Iceland Airwaves Update - Day Five

ohhhh...

Ok, I'm back from the pool, were I spent time listening to an old fisherman punctuate his monologues with Icelandic poetry. He evidently was well known to the regulars who, like me, enjoyed his performance. I walked "home" through the cemetery where I saw this beautiful Art Nouveau gravestone:



I then stopped into Kolaportið, the week-end flea market, and picked up a few things. Once outside again, I was greeted with a fine sun shower on the Austurvöllur square. That's the Hotel Borg on the left and the cathedral on the right:



The sun and rain on the cobblestones around Iðno made for a nice picture:



This was to be my Techno night, and the only night where I stayed in one venue- NASA.A larger hall, with a good sound system and some elevated sections for better sight lines. I won't go through these acts in depth- this stuff isn't really my thing- but there were some pleasant surprises.

Captain Fufanu, a couple of teens with a great grasp of what they're doing. They could have done a bit more variation with the bass beats, but were very focused throughout the set:



DJ Margeir and his Symphony Orchestra. A real surprise, a dj with a 5 piece string section and conductor. It really worked, and the first song had the best groove of the whole evening, with its slashing string parts bringing it up to another level. The second tune was not as strong, but the last piece was real classical music and breathtaking, it is rare that two such dissimilar musical styles really "fuse" but this was outstanding. The crowd understood it as well and gave them a well deserved ovation:



GusGus, the headliners, were the obviously most established outfit, playing real songs on top of the grooves and although the crowd reacted well to their "hits" their response seemed a little forced- perhaps too many late nights in a row? I couldn't make it to the end; they may still be playing; but I've had enough, and my Iceland Airwaves is over for 2009: