Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.08.2007, Side 23
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While 10,000 Icelanders headed to the West-
man Islands for the annual national celebration
‘Þjóðhátíð’ during last week’s Verslunarman-
nahelgi (The Merchants’ Holiday Weekend),
approximately 300 Innipúkar (i.e homebodies)
attended the annual music fiesta Innipúkinn in
Reykjavík. The two-day indoor festival, held for
all those who hate Icelandic outdoor festivals
(or just happen to be fans of good music), took
place at the brand-new concert venue Organ
on August 4 and 5. This annual event featured
thirteen bands, four DJs as well as troubadours
and a happy bunch of concertgoers.
Although the previous two festivals have
managed to stuff club NASA – a venue more
than twice the size of Organ – by featuring a
lengthy programme and some international
headliners, the decision was taken by this
year’s organisers to scale down and make In-
nipúkinn a cosy festival anew, featuring only
local acts. This year saw a rejuvenated Innipúki
in a new venue, organised by the grassroots
crew behind the original festival.
The organisers’ wish-list of favourites was
quite a diverse mix of pop, indie, hip-hop and
hard-rock, and before arrival I really wasn’t
sure how it would all work out. I mean, having
calypso masters Bogomil Font and Flís play a set
right before hard-rock band Mínus who bring a
much louder sound, or making hip-hop group
Forgotten Lores follow noisy punk-rockers in
Æla. But it worked! There were no opening
acts and no headliners. Every single band was
huge for the weekend.
Forgotten Lores Hit the Spot
It was evident that the organisers had put their
heart and soul into making this the best event
it could be. The new venue looked amazing
and artist Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir (who also sings
in FM Belfast, who finished off the festival a
little over thirty hours later) had even made a
colourful art-piece featuring the names of all
the bands playing and hung it in the ceiling.
A very clever move, especially for those who
weren’t sure about the schedule.
The first band to get the party seriously
started were the uncrowned kings of Icelan-
dic hip-hop, Forgotten Lores. Not to say the
previous performance by indie-punkers Æla,
where singer Halli Valli screamed his lungs
out and climbed on almost every piece of
furniture available, wasn’t something to re-
member. But when Forgotten Lores jumped
on stage at 22:00 sharp on Saturday night,
their energetic presence immediately grabbed
every single soul in the crowd.
The fearsome foursome, Byrkir, Class B
and Diddi Fel on the mics, Benni-Bruff on
turntables, kicked off with the song ‘Spret-
tur’ from their latest album ‘Frá Heimsenda’
followed by ‘Hellulagðar Hæðir’ and ‘Fíling’.
The three rappers sure didn’t betray their
fans, and put on one-hell-of-a play on stage,
while the audience waved their hands and
bounced their heads to the beats, demanding
an encore. And what a better way to conclude
a kick-ass set than with ‘Takk Fyrir’ (‘Thank
You’). I can only say that it’s a shame for all
those non-Icelandic speakers that Forgotten
Lores only rap in Icelandic, as their lyrics and
genuine music are truly one of the best-kept
secrets in Icelandic music. Luckily for the fol-
lowing acts, DJ Apfelblut and the extremely
cheerful host of the night, made sure the
mood never went downhill.
A New Venue Reviewed
By now, Organ had started to fill up nicely.
The anticipation for what surprises the next
few hours would bring was growing by the
minute, and the bartenders had their hands
full trying to work their way behind the new
bar and serve beer to the thirsty crowd.
Between sets, the party moved to the out-
side port, where concertgoers would enjoy
cigarettes and chat about the previous per-
formances, or even the weather. Of course,
the brand-new venue was understandably the
topic of the night. Judging by the comments I
heard, people loved the place and everything
it had to offer; its design and downstairs
lounge-room, and the sound.
“This is a cool place. Crazy design and just
a perfect venue. I love the fact that you can
see the stage while waiting for your drink at
the bar!” one guest told me. “This place can
really house any kind of music, everything
from a sweaty hard-core band to a woman
playing the harp, alone on stage. The pos-
sibilities are endless, it’s just what this town
needed” another commented. This weekend,
packed with incredibly diverse bands, proved
to be possibly the best trial-run the bar’s own-
ers could have asked for.
At around 23:00, Ghostigital hit the stage
and played a handful of unreleased noisy
electro ditties, followed by Jeff Who?, who
mixed familiar pop-tunes from ‘Death Before
Disco’ with five new songs that most of the
crowd were hearing for the first time. While
they were not as catchy as last summer’s
super-hits, the band delivered their set well
and looked cool while doing so, before folk-
music group Stórsveit Nix Noltes finished the
night with a top-notch performance.
