (I never made it). Sóley was once again out and about, she definitely played as many shows as anyone - today she was playing upstairs in the Eymundsson book store and was every bit as good as the day before, songs such as "Smashed Birds" from the new record becoming better with every listen.
 
Friday night was much anticipated. The plan was to see three giants of the Icelandic scene - Mugison, Reykjavik! and HAM. It was a good plan. Readers that are paying attention (well done you!) will know that I was to miss one of them. The evening began in Nasa with Samaris, winners of this year Musiktilraunir contest for new bands. They make a nice, interesting sound with plenty of room for development. This is trip-hop sounding stuff, it reminded me of some of Tricky's older sound, but with added clarinet. Does it work? Kind of - it sounded a little samey after a while, but let's wait and see, this band has been going for 8 months. I left Nasa and began to head over to Harpa in plenty of time to see Mugison. There was a brief stop to see those nice Dandelion Seeds in Amsterdam for a couple of songs - 70s rock, nice harmonies, good drumming and bass. I was at Harpa in plenty of time to get a good spot for Mugison, in time even to see the end of Hljómsveitin Ég's show - a band that have never grabbed me. Very quickly the Norðurljós hall filled up ahead of the Mugi-show. Mugison has been essential since his very first record back in 2004, he is perhaps enjoying a peak of popularity in Iceland right now thanks to his brand new Icelandic language album Haglél and chart-topping omnipresent single "Stingum Af", and of course his ever growing and now seemingly glowing, beard. Having heard the new album, more quiet and acoustic than some recent, QOTSA-supporting, rockier stuff, I was a little concerned that this could be a quiet and Icelandic language heavy show. Not a problem - Mugison at Harpa was THE show of Iceland Airwaves 2011. It was packed, everyone was excited and Mugi delivered. He started with the wonderful Mugiboogie, a cracking, noisy, dirty rock singalong of an opener. the pace was maintained through The Pathetic Anthem and into Sweetest Melody where this large white roomful of people were screaming every word back at the stage. The pace and volume dropped as he ran through four tracks from the new album, including a stunning version of the aforementioned single which had the Icelanders in the room beaming with delight. The noise came back for the traditional set closer and utterly genius track "Murr Murr", which has developed from a sweet acoustic song a decade a go into a fierce, fun rocker driven by an insanely catchy riff. This was the perfect show, he's a wonderful songwriter and showman in front of a highly talented band (how sweaty was that drummer!?).

But the night was young. Once out of the heaving, happy mass of people Mugison had left in his Harpa wake it was off and out across the blustery harbour and headed to Bakkus for Friday night part 2 - Reykjavik! Bakkus is a brilliant bar, it's the best size, it has Reykjavik's best atmosphere, cheapest beer and the venue that was once known as Gaukur is now integrated into it (different from what is now Gaukur, which is what was Sodoma, and before that Gaukur's pool room. Clear?). On arrival a band called Beatless were playing, this was pretty fun. It was dance music fronted by an older guy telling stories (that might sound like Ghostigital! but not even close to being that good), still it was interesting. Should I have known who the guy was? They were followed by a band called Vigri, who passed me by as I was at the bar and chatting - everyone was here tonight. Everyone wanted to see Reykjavik! who were proudly clutching, and quickly selling, their brand new and utterly brilliant record, "Locust Sounds". Time, frustratingly, was ticking by. Clearly it would be midnight before R! took to the stage. The same time that HAM would begin over the road at the Art Museum. ARGH! CLASH! NIGHTMARE! In fact, there was no choice. I would be back in London by the time Reykjavik! played their only other show on Sunday night. I had to stay, I had to see them. Add to that, Bakkus was rammed full of people I know, plus Jónsi who I bravely (!) said hi to at the bar. (Yep, me too - he was everywhere this week!). It was late, I had given up on HAM (frankly, I had forgotten about HAM), Reykjavik! came on stage without giant Viking guitarist Valdi (which may have limited the scope of the set a little?) but with a big bottle of vodka to be given out by guitarist and chief party-starter Haukur to anyone seen singing along (and knowing the words) to the tunes. And yes, no surprise, Reykjavik! were as ever a blisteringly fantastic live band. You will never see more energy given, more noise created and more chaos ensuing from a live show. I love watching them play their songs live - the new ones sounded great, I think it was "Sneak" that they kindly dedicated to little me - they won't have heard my shouted reply, the voice had gone by then - better, though, than Paul Sullivan who was in the gents for his shout out! (Sorry Paulo). As for the more familiar stuff, a brilliant version of "Cats" was followed by a rasping, astonishing and utterly terrifying version of the ever-brilliant "Kate Bush" which was delivered in an almost pitch black room creating a brilliant atmosphere, with Boas as mobile around the room as ever delivering much of the vocals from atop the bar (right). An encore was demanded and we got "All The Beautiful Boys" a gem from the first album. Everyone knew the words, but the vodka bottle had been emptied long ago. There was no point going elsewhere now, we all hung around to see the wonderful Mammut, but this time from the distance of the venue's front bar. They sounded good I seem to remember, it was a good night.
 
