Summer Celebration
I was sure the editor of Grapevine was busting my chops when he asked me to cover The Reykjavik Grapevine’s Sólarsamba Concert at Organ. Reasons being the following: my own [&he
Sólstafir
Organ was packed good, at least considering that it was a Tuesday night. Most people were obviously there to see Sólstafir so the interest in newcomers Polymental, who started the
Hjaltalín
Dressed in their Sunday best, which in this case included top hats and tails, Hjaltalín took to the purple-lit stage at NASA in front of a dead silent crowd. With […]
Ólafur Arnalds
As Ólafur Arnalds and his four-piece ensemble trickled onto the stage of The Water Rats in London, something very rare happened – the entire audience risked a beer-soaked ba
Björk
Did she just say what I thought she said? That was the question on the lips of my fellow revellers as we filed out of a Shanghai auditorium after Björk’s […]
Psychedelic Normalcy
Bathed in a purplish glow, the Benny Crespo’s Gang foursome opened up the first seated rock concert in recent memory, with a series of bleeps and blurps. It was the […]
Jesus Christ Rockstar
Excitement filled the air inside The Reykjavík City Theatre minutes before the premiere of Jesus Christ Superstar. There is no mystery to the plot in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd [&h
When Reykjavík Visits Rotterdam
It is cold, but serenely clear tonight. The atmosphere feels transparent, as if Rotterdam is opening up its sores to be assuaged by the healing music invading for the weekend [&hel
Airwaves Highlights
Art Museum – Thursday: Jenny Wilson introduced her track “Bitter” by quoting its lyric “I love to complain”; the songwriter shouldn’t have anything to complain about af
Of Men and Mongeese
When the Grettir Kabaret sponsored show at Organ began, the lineup was still a complete mystery to me. I had managed to pick up a couple of names from rumours […]
Ganging Up
The new live venue, Organ has been a pleasant surprise for regular concertgoers in Reykjavík. The place runs an ambitious program, and it is pretty much a given that you […
Passing the Test
Rumours about the imminent break-up of Mínus, Iceland’s biggest rock act, had circulated for weeks before second guitarist Frosti and bass player Þröstur recently quit the ban
Hopeless Romantics
“This song is about my mother,” began Þórir with his eyes on the floor, “Who unfortunately has never sat in Parliament.” The audience’s eyes, consequently, were all on
Borderline OK
When you identify your band as “rock,” you’re automatically recognizing your own fated mediocrity in a way. It almost predetermines the kind of grungy shows you’re designat
Saving Iceland Mega Concert
A barefoot girl with long blonde hair reaching down to her lower back was dancing enthusiastically to the deserving catchy beats of Retro Stefson when I entered NASA on a […
Thrash Revival
There’s still hope my friend,” bellowed I Adapt’s singer Birkir. The second band on stage, these hardcore mainstays pounded through Future in You, from their recent 7” rele
Celebrating Buckley
Jeff Buckley might have had the greatest set of lungs ever to grace this earth with a song. So, putting on a show to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his […]
How do you like AIR?
They’re veterans, AIR. They’ve been doing the album-tour-album-tour format for almost a decade now, squeezing in the occasional festival gig just to show the world that they’
Better Late Than Never
Icelandic/Swedish reggae band Hjálmar set the perfect example of how not to reward their dedicated fans. Let me explain. Hjálmar were due on stage at around midnight but didn’t
Swooning With The Rapture
I wonder if the Motions Boys have been having nightmares about power. For those of us who were there for the Great Motion Boys Power Blowout of 2007, there was […]
The Night the PA System Blew
As a part of the Take Me Down to Reykjavík City concert series, the Grapevine assembled a handful of upstart bands from Reykjavík to showcase at Iðnó. The historical theatre [&