Tourists waiting to board the Flybus, BSÍ station, Reykjavík
The last day of a vacation involving flights can be chaotic. This time I was early and the airport was nearly deserted, eerily quiet. They have a Pylsur stand in the airport now so I just had to get “eitt med öllu” before I left:
My sixth Iceland Airwaves was bittersweet.
Sweet, in that it is always fun to come to Iceland and, in particular, to stay in Reykjavík. The weather started off ridiculously (over a foot of snow had fallen in the days before I arrived) but it then turned wonderful with warm temps, sunshine, and little wind.
I had several days to acclimate and I made the most of my time before the festival began: meeting people in the pool, attending the theatre, crashing a symposium on Halldór Laxness, a night of Michelin-star dining and even catching a Halloween burlesque show! Iceland Airwaves started on the right foot with the
President of Iceland addressing a group of pre-schoolers at a senior residence
before speaking to the rest of the audience. When
GDRN played and sang traditional Icelandic songs it was so poignant (one of the wheelchair-bound seniors played air-piano in time with the band) that I was on the verge of tears. Throughout the week there were some good off-venue performances with madcap musical ideas coming from
Mag og Tómas at Reykjavík Records and esoteric singer/songwriter/bassist/dancer
K.olá at Smekklysa.
Marvaða, a female-oriented music collective, presented a solid line-up of interesting and accomplished acts at
Iðno Wednesday night.
Thursday night found me attending a half-dozen shows, all female performers with the exception of keyboard virtuoso
The Vernon Spring. All these acts were good, with artfully stylized presentations.
Friday I saw
fourteen acts, but most were undistinguished.
Sean Solomon won originality points for his retro-nerd VHS animation duets, as did
Mermaid Chunky for their trippy genre-surfing compositions.
Magnús Jóhann, another tremendous pianist/composer, went above and beyond the call of duty when he played a
Ondes Martenot.
Saturday night I bounced around venues (and watched
Ms Obama bounce around) until I settled in at
Fríkirkjan to listen to
Hania Derej. At the age of 20, she has already developed into a formidable artist—a musical virtuoso on piano, keys and composition. Hers is a name to watch for.
And, fittingly, the final act I saw was
JFDR. She has had quite a career since I first saw her as a teenager with
Pascal Pinon in 2009. Since then I’ve followed her musical development: three
Pascal Pinon albums, three
Samaris albums, a
Gangly EP and dozens of collaborations in addition to her career as a solo artist and composer for film and TV. Jofriður has had no shortage of musical and lyrical ideas. In the last few years it seemed to me that she was going a bit sideways with her Ableton-enabled compositions so it was a special treat to see her get back to her roots, performing with an ensemble of friends playing mostly acoustic guitars and singing beautiful harmonies in an intimate setting.
One bitter aspect of
Iceland Airwaves for me this year is the alarming drop in attendance, especially among younger people. Despite official claims to the contrary (and excepting the smallest clubs), most venues were half to two-thirds empty. While I was usually the oldest person in the room, my 56-year-old self who attended
Airwaves in 2006 would be about average in age for the grey-haired crowd at the festival this year. With a few notable exceptions (
Geðbrigði,
Hania) the acts were trending older as well. The festival organizers are acutely aware of the fact
and have taken steps to address the issue. Another down-trend is the dearth of real bands—a majority of the acts were solos or duos, techno and/or rap, using samples and pre-programmed beats. That was in an inverse ratio to the Airwaves of 20 years ago and even noticeably different than three years ago. The bands that I did see were mostly good. I had used the Iceland Airwaves video links to pre-screen the acts; it may be that the mostly lame videos put me off from seeing some really good shows.
The big question: “Was it worth it?”
Again, bittersweet. The best shows were as good as the best of past Airwaves. The original concept artists were also very good. The genre-stylists were mostly forgettable. The main venues were good, but the smaller ones (
Bird, Gaukurrin) were awkward, although you could get a better view (and sound) at
Bird by standing outside and listening to the PA feed and looking through the plate glass windows! With the exception of hideous modern architecture in the old harbour area, Reykjavík itself remains an interesting and vibrant place, especially so for such a small city.
The almost-as-big question: “Will I do it again?”
Probably not next year.
As I get older, traveling becomes more of a challenge. The whole music scene in general is also rapidly undergoing changes with the stranglehold of corporate interests dominating streaming and exposure with AI music the wildcard in the mix. If IAW can successfully re-invent itself (and the world doesn’t blow up), it might be worth a trip in 2027. I was sitting in a hot-pot talking with
Anna Róshildur in Vesturbæjarlaug and she mentioned the very restrictive audition process for a local act to get into Airwaves
off-venue schedule, to say nothing about the regular venues. Evidently there is an underground scene in Reykjavík for young performers but it is hard for an outsider to crack, and it is certainly not aimed at foreign septuagenarians. I’ve written about these issues before, and no progress has been made since. Any changes in the IAW format are, of course, dependent on the economy, local talent pool, and numerous other variables. Still, it would be nice for more smaller non-bar, presentation options. Sorely missed were the laid-back venues
Hitt Husið,
Norræna húsið and the bonkers breakfast shows at
Prikið. Other main venues absent this year were
Gamla Bíó and the
National Theatre, both of which had other scheduling.
Nasa was back, however, and
Harpa did have some big, separately ticketed, shows but there were no smaller shows in
Kaldalón or
Norðurljós as in past years.
Looking back over its 26-year history, its amazing that
Iceland Airwaves even still exists, so I really can’t complain. As long as there are the dreamers who create music, and those who find inspiration and solace in it, there is still hope for humanity.
Troy, Tina and Barry are entranced by Hania Derej, Frikirkjan, 8 November, 2025
