Reykjavík Grapevine - 31.07.2009, Side 32

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Into The Great Foggy Hangover
On my first day at Eistnaflug, I
experienced the reliable Skítur, the
talented youths in Plastic Gods and
the ho-hum hardcore of Actress,
as well as discovering that if you
keep beer at the very back of a
Ford Focus, it remains relatively
cool, even with sunlight pouring
through the windows. Read on for
more exciting escapades.
Friday, july 10th:
It’s 13:07 and I emerge from my
tent to a fog-shrouded campsite.
Everyone needs to buy more alcohol.
It’s 13:58 and lots of people are
outside the venue to see the premiere
of the Eistnaf lug ’08 documentary,
but the venue is not open and no-
one knows what’s going on. Almost
everyone is drinking.
The doors are eventually opened.
My ability to recognise anyone at
Eistnaf lug 2009 is further hampered
by the fact that four monitors obscure
the subtitles that identify the talking
heads in the movie.
15:35 PM: I wander aimlessly
around the campsite. People are
either sleeping or drinking their
hangovers away.
16:24: Gamle.
16:30 Someone tells me BoB are
not playing because someone is sick.
Pussies.
16:47 People want to see Andlát,
Mínus & HAM. They don’t want
to see Vicky, Changer, Sólstafir or
Swords of Chaos.
It’s 17:52 and I’m back at the
venue. It’s still foggy and I’m still
hung over. The guy selling the
Eistnaf lug ’08 movie won’t give me a
copy, even though I’m in it and wrote
one of the songs in the soundtrack.
18:24 Svartidauði are pretty cool.
19:31 Turns out BoB did play.
Huh. I sit on a propeller drinking
lukewarm beer as Toto plays from a
car stereo.
19:59 Rumours that there will be
a group masturbation session at the
Vicky show are starting to spread.
Someone is passed out in the middle
of the street.
20:17 Everyone says Forgarðir
Helvítis were awesome. Maybe I
should have seen them. I wonder if
I should go watch Changer. Probably
not.
21:21 A drunk girl wanders
onstage during Andlát’s set. A
roadie kindly asks her to leave. The
singer has gained some weight.
“Uninspired,” someone tells me.
The crowd seems to be enjoying
itself, though. The drunk girl comes
onstage again. She falls face-forward
off the stage. No-one catches her.
Someone laughs.
21:45 One guy waits for Vicky
to start. He’s drunk off his ass and
singing along to Dio. The music
changes to Ensími’s Kafbátamúsík.
I’d rather listen to Katbátamúsík on a
good stereo than watch Vicky live.
22:01 In the end, Vicky aren’t half
bad. Kind of boring, but not bad. I
leave.
22:33 (Possibly 11:33, the
handwriting is partially illegible) I sit
in a car listening to Electric Six. I’m
congested. Nothing happens. I blow
my nose several times. People argue
over beer.
23:37 I get a massive case of déjá
vu. I’m still in the car, congested,
listening to Silversun Pickups.
23:58 The venue is impossibly
crowded and everyone at the entrance
is singing Total Eclipse Of The Heart.
Saturday, july 11th:
0:02 Mínus start playing. I adjust
my socks. They’re quite good, but the
real excitement comes when the new
bassist tries to reconnect his effects
during the second song.
0:16 Everyone crowdsurfs and the
band drinks a lot of beer.
1:05 Mínus finish their set. I walk
outside for another beer. Someone
vomits off the edge of the pier into the
ocean. I sit on a bench and take notes.
Everyone is ecstatic about seeing
HAM. I sit and watch, mesmerized,
as a cigarette burns out on a sidewalk
tile.
2:24 And HAM wrap up. I can’t
describe how badly I want a sandwich
and a glass of water. They seem,
however, to be unobtainable, so I
lean on a car and close my eyes. I
can’t seem to lose my mind drinking
alcohol like other people do. I guess
it’s not in my genes.
13:59 Random memories of
yesterday: Someone walks up to
me during the Svartidauði set,
harmonizing his own backing vocals
into my ear, loud. I have no idea how
to react, so I harmonize back at him.
Flies keep landing on a grapefruit
I’m eating. I find a cellphone lying
around somewhere and call the most-
dialled number, trying to locate the
owner. A girl meets me and takes
the phone, saying she’ll get it to the
rightful owner, but she hands me
another phone, telling me to find its
owner. It’s not as foggy today as it was
yesterday.
15:56 I’ve just played an improv
gig in an art installation. There
was so much smoke in the room
that I couldn’t see the drummer
improvising with me from 5 feet
away. I resolve to finish all the beer in
my tent before doing anything else.
16:12 I shove two disgusting
combinations of bread, meat and
cