Echoes of Iceland Airwaves 2026

Yours truly (wearing glasses) at Grund. Image: RUV

I’m back in Minnesota after eleven days on my eleventh trip to Iceland. For the most part the rain held off until the very last day, which was mostly spent in the aiport. I wouldn’t recommend my agenda on these sojourns for a casual tourist, it’s almost all cultural and excepting the bus ride from and back the airport, no landscape. Ten days at the pool, two plays: Ormstunga, an opera from the saga) and Nýtt eldhús eftir máli (A New Custom-Made Kitchen), a stand-up comedy show, a burlesque revue, three movies and, of course, the Iceland Airwaves music festival. Over the 20-year span which I have sporadically attended, the festival has diminished from five full days to three, from 160 acts to 107, and from about a 70% Icelandic to a 30% world mix of acts to about a 50/50 ratio. Nothing against other music from around the world, and some of those acts were excellent, but the “Icelandicness” of it all is fading. Fewer real bands (a laptop perched on a stool is not a musician) and the use of videos (often AI generated) as backdrops was intriguing, but often distracted from the music.

One act that has improved over the years is Gróa:

They were plucky teens when I first saw them in 2018, they have matured musically into an even more unified group—heavier and even more cathartic. They added another guitarist for their Smekkleysa gig, who gave some welcome added texture. It’s a loud room, but you are really intimate with performers. Another superb act at Smekkleysa was Asalaus, electronic sound composer extraordinaire:

I found the big venues to be oddly used, or perhaps the acts in them weren’t suited. One act that did fit the venue was the hoary veteran Icelandic group Mammút in the Kolaporti building. Despite four large pillars, the high stage and ample width of the room made it a good room for most of the patrons. Sound was OK in the center:

Another good venue was the rebuilt NASA ballroom, it also had a high stage and two levels so sight-lines were good except for some posts along the side balconies. Sound was excellent. I really enjoyed 9m88 there, sophisticated music and a charismatic singer:

The biggest surprise in venues was Lemmy’s which had a large tent set up over an inner courtyard. Best selection of beers and great sightlines and very ood sound and you could get around to the side of the stage too, a good vantage point for seeing Apex Anima’s pole dancer in action:

Fríkirkjan has the most atmosphere of any venue, good for acoustic instruments but the PA system is marginal for voices, slightlines are only fair at best to poor at worst. Mar Pujol:

Iðno is the venerable small concert hall by the pond. It is pretty good overall, if you aren’t too short that is. OK sound, the room works the best with bands, i.e., Sakaris:

A new venue this year was the City Hall. It was actually two rooms connected with a narrower waist. The front room was OK althought the stage could have been a little higher, the rear room was devoted to selling beer. I hope you like Heineken’s. Mackenzie Leighton made the front room work well:

And that leaves the worst venue, Rosenberg’s
. Too small, too narrow, too low of a stage. Sound was OK.

2026 Iceland Airwaves - Saturday

Don’t Look Back

Vesturbæjarlaug

Spoke at length with ‘Charlie’ from Brooklyn while lounging in the big hot pot today, speaking of music and food deserts and life here and elsewhere. All good things must end, and as I was walking back to the changing room I realized that this would probably be the last time I would trod these frigid tiles. They didn’t seem so cold then. Inside, the last shower, the last time dressing, and then outside where it was trying to rain, but the clouds seemed to acquiesce in my charmed presence. I’ve got a light schedule this afternoon, þetta reddast.

Here are the acts I saw in off-venue, starting with Lindy Lin from China:

An orginal blend of mouth noises, sampling and looping and singing. Very good at what she does, my westernized ears found it challenging. She was followed by Lára, who proved that a woman and her Abeltron will not be separated:

Then I went down the street a couple of doors and up to the Geiri Smart lounge where Haukur Páll and his buddy were doing karaoke to prerecorded tracks. No Hay Banda:

I then spent some time getting my stuff ready for the flight back to Minneapolis tomorrow afternoon.

