Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.08.2005, Page 53

crowd, more people listening to
music.
Is it Björk that led you into
this?
Yeah, you could say that. She was
the headlining act the first time I
went there three years ago.
Ah ha, so Björk is the sole
reason everything is hip in
Iceland.
She opens up a lot of new acts and
stuff you haven’t heard before by
collaborating with many of those
artists.
So where can I hear the best
of Sónar? Is it on the radio?
On the internet?
It’s not on the radio. It’s basically
hard to get. It’s the music you have
to put effort into getting. Once you
get into it, you see that Sonar really
has the cream of what’s going on in
that genre.
Turning from an alternative
techno-festival in Barcelona
to… what is the G-Festival,
and would you recommend it
as strongly as Sonar?
I would recommend G Festival,
not for the music, though. I would
recommend G Festival just for the
trip to the Faroe Islands. It’s a weird
place. Especially if you’re there
seeing a music festival. It’s just weird.
You’re in a town not bigger than
Suðavík, with 500 people max, and
it’s turned into a beach party with
Europe playing.
There were 30 bands playing, I
probably saw eight, I remember
three, vaguely. I remember
Europe, and it was by far the worst
performance I’ve ever experienced
in my life. I really can’t say in words
how much they sucked, so I would
have to use the photo from the trip
to show how I
felt. I mean I’m
not kidding, it
was really really
bad. I’ve been
to bad concerts,
but this was
absolutely the
worst... ever.
Why would you want to see
an exotic locale for a music
festival? Doesn’t the festival
overrun the town the same
way a cruise ship might
overrun a village?
Just to see it. It’s unbelievable how
the people of the Faroes pull this
off. It’s even in remote place in the
Faroes. You have to rent a car or get
a bus just to get out there. Though,
thinking of the acts, is Faroes worth
going to see Europe, I don’t think so.
But drinking Faroes style is definitely
worth it.
What about the mainstream
festivals, then? In Europe?
Like Glastonbury or Roskilde?
I wouldn’t want to go to
Glastonbury, and Roskilde I’ve been
to but it’s too big. If you go to one
of those, you’re going just to have
fun and party your ass off. It’s not
about the music. If I had a favourite
band, I wouldn’t want to see them
at Glastonbury, because it’s not the
kind of place you can see someone
play at.
The other thing that gets me
is that festivals now market
themselves by having popular
bands. Not to do an ‘In My
Day’, but, seriously, for a
short while they at least let
bands with artistic integrity
who would never be profitable
come along for the ride.
Yeah, I know. People go for that
because they don’t want to go to too
many concerts a year. But seeing a
band play a festival is not the same
as seeing a musician play their own
concert where they are their own act.
People are essentially multi-
tasking by going to these
festivals. Checking off their
schedule.
They are. And you can see it with
Vestmannahelgi, where people see
the Westmans while seeing a festival,
or even people who fly out to Iceland
just for Iceland Airwaves and feel
they’re going to see everything.
If you fly to Iceland Airwaves,
at least you can see good
bands in small venues. And
good local music, something
I don’t see promoted at other
festivals.
Shopping
66° North 3
Cintamani 7
Iceland Giftstore 8
Icewear 11
Vík Wool 14
Illgresi 14
HR Chocolates 17
10-11 18
Handknitting Association of Iceland 20
Tæknival 26
Kirsuberjatréð 30
Naked Ape 31
Brynja 32
Osoma 36
Nexus 36
Skífan 46
The Viking Store 53
Cafes, Bars, Restaurants
Kaffi Róma 5,20
Segafredo 5,53
Pizza 67 19
Humarhúsið 27
Tveir Fiskar 28
Iðno 29
Ráðhúskaffi 29
Rósenberg 30
Hlölla bátar 31
Brynja 32
Dominos
33,35
Traffic 33
Shalimar 35
Á Næstu Grösum 37
Pravda 41
Studentakjallarin 44
Langbest Pizza 48
Hressingarskálinn 49
Bar 11 49
Halastjarnan 50
Accommodation 54
Hvammur
BB 44
Guesthouse Engjavegur
Hotel Bjarkarlundur
Hotel Breidafjörður
Hotel Búðir
Hotel Framnes
Hostel Hamar
Hostel Vík
Hotel Hellnar
Kerlingarfjöll
Guesthouse Ódinn
Guesthouse Urdarstekkur
Central Appartments
Youth Hostel Grundarfjörður
Heiðarbær
Guesthouse Lónsá
Guesthouse Salka
Vogar Travel Service
Activity Tours
Museums and Galleries
Grindavík Icelandic Salt Fish Museum 5
Energy Museum 16
Klink & Bank 16
The Origin Tour 21
Einar Jonsson Museum 30
Naked Ape 31
The Laxness Museum 32
Reykjavík Art Museum 42
Þjóðveldisbærinn 54
Transportation
RB Car Rental 17
Borgarhjól Rent-A-Bike 29
Hertz 55
Flugfélag Íslands 55
Activities
The Reykjavk Tourist Information Centre 4
Arctic Rafting 9
Listasumar Akureyri 10
Reykjavik Excursions 13
Activity Tours 15
Iceland Excursions 19
Gufubaðið Laugarvatni 29
Blue Lagoon 37
Reykjavík Spa City 45
The Icelandic Opera 47
Jökulsárlón 48
Sea Tours 51
Kerlingafjöll 51
Elding Whale Watching 52
City Center Booking Service56
Other
Gajol 34
OgVodafone 43
Carlsberg 56
Ad index
G! FESTIVAL
Faroe Islands
Mainly local music. That is what’s
good about it. As a foreigner all
of this is new to you. And those
Icelandic bands that know how to
perform, perform world class.
Still, let’s rip on festivals in
general. It seems like any
band that plays a big tent
and tits festival is pandering
so badly, putting their sound
quality and artistic integrity at
so much risk to play in front
of a hammered crowd, that
it’s hard to respect
them.
I would say that’s true
for the average festival.
But Sonar is different.
The sound and how
they treat artists is so
impressive. And with
that, you get to see so
many good artists that
you don’t have to see
any more good concerts
this year.
And you don’t want
to see too many concerts a
year either. You multi-task?
Not really. It just happens that way
with Sonar, it has everything I like
to see.
That’s because you don’t like
local music. Admit it. You
don’t like the local scene and
need to jump ship to see this.
Sure.
Bastard.
Europe, in Europe, doing one of their smash hits...
emm ... wings of despair.
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