Iceland Airwaves 2010 – Thursday review

Thursday morning in Reykjavik and there was no rain. According to the forecasts this was to be a rare moment during Iceland Airwaves 2010 so Lee & I set out on a whistle-stop tourist tour of Reykjavik by foot – I added to my collection of photos of Hallgrimskirkja just to prove the blue sky existed. A combination of hitting the tourist trail and a long, lazy, huge lunch at Vegamot meant that the daytime schedule passed me by, so the energy was up for the evening session which promised to include my first sight of new band Pascal Pinon and a trio of old favourites – Reykjavik!, My Summer As A Salvation Soldier and Jan Mayen.

First stop, as on Wednesday, was Sódóma. This time though in contrast it was almost empty – a good sign for the evening ahead but not great for the first band up tonight, the 59’s. The venue continued to fill up slowly throughout a fun set of rockabilly numbers, led by a limelight-loving (hogging?) double-bass player whose accent suggested roots closer to London than this capital city.

At the close of their set, we made an immediate move to the almost adjacent venue, Risið. This was my first visit, it’s a nice small bar (same design as the Cheers bar), not perhaps logistically perfect for a gig but really cute and intimate all the same. It also featured toilets with no labelling, so finding out which one was intended for your particular gender was achieved by trial and error. Enough bathroom detail, I was here to see Pascal Pinon whose album, “Pascal Pinon” and in particular the song, “I Wrote a Song” had enchanted me over the summer. The first thing to strike me was how young they are. I mean I already knew that but in person it’s very obvious. They were shy and very quiet indeed but the quality of the playing and the voices overcame that, I thought they were a delight and the aforementioned song was my absolute highlight.

Off to Nasa next where an evening of Iceland rock was in progress, destined to culminate later with local legends S.H.Draumur and HAM. For now we caught the very end of a set from Kimono which I wish I had seen more of, especially as I’d enjoyed their latest album “Easy Music For Difficult People” so much. Next up, for the first but not last time at this year’s Airwaves were Reykjavik! These guys are always amongst my festival highlights. I can’t give an unbiased review. Their Nasa show was great, although I enjoy them more in smaller spaces – they have the most incredible stage energy (above). I watched from the side of Nasa as the crowd slowly, and then quickly, became embroiled in a riotous moshpit led by front-man Boas (below) as ever. For me, the highlights this time were the two new songs, Internet & Cats which I hadn’t seen live before. Cats in particular sounded just as fantastic as it does recorded. By the end of the set Nasa was hot and full, but we were headed out into the streets to see what else was going on.

  Landing at Sódóma again, we found that Finnish band, Le Corps Mince De Francoise were partway through their set of electronic dance stuff. Before the festival I had been impressed by what I heard, but live they were a little weaker sounding although they had an infectious sense of fun. We had managed to find a spot in Sódóma which had proximity to both the bar and some fresh air, so we stayed put to see Danish band, Oh No Ono (right). This was a nice surprise, danceable indie music fronted by a guy with incredibly high curly hair, and hence an excellent silhouette. As well as this, he had an amazingly high voice which I hadn’t noticed somehow on the tracks I’d heard before Airwaves. I have to credit Lee here, who christened the genre “Fraggle Rock”. 

Next it was back to Risið to see My Summer As A Salvation Soldier. The first thing that struck me here was that it was almost empty; there were maybe 30 people in there. Sure, it was between bands, but surely there couldn’t be that many people trying to work out which toilet they should be using. A couple of quick enquiries at the bar told me that the previous act had not gone down well and the place had emptied out. A massive shame as it never really re-filled and thus the set by MSAASS was played out to a pitifully attended bar and the atmosphere suffered badly. Þórir was joined on stage by a drummer and bassist and as a result his fragile songs were louder and bigger than I was used to, and some of their personality and fragility was perhaps lost. That said, the songs themselves were as good as ever, but the moments when the sound was stripped back to just voice and guitar were wonderful.

  We finished the night with two bands in Amsterdam, which by the way is a very welcome addition to the Airwaves venue list. It’s a tidy stage at the end of a long bar. The fruit machines at the back are slightly surreal (for a gig, not a bar) especially when they start bleeping and paying out mid-song. Jaakko & Jay (right) were an excellent surprise. This Finnish duo made a hell of a noise between them and their brand of folk-punk (?) created more atmosphere in a packed Amsterdam than anyone else I saw in there all week long. These guys are engaging, fun performers armed with short, fast, breathless songs which they scatter around like sonic bullets. They were followed by a long-time favourite of mine on the Icelandic scene, Jan Mayen. Maybe it was the end of the night, and my brain was slowing down but it really sounded like these guys had entered some sort of mature phase – the pace and franticness which I love about their work seemed to be lessened. The tunes sounded slower and more considered when all I really wanted was the same set I’ve seen them do for the last 6 years. It will be interesting to hear any new material they’re working on.

All in all, this was a good night, with Pascal Pinon, Reykajvik! and Jaakko & Jay (Lee’s band of the day) the big winners. Thursday was a whole lot better than Wednesday, let’s hope the upturn continues.