Friday night is THE night in Reykjavik!With a population of only 120,000 (200,000 if you count the Greater Reykjavik area) the world's most northern capital has one of the liveliest nightlife's overseas. It might not seem like a lot of people for a capital, but give them live music, a few drinks and a whole weekend to dance and they'll show you what the word 'party' means. Quite frankly after driving the entire country (including off-road driving in the desolated interior) for 5 days in what I baptised "the land of no-one", a couple hundred thousand people seemed like a lot!Friday night is on...are you ready for it? Alive and kicking merely describes the massive flow of Reykjavikurs bottle-in-hand antics that fill the downtown streets, bars and clubs. Yes you read that right: while the legal drinking age is 20, no rules seem to apply for drinking in the streets. Cellphone in one hand to find friends in the line-up and a bottle of wine in the other, people stroll the streets before our incredulous eyes.
Friday night we experienced some more local bands and a couple others from the UK.First on the list was the solo singer of Planning to Rock. Dressed up in a white one-piece that reminded me of a nucler fallout protective suit, a knight-like silver mask and supported by amazing visuals in the back, Janine Rostron is certainly 'original'. Once again it was all about the look more than the music, but just for that she certainly should get an 8 out of 10.
Was it mask night in Reykjavik? Maybe, since even our second pick of the night, locals Dr.Spock were all about their crazy attires, wrestiling masks and fortunately this time, their music and yellow plastic gloves! Hard rock, creapy screams and tight leggins made this band stand out while still filling the venue with testosterone! I have to hand it out to the lead singer: the outfit 10 on 10 and 2 thumbs up!
Definitely worth the wait was the Swedish band Familjen. With this year's one hit album "Det Snurrar I Min Skalle" the indie-electronic band is conquering crowds all the way from Europe to Australia. Both guys were entertaining, the crowd was singing and dancing restlessly to their songs and my feet lost control to their music! Count me in if they ever show up in Toronto: I'll be the first one in line!
After dancing to Familjen's eclectic beat the UK Indie band These New Puritans seemed to have a different kind of party in mind: dark and sombre, if not depressed! With the lead singer barely moving from his microphone, the band all appered stiff and somewhat unamused. Too bad I say to them, as the crowd is ready to party both inside and out of the club. While running from venue to venue I truly began appreciating this city. It reminded me of where I come from, a small town in Northern Italy where a couple of streets made the days, nights and weekends of my teenage years. I stopped for a moment, looked at the crowd, that honestly looked so young I still wonder how they managed to get into bars, and I remembered how it felt finally being suddenly under the spotlight when something big happened in the city. For 5 days during the Airwaves Festival Reykjavik gets to be the centre of Europe's musical attention, its population the life of the party, and I, the amazed spectator of this magical happening. I can only wait for Saturday to come and more to discover.
The Final DayHave you ever heard about the Blue Lagoon? No, I'm not talking about 1980's Brooke Shields movie, but aboutIceland geothermal top notch and must not miss out on destination. Saturday afternon, finally blessed by the sun we were off (bikini and flip-flops included) to the Blue Lagoon. Only 50 minutes away from Reykjavik, in the middle of literally no where there it was: turquoise blue water awaiting us at 38C degrees! With a DJ spinning and the crowd eating it up in the blue waters, this is a place I'd come back to in an instant. If the bus ride back to downtown was quiet the night that awaited us was certainly not! If Friday is the night to go out, Saturday night of Airwaves was my personal favourite and made me stay up till 4am with no regrets!
You want to hear some rock? You want to dance to a band that you are likely never to hear about here, in Canada? You want to be impressed? Than look out for this band coming all the way from the Faroe Islands: Boys in a Band is their name. Bjork's 'Declare Independence' introduced their performance, and the 23 year old lead singer annouced the band's intention of reuniting the nations of the Faroe's and Iceland. It was probably not the venue to be politically out there, but the crowd couldnt resist their energy. Besides their music, I must give it my 2 thumbs up to the keyboard player's beard and outfit! They have the moves, the music and style that only few bands have nowadays. They are THE band to look out for and if you're ever lucky enough to get to the Faroe Island do not miss one of their shows.
Hearts racing, we ran over to the next venue to catch Montreal's Handsome Furs. They were so handsome that the local English paper, The Reykjavik Grapevine gave them the spotlight in its Sunday issue!
After that it was time to line up: CSS was about to begin and we were still outside trying to get back into Reykjavik's Art Museum. The venue was perfect for lead singer, Lovefoxx's Bjork-like outfit. This was the band the Airwaves Festival crowd was waiting for and it was worth every single energizing note.
Lucky enough to sit in what has got to be the smallest pit in the entire Reykjavik music scence we saw Toronto's Crystal Castles performance. Though the venue's sound system gave the duo issues, it only made their show darker and fiercer. The crowed loved it and so did we!
French singer Yelle was next. Her intense voice,beat and an original outfit made her stand out in this long night. Another add to my renewed playlist, and definitely another surprise to this festivals line up.
Worth mentioning is another well known local band: FM Belfast. Somehow reminded me of Montreal's Chromeo with their flamboyant electronic beats. I must say I lost track of how many people were on stage at one point. But at the end of four intense days all that matters is that they had fun, we were amazed and the crowd was once again restlessly dancing the last night away.
For the more curious of you, here are some interesting fact about Iceland:
**Reykjavik's winter temperatures tend to be warmer than Manitoba!****Most Icelanders don't have a family name, therefore they use their given name and then father's-name-son (Jonson)or father's-name-daughter (Jonsdottir) ****Whale,shark & sheep heads can often be found on the menu****Beer was banned until 1989 ****Iceland has no army, navy or airforce but they do have a coast guard****The island of Grimsey in the north of the country is the only part that touches the Artic circle****Iceland is the oldest democracy in the World (about a 1000 years)**
Words: Corinne Copreni
Photos: Jess Watt
Posted by Corinne Copreni
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