Here is the photgraphic annal of my Saturday night prowls:

Mar Pujol, Frikirkjan. Nice folk duo:

Mackenzie Leighton, City Hall, another duo. I had spent the morning in the pool with the bassit, I don't remember her name. Mackenzie, the guitarist/singer/songwriter from Maine via France was very  accomplished :

Sandrayati, Fríkirkjan. New age singer/songwriter who performed with insence and a 5 piece band. Very groovy:

Vicki Sometani, Nasa, from USA via UK. Lots of spirit:

Ruvenruven, Iðno, A Valencian (Spain) singer/song writer who was not a photogenic as his bass player. Power pop, well done:

9m88, Nasa, from Taiwan, the most polished act I saw all week, see even covered Björk’s Venus as a Boy. Crackerjack band:

Jamie Woon, Fríkirkjan, from Mexico, another soulful singer/songwriter. He actually had worked out guitar parts for his songs, not just strumming:

Seven acts in two hours, and they were all good! I could have seen at least three or four more, but my spring was winding down. 

My Iceland Airwaves days are over.

2026 Iceland Airwaves - Friday

A glorious morning, the start of another glorious day.

After a full night’s sleep, the pool beckoned. There were plenty of bathers wearing Airwaves armbands today, this time I managed to get ensconced between two Finns, an Austrian, a gaggle of Scots, and Simon, a graphic designer from Ireland. I asked him if he knew Annie Atkins, he said he had been talking to her in person only last week!

The consensus of the group about Thursday night was that “Piss” from Vancouver was the biggest surprise of the evening. I might have been turned off by the band’s name.Rasia (from Finland) had seen Gróa with me and was equally impressed by them. No one had any solid recommendations for tonight, the best I could offer was the Kjallarínkabaret in the National theatre (see below).

When I returned from the pool the maid service was cleaning my room so I went next-door to Kaktus, the coffee-house in the National gallery and had a real lunch for a change: I reurned to Smekkleysa and caught Asalaus and her 1965 Guyatone guitar, a violin bow, and an array of pedals:

She was sublime, the most pure musical expression I’ve heard so far. The other ten people in the room with me were mesmerized.

Not so mesmerizing was Amor Vincit Omnia, a duo with tracks, in the Geiri hotel lounge:

I did manage to squeeze in several acts before the Burlesque show.

Apex Anima at Lemmy’s - Heavy sci-fi graphics, No hay banda, stunning visuals including FRZNTE, a world-class pole dancer:

Sakaris at Iðno - serious fun, high powered 8 piece band:

Upper Mallrats at Rosenberg’s - thrash, nearly invisible with the sightlines at Rosenberg’s:

Oyama at City Hall - power pop:

Axel Flóvent at Fríkirkja - singer/sonwriter, piano

Friday’s Airwaves lineup iwas particularly weak and as the night went on I opted out from the club crawl for the Kabarett show in the National Theatre’s basement. It’s the third time I’ve seen it and each time I’ve been stimulated, not in a prurient sense, but more by the ancient nature of these performances, certainly performed in biblical times, and probably even in prehistoric stone-age rituals. Pulchritude aside, these gender-bending and gender-affirming displays are naughty fun. More on this show at a later date:

Some cast members of the Kabarett show pose for the camera.

MUSIC OF THE DAY: Asalaus, no contest.

2026 Iceland Airwaves - Thursday

Youths converge on the neighborhood store near the pool…

I spent much of my pool-time Thursday morning surrounded by a clan of unruly Scots and Rasia, a pleasant Finn I had met last year, discussing Airwaves (and drinking) strategies. A 90-minute flight makes Airwaves more of wild week-end than planned vacation, and the description of the Scot’s hostel (“Hadn’t been updated since the war…”) made me thankful for my digs in the center of town.

