Tag Archive Airwaves12

ByGD

Reykjavik Style

My first trip to Reykjavik was for Airwaves in 2012. That fall it seemed like Icelanders wore a uniform, epitomized in Asgeir Trausti’s outfit of ox-blood red skinny jeans, chambray shirt, and beanie hat. He wore that outfit on stage for three of the five shows I watched that weekend. But for the last two shows he had a new sweater.

20121104_144745_8579217192_o

 

Later that day I walked down Laugavegur and saw this shop.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It shed a little light on the Reykjavik uniform. Icelanders, like most Europeans, have a sharp sense of style by American West Coast standards. But they don’t  have many places to shop. I am not such a fangirl that I went into the shop, so I don’t know how much the sweater cost. (Having gone into a couple of other shops on Laugavegur, I can bet it was more than I would spend on a sweater.) But I might have gone home and bought skinny jeans.

ByGD

Nova Heart at Airwaves 12

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I saw Nova Heart play a coffee shop on the first night of Iceland Airwaves. I loved the beefy, rocking sound her trio generated, and delighted in the way she manipulated feminine stereotypes in her performance, ranging from anime cute to Lucia de Lammermoor crazy. But the memory sort of got lost in the 39 shows I saw over the next three days, and I’ve never heard anything about her since.

NovaHeart2

 

ByGD

Lockerbie at Airwaves 12

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Icelandic band Lockerbie looking very young at Airwaves 2012.  I loved their debut album, and this delightful video that came from it. I should see what they’ve been up to lately.

ByGD

Two of the Coolest People in Iceland

???????????????????????????????

One of the cool things about Reykjavik is that it is both a sophisticated European capitol and a small town. It is possible to walk down the street and run into members of two of your favorite bands, as basically happened here during Airwaves 2012 when Gyða, the guitar player for Angist, and Gummi, the founding drummer of Sólstafir, posed for this picture. 

ByGD

Edda of Angist

EddaAngist

 

Angist is one of my favorite death metal bands, in large part due to Edda’s inhuman growl that sometimes give way to an eerie black metal wail. Although they don’t play live terribly often (the local scene just isn’t big enough to support a ton of heavy metal shows) I have had the good luck to see them perform each of the three times I’ve been to Iceland. This photo is from the first time – an official Airwaves show at a bar called Amsterdam in 2012.