Airwaves Saturday, and what a beautiful clear, crisp, sunny Reykjavik morning. No better place to be in those circumstances to than in Harpa watching Iceland's latest next big thing Of Monsters And Men. Big things are happening for this band, the week before Airwaves they signed with Universal, and the Rolling Stone review following the festival compared them to Arcade Fire. Good work. They were clearly the buzz band of the week and all being well those of us lucky enough to see them perform in the coffee shop at Harpa or in the tiny bar Glaumbar will look back on that very fondly as they sell out stadiums worldwide! Live, they are charming and confident, on record they are forceful and the tunes work immediately and stay with you. The Arcade Fire comparison isn't unfair on either band (yes, that was me the little blog man telling Rolling Stone magazine that their journalism was OK). Anyhow, it was a really chilled and low key show by a band going places and following it I took the opportunity, given the amount of sunlight pouring in through Harpa's glass walls, to have a proper poke around this incredible construction. It is stunning. The rest of my Saturday's off venue entertainment came at the now traditional and very welcome Canadian Blast at Hressó. First up I saw a much improved show by Karkwa that made me glad to have picked them out pre festival as a band I wanted to see. The personality and driving drums and guitars were here this time, I think they had some sound issues on Thursday. I'm wary of bands labelled as "experimental", so I was unsure what to expect from the hyped band Esmerine. Their set was pleasant if never spectacular until they were joined by Airwaves addict and all-round genius Patrick Watson to perform their collaboration "Snow Day For Lhasa", which was a stunning moment. Finally, it was time for a bit of sitar driven rock from Elephant Stone and I think they delivered the best show of this year's Canadian Blast, certainly they had the largest and most appreciative audience that I saw there all day. The sitar was used sparingly, certainly they never became any kind of novelty sitar band but when it was used it was fabulous to watch as well as to hear.
 
Saturday night, like the previous one was aimed squarely at the giants. Today's targets were Ghostigital, Ólafur Arnalds and GusGus - would I get all three this time after falling one short on Friday? I began at Nasa where I wanted to see new (to me) Icelandic electro-pop band Kiriyama Family. Plenty of potential here ad one to keep an eye on but I wanted to do some venue hopping early in the evening. So it was off for a bit of the very gentle Pascal Pinon at Glaumbar, in time for their best moment "I Wrote A Song" followed by the fuzzy sounds and hairdos of Led Zep obsessives (just a guess) The Vintage Caravan at Gaukur and then up to Faktorý to catch some of Tonik's set (strong dance stuff, great pink lights) before Ghostigital. Part of the fun of Ghostigital concerts is watching them set up beforehand. Clearly this is a band with a lot of wizardry going on, there are a lot of wires on the stage, but the band members roam around on stage, off stage, to the bar with such nonchalance that you wonder how it all comes together! I'm sure, of course, that everything has been testing a hundred times earlier in the day. Certainly, when they did all coincide on stage and the lights went down everything was perfect. The first thing to note about Ghostigital's set was how very, very, very, very loud it was. Yes I was at the very front next to that great big speaker but they do always get more volume out of a set-up than anyone else can manage, year after year. The show itself was great, the guitar working especially well this year. I missed the backing visuals of last year's excellent Tjarnarbíó show, but the brilliant electronics created by Curver were outstanding, pulsating and insistent, there was no escape. As for the wonderful Mr Einar Orn, he gave another great performance, getting more like Mark E Smith (or is it the other way round?) every year. His lyrics vary from the recorded versions of songs so often and so seamlessly, it is fascinating to watch. He is so alive on stage, in his natural habitat, prowling around bathed in bright lights and dense fog - putting the world right. The fantastic new single, "Don't Push Me" sounded particularly great, a good sign for the forthcoming album. This is a band, and a front-man, that you cannot take your eyes or ears off. 
 
