Iceland Airwaves 2006 Report: October 18-21, 2006

by Rachel Pesin
7 November 2006

Over the past eight years, Iceland Airwaves has become a bona fide festival. What began in 1999 by Mr. Destiny as a gig in an airplane hangar with four bands and only a few hundred concertgoers has since become a large-scale festival that rivals all others. The festival has since grown exponentially every year and this year almost outgrew the small venues of Reykjavik, with about 5,000 people and 300 journalists coming in from all over the world to be part of the festival.

Airwaves is less like other European festivals that take place mainly on one massive stage, and more similar to American festivals like New York’s CMJ and Austin, Texas’s SXSW, which spread the hundreds of bands throughout small venues around the city. What makes Airwaves much more special than any of these festivals is that it takes place in Iceland! Where else can you see the northern lights while walking from one venue to the next? Where else will you spend all day looking at geysers, volcanoes, glaciers, waterfalls, and black sandy beaches and all night discovering Icelandic (and international) bands you’d never heard of before? I recommend that any music lover who enjoys a festival atmosphere go to Airwaves at least once. And go soon, because something this special won’t be able to stay small and intimate much longer!

With so much to see aside from the music, I found it very hard to head downtown every night after a full day of sight-seeing (I’m talking about a 10-hour excursion!). On Wednesday I didn’t even see any bands because I was busy heading forty miles outside of the city to search for the Northern Lights, which I found and which were definitely worth missing a few bands for! However, based on a few mp3s I heard, there were at least two bands that night worth checking out: SPRENGJUHÖLLIN, a 60s pop-rock band from Reykjavik and LADA SPORT, a WEEZER-ish band with self-deprecating lyrics, also from Reykjavik.

Now onto the bands I did see!
I love it when I really enjoy the first band I see at a festival and fortunately this happened at Airwaves. I went to see HOT CLUB DE PARIS (from Liverpool, naturally) at off-venue 12 tónar, a small, independent record store, and thoroughly enjoyed their set. They’ve got a few killer a cappella songs with funny lyrics and funky human beat boxing beats and their songs with instruments are jerky post-punk in the vein of THE FUTUREHEADS. I can’t wait to see them again.

That night I popped into the Reyjkavik Art Museum to catch a few songs by MATES OF STATE. They didn’t do much for me, although I did enjoy hearing “Fraud in the 80s” live. I focused most of my attention on the massive, beautiful space the Museum managed to turn into a very fine concert venue (the opening photo in this review was taken at the Museum).

I then headed across the street to Gaukurinn, an intimate venue that would be perfect if the staff decided not to overfill it by at least 100 people! The first band on was THE FOGHORNS, Iceland’s attempt at WILCO. Please notice I said “attempt” and not “version.” They gave it a nice try, but there ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby.

The next band on was SKAKKAMANAGE, a quirky, quiet, funny folk band from Iceland. They rhymed “nature” with “calculator” in a song written to remind us how important 10th grade math really is.
I left to see a couple of bands elsewhere, but came back for THE WHITEST BOY ALIVE, ERLEND ØYE’s (of KINGS OF CONVENIENCE) amusingly named new band. I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t what I heard—mellow electronica. They didn’t go on until midnight and played for so long that the cops eventually showed up to shut the place down! The dancey crowd was atypical, as most Icelandic audiences were pretty mellow from what I saw.

The crowd did go nuts for the Icelandic bands I saw at NASA in between sets at Gaukurinn. First up was SKÁTAR, whose sound can be described by the following photos:

They were loud, energetic, and ready to ROCK! It was hard to take them seriously in those outfits, but they were certainly serious in their quest to rock Reykjavik.

REYKJAVIK! were on next. They were all over the place and generally insane (they don’t have that exclamation point in their name for nothing.)

The next night I headed back to sweaty Gaukurinn to see JEFF WHO?, the Icelandic band I was most looking forward to seeing.

Despite one very FRANZ FERDINAND-sounding song (“Death Before Disco”) and the anthemic sing-along “Barfly,” I was let down. They’re a good band but they weren’t as exciting as I’d hoped they’d be.

I then went to the Art Museum to see Iceland’s best known youngsters, JACOBÍNARÍNA. Some of the guys in the band look like they haven’t hit puberty yet, but their pop-punk is the real deal. They’ll probably be headlining Warped Tour next year.

I stuck around to catch a few songs by THE GO! TEAM. Their mix of funk, pop, and cheerleader chants was quite fun live!

From there I went to the National Theatre Basement, a very nice, intimate space, to see SHADOW PARADE, the last band of the night for me. Their calming, melancholic music combined with vocalist BEGGI DAN’s THOM YORKE-esque voice created an almost spooky atmosphere.

On the last major night of the festival I headed to NASA to see WALTER MEEGO, a band, not a person, from Chicago. I’d never heard of them before and I do not know why! They’re an electronic dance party that would surely go down well with the indie-dance crowd.
I spent the final hours of the festival back at the Reykjavik Art Museum.

The first band I saw were Iceland’s LEAVES. Their ambient, dreamy rock really won me over; they were my favorite Icelandic band of the festival.

I ended the festival with two English bands I know and love. First on were THE CRIBS. As usual, their set was full of unashamed pop songs and the authentic “f*ck you” attitude they are known for. As I mentioned earlier, the audiences were rather tame. This definitely upset the band, who were playing Iceland for the first time. I can’t understand a word they say, but apparently Icelanders comprehend English better than I do, as at least one audience member gave the band the finger in response to what I can only assume was a rude comment about the lack of audience enthusiasm.

All I know is that I enjoyed their set very much.
The final band for me was the KAISER CHIEFS. They’re one of my favorite live bands and it had been 1.5 years since I saw them last, so I was really up for a good time. The audience was less reserved then usual and really ate up the band’s light-hearted showiness, adhering to vocalist RICKY WILSON’s every command.

They played a few new songs for us, which saw the band being a little less dancey and a little more serious. When Ricky jumped into the audience it was a brilliant ending to my brilliant Iceland Airwaves experience!

For mp3s from all of these bands, check out the Iceland Airwaves website

Filed under music festival concerts