Iceland 2025 — Day Nine

After the pool today I took another afternoon nap, I am starting to feel my age.

Afterwards I did some random off-venue hopping seeing chantuse Frið at Smekkleysa:

Mukka (A Rock Band!) at Hresso, and rockers Markús & The Diversion Sessions at 12 Tónar:

The first Iceland Airwaves act I saw tonight (at Fríkirkjan) was Sean Solomon from California. Sean is sort of a retro-techno geek, accompanying himself on guitar and VHS tape player (“If I make a mistake I’ll have to rewind”) with his clever animations and glitchy videos. Sean is also a cartoonist of some note. Hard to explain his act but it was really quite touching at times:

Between sets I met Tina and Barry, a couple from Yorkshire, who have been in the background of numerous photos I’ve taken at Airwaves in years past. We had a nice talk comparing notes on past shows.

Here they are, sitting behind The President of Iceland and the director of Iceland Airwaves: 

Next was Iðunn Einars, a singer/songwriter, with a three-piece band. She was great singer, even getting down with a little boog-a-loo:

And then: Magnús Jóhann.

Great keyboardist and composer. I saw him at Lucky Records in 2023 and was blown away. If switching between piano and synths wasn’t enough he played a FREAKIN’ ONDES MARTENOT!

After the overwhelming experience of Magnús I went on a tour of short stops at various venues:

Outdoor Disco, The American Bar, last night:

Nabeel, Iraqi/American Grunge featuring Yasir Razak at Iðno:

Atli, an earnest troubadour at Bird:

ian, Dallas-based rapper with great rapport with his fan base. In The Art Museum:

Jana, gave it a game effort, but the noisy and overcrowded Gaukurinn was not her ideal venue:

Babymorroco, auto-tune raps and gymnastics at the Kolaport venue:

Flesh Machine, hard grooves at Bird:

The final show I saw tonight was in Iðno: Mermaid Chunky. A techno/acoustic duo, these women are from another planet, or maybe Gloucestershire. Intense, funny, original and mesmerizing:

A great way to end the night.