The 5 minute walk from Faktorý to Harpa was a very long journey in terms of musical styles. Going from Ghostigital to Ólafur Arnalds does require some mindset adjustment. I arrived at Harpa to find the Norðurljós room seemingly packed. Nobody could move in or out. However when this blockage did move it revealed plenty of space further forward - what were all those people trying to achieve hanging around the doorway? In the 5 minutes before the show the room filled up quickly, as full as it had been for Mugison a day earlier. I think this was the best show I've ever seen (of 5 or 6) from Ólafur, the band seemed especially relaxed and their enjoyment transferred quickly to the audience. I'm afraid I'm terrible at knowing song titles when I don't have lyrics to prompt me, but I do know that set closer, 3055, was a particular highlight.

 

Once again, the visuals that accompany the songs definitely adds to the experience as does the brilliant lighting of the stage and the room. A victory for the artist but also for the venue - truly wonderful stuff. two great shows within an hour and I was onto the final lap of my Iceland Airwaves 2011. After sticking around to see the first couple of songs by Danish band Treefight For Sunlight I headed back across the harbour one more time to search for entertainment before my finalé of GusGus. First, to Amsterdam to watch Swords Of Chaos - this is the sort of hardcore, screamy rock that I can love here, in small doses, but no more than that. A packed bar of devotees was lapping it up however. 15 minutes later I wandered up to Glaumbar where Endless Dark were playing. Of course being Glaumbar, this wasn't a full plugged in show from these young riffers but it was a total revelation. Endless Dark (right) are a very talented 6 piece rock band, with some excellent songs in their armoury. I suspect that the challenge of playing a small, chilled acoustic set would expose most bands of their age and genre but they thrived here. They proved that you can take away the fuzz, the noise, the show and their tunes and talent will shine rather than disappear. I was so impressed with this performance, another wonderful Airwaves surprise. The queue outside the Art Museum told me it was time to get in there ahead of the GusGus show, so I did manage to see the final 10 minutes or so of Canadian 80s, synth types Austra, which was pretty pleasant. Like in Bakkus a night ago, it seemd like everyone was in the Art Museum tonight, it was full of familiar faces and various Icelandic musicians here to pay their respects to the perfect end of night band, GusGus. They sounded great, for such a long-standing dance act they have truly stood the test of time and have developed and changed over their 2 decades (ish!). Watching them I was left with the impression that the quality of vocals, now and throughout the career, had a lot to do with this - they really are at their best live. That said, as the set went on, the crowd towards the back of the hall (where we were) grew more and more chatty, seemingly slightly losing interest in events at the other end of this long, narrow space (right). Still, it sounded good and a good social event as well. At the end, I spilled out into the cold air knowing that 4 hours later I'd be on a flybus away from this unbelievable party. Another Iceland Airwaves in the bag, and even more incredible memories.
 
So yes, my A list of Icelandic bands were reliably brilliant (Reykjavík!, Mugison, Ghostigital, Ólafur Arnalds, Retro Stefson, GusGus, Sin Fang, Mammút), the next generation are getting better all the time (Of Monsters & Men, Endless Dark, Pascal Pinon) and there were some really memorable shows by bands I hadn't seen before (Sóley, Porquesi, Dream Central Station, Samaris). Everything I have come to expect from this increasingly brilliant few days every year. Oh yes, and there was Björk too. This festival continues to give unique, special moments - one after another.

A few other sights of the week:

Scary bicycle

Too much singing along to Reykjavik! will make you horse

Giant pool table outside Faktorý

And a few more from Harpa

Comments

[Ellen]

Hi-

I know your site covered the Iceland Airwaves 2011 music festival recently and while we know it’s a bit tardy, we just finished a great wrap-up video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRKrlhMeNQg&feature=youtu.be. It’s a montage of quite a few bands performing, as well as some great backstage clips – one clip is GusGus getting ready for their show. We definitely thought you and your readers might be interested in checking it out.

The fine folks at Icelandic Glacial Water helped put this together. We hope you enjoy it. Let me know if you have any questions – I'm happy to help.

Thanks,
Ellen