After a very leisurely 2-hour soaking (no laps today, the lanes were full) I got out of the pool, dressed, and made my way to the pool’s lobby area where a carafe of coffee and Unsteinn Manuel Stefánsson were waiting. Unsteinn was a founder of Retro Stefson, the very first band I saw at Iceland Airwaves in 2006! Since then Unsteinn has done numerous things in music and Icelandic theatre, I had seen him last year in Ibuð 10b at Þjóðleikhúsið. We talked a lot about the theatre, his relatives were active in it and he got to see a lot of plays as a child, including Þetta er allt að koma, a play which blew my mind in 2004 when I was 53, I can hardly imagine what it did to his when he was only 14! We also discussed Halldór Laxness, Hallgrímur Helgasson, Ólafur Ólafsson, and Silja Aðalsteinsdóttir, in a flowing conversation.

What a great guy.

In the afternoon I hit an off-venue, specifically Smekkleysa, the Björk and the Sugarcubes-founded record shop. The first group was a guitar/drums duo that was incredibly LOUD! Ear plugs were offered and many accepted. I left after a while, going up the street to Bókin, a quiet refuge where I had often sought refuge in the past. It was no help, the thunder that was Dreymandi hundur penetrated to the bookshop’s deepest recesses.

I walked up Hverfisgata to Hlemmur and Lucky Records, but the act that was scheduled next was one that I had already seen last year. Returning, Shymfaux, two guitars and the same drummer as the first act began to play. Not nearly so loud (or am I already jaded?) they were really sort of a jam band, playing riffs off each other:

After a short break for some noshing, I returned to Smekkleysa to catch one of my all-time favorite Airwaves acts, Gróa. They were augmented by another guitarist who actually fit in very well:

They did not disappoint. More about this performance at a later date.

The the way back to my apartment for a light dinner, I stopped in Fríkirkjan, where Andervel was performing his Mexican-inspired balladry with a small band and a great drummer:

After a bite I saw a bit of Falinn Gjoður at Lemmy's. They were playing really weird, angular guitar lines, a synced drum track, and odd vocals. Not my thing:.

Things got stranger. At the City Hall venue Farveblind may have been playing but lots of sync tracks including the lead vocals… I think? The drummer was playing some but was definitely augmented. I don't know what the guy on the left did:

Back at Lemmy’s, the Irish band State of Grace was backing up a female singer (Grace?) If her name was Grace, she was in quite a state, indeed—mostly rage. Very well sung and played:

On to Kolaportð, the largest venue, where I had my first Kevin Cole sighting of the festival:

He was there to catch the venerable Icelandic band Mammút:

Another real band, they were dynamic and exciting in their stage presence. Again, not my thing.

I stopped into Iðno to see what on earth World Peace DMT was. I left still not knowing:

Finally, I returned to Fríkirkjan to catch some of Tár, a folky band with a dramatic singer/bassist:

Also very good, but I had had enough for one day. 

Music of the day: Gróa, they once again put me in a state of musical Nirvana.

Wonderful World of Wednesday

I got up ridiculously early today so I went to the pool and swam under a skinny moon until 08:30 when I went back to my apartment to prepare for the Opening of Airwaves ceremony at Grund, the senior residence. The President of Iceland, Halla Tómasdóttir, was there to start the festivities:

Rakel (and Lon) played some music:

After which President Halla joined in a group picture of the celebrants:

I took it easy Wednesday afternoon, resting up for another culinary adventure. This time it was Sel, an offshoot of the restaurant Óx, which I had previously visited:

Fabulous food and the table even had a hidden drawer for the cutlery:

Master Chef Thrainn Freyr Vigfusson led the kitchen crew:

Chef Katla (left) remembered me from my last time at Óx:

My table-mate was Will, from Seattle, where he had been on the board of KEXP. We talked about Airwaves, music and, of course, Kevin Cole. We’ll probably connect again sometime over the weekend.