Watch Out World, Motion Boys
Are Coming!
It didn’t look as if people had been partying
hard the previous night by the time I arrived at
Organ on Sunday, as the place was filled with
lively concertgoers feasting on grilled hot-dogs
and beer. It was obvious that Sunday’s line-up
was a bigger draw than the night before as
the crowd seemed to have almost doubled
in size.
I unfortunately missed Mr. Silla and Mon-
goose, who apparently finished a great gig only
minutes before my arrival. The BBQ-master
still stood behind the grill in the outside port,
where hot dogs had been served since earlier in
the day. The party was flaming, and everyone
was ready for some more fun.
Sindri, the frontman of lo-fi country pop
group Seabear, stood focused on the stage,
backed by his band of six, while playing some
The Festival Where Everyone is a Superstar
Text by Steinunn Jakobsdóttir Photos by Leó Stefánsson
of the highlights of their stunning first release, ‘The Ghost
that Carried Us Away’. The crowd stood in silence, and
watched the show with awe, understandably, as with
every single gig they play, the sound of the band grows
and moves up to another level of brilliance.
The perky super-group Motion Boys were next up.
Their gig didn’t start as smoothly as the previous one
had ended, and the sound teased them through the first
song. But after a little tweak they went flying, and the
crowd followed. Although Motion Boys have released
but two singles, and the concert at Innipúkinn was only
their third gig ever, people already knew the lyrics to
their extremely catchy pop-tunes ‘Waiting to Happen ‘
and ‘Hold Me Closer to Your Heart’ and didn’t hesitate
to demonstrate the fact. And why should they? These
are some great songs. And if you don’t feel the urge to
run out to the floor for some dance steps, or even just
one hop or a shake when Motion Boys play live, you
must be a troubled soul who just shouldn’t attend large
gatherings of this sort. In my view, it’s just a question of
time when they will be playing some big festivals abroad,
seriously. They concluded with two new songs, the hero-
ballad ‘Steal Your Love’ and ‘Misfits’, which apparently
is about one member of the band who drove across the
US to find an ex-girlfriend. I can’t wait for the album.
“I Was Possessed”
By far the heaviest act of the festival, local rock-heroes
in Mínus, went on stage just after the calypso group
Bogomil Font and Flís had played enough danceable
songs to get everyone on their feet. Having recently
released a new album, ‘The Great Northern Whale Kill’
and featuring a relatively new but clearly an ambitious
bassist, Mínus was in great form that night.
“I’ve never seen Mínus so good and so tight,” a
friend of mine said in the middle of their set. I had
to agree, and I’ve seen more of their shows than I
can count with mere fingers ‘n’ toes. Singer Krummi
owned the stage, and the whole room in fact, and
with a devilish look on his face led the band and the
audience through a rollercoaster ride of pure rock ‘n’
roll.
But then something unexpectedly happened; some-
thing that would make their gig talk of the town for
days, if not weeks. In the middle of ‘Long Face’, when
the show was about to reach its peak, the bass-drum
cracked. When noticing this, Bjössi, the drummer, as
if in some kind of a trance, kicked the drum on the
side, jumped on the floor and tried to fit his whole
body inside it. Standing on his hands while half inside
the drum, his legs dangled in the air while his band
members kept on playing – for a few seconds. The
show was over. Realising that this was probably the
end, appropriate wows and whoos followed from the
crowd. Bjössi eventually stood up and showed his face
again, threw the rest of the drum set around the stage
before bursting out in laughter. The scene was just too
hysterical to warrant fury.
“What a freakin’ ending! These guys sure know
how to rock” one chain-smoking, tipsy fan said after
the show.
“I was possessed,” Bjössi later explained.
It was pushing 03:00 when crowd-pleasers FM Bel-
fast closed the night, and the festival. Definitely one of
the summer’s biggest party-groups, the band eventually
sent the swarm of now-super-awake concertgoers out
into the night, aching for some more fun to conclude
a brilliant weekend.
Although scaled down in size, offering half as
many tickets than previous festivals and featuring no
international big-shots, this year’s party – characterised
by power, high spirits and joyful atmosphere – felt a
thousand times bigger than ever.
“The party was flaming, and
everyone was ready for some
more fun”
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