Having attended Reykjavik's brilliant city music festival Iceland Airwaves three years ago, I was interested this year to see how the festival has grown and changed. Since its inception in 1999, it has gone from an off-the-beaten-track secret to a five-day shindig that European and American festival-goers are incorporating into their winter schedules.
Reykjavik city centre is compact, and the Airwaves gigs are primarily based around the main shopping street, Laugavegur; the downtown area that skirts the harbour; and the sensational Harpa concert hall teetering at the sea’s edge.
It's a chance to immerse yourself in a scene of local acts that you probably won't get to see elsewhere. And what a scene. It sometimes feels as though half of Reykjavik's population is in a band, or working on a bedroom musical project. This year that was complemented by the likes of Beach House, Hot Chip, Perfume Genius, Father John Misty, and Skepta.
1 If you build a direct flight, they will come
Attendance this year was bolstered by the new cheap direct flights from Dublin and Belfast on Wow Air. No doubt word of mouth will mean more travelling next year, as Irish punters look for alternative festivals in a European festival circuit that has become a bit cookie cutter in both aesthetic and programming.
2 Reykjavíkurdætur rule
It’s a rare thing to go to a gig and think: I’ve never seen anything like that before. Rarer still to come across a band as inspiring as this 21-strong all- female hip hop collective. They played several shows over the week and I caught three. Each one was different; their Spanx-wearing stage-storming riot at the club Nasa; a chilled and nuanced midday performance at Slippbarinn; and a burst of brilliance at Reykjavik Art Museum. They may rap in Icelandic, but their blistering feminist energy is not lost in translation.
3 Daithí steps up
On Monday night, Brendan Canty’s Feel Good Lost hosted a party at Kex, a cool hostel-bar-cafe-restaurant venue hidden upstairs behind a nondescript door. With Nialler9 DJing between acts, Slow Skies and Talos played well, but it was Daithí who once again stepped up to boss level. It’s become almost a cliche at this stage with each passing gig from this young man to say “that’s the best I’ve seen him play”, but this was something else. The tunes were hard, fizzing with electric energy, and by the end of the set, the large crowd of locals had gone from curious to raving.
4 Gender and festival bookings
On the same weekend, it was hard not to think of the overwhelming maleness of Dublin's Metropolis festival compared with Airwaves' more gender-balanced programme. During her Airwaves slot, English singer Lucy Rose announced to the large crowd, "I have to say, for a festival, it's so good to go on stage after a woman, and for another woman to be coming on after me." The conversation about female representation on festival and cultural programme line-ups is ongoing, but Airwaves is streets ahead of it, making you cringe for anyone not pursuing gender diverse festival programming.
5 It pays to be chilled out
Airwaves is notable for twinning a relaxed wandering feel during the daytime gigs with a great party atmosphere at night. Audiences sit on the ground in venues when they’re waiting for acts. Clubs stay open late, but there is no alcohol-fuelled loutishness (maybe because it costs €7 for a can of beer in a venue). Security is barely visible at gigs because it’s not needed. There is something sophisticated about the whole vibe.
6 John Grant’s orchestral genius
At the large concert hall room in Harpa, Grant played one of the best shows I've ever seen. The stunning Iceland Symphony Orchestra excelled with beautiful arrangements to cloak tunes from Grey Tickles, Black Pressure, but it was hearing Glacier how and where it's meant to be played that will stay with me for a long time.
7 Sound matters
The first thing my pals and I said any time we walked into a venue was “wow, the sound”, to the point that it became that week’s in-joke. I don’t know how a city this small has so many amazing soundsystems, or why their sound engineers are so good, but maybe they just care about listening to music the way it should be heard. Gigs are played in all sorts of spaces, yet the sound was the best I’ve experienced at any festival ever.
8 Discover the unexpected
Stephan Stephensen, a founding member of GusGus, played his new project, Serengeti, with a selection of musicians as President Bongo and The Emotional Carpenters in a throbbing avant-garde set that concluded with a suddenly appearing horn-section chorus. Want some post-punk feminists? Börn rocked. Runaways-style rock with an Irish drummer? Dream Wife win. Brilliant, sophisticated acid-y techno came courtesy of Daveeth. Milkywhale brought MØ-esque enthusiasm and pop. Keep an eye out for the young Norwegian Aurora's debut album out in February on Decca and Glassnote.
9 A fan’s festival
The key sponsors remain Iceland Air and the City of Reykjavik, so there is no gaudy beer branding. While occasional queues can be an issue, especially for the more popular international acts, it’s an extraordinarily easy festival to navigate. The focus is on discovery, with the aforementioned exceptional sound in all venues showing that it’s also a real musician’s festival.
10 It's all about the place
It’s a privilege to see so much stunning art in a country as beautiful as Iceland, and the landscape makes you understand what inspires this nation’s idiosyncratic artists.
The best tip I can offer for going to Airwaves is to get out of Reykjavik for at least a day and marvel at the ridiculously beautiful waterfalls, mountains, geysers and glaciers that are just a couple of hours’ drive away.
Floating away the previous night’s adventures at the Blue Lagoon is something you just can’t do anywhere else, making Airwaves not just an introduction to great music, but also to a gorgeous country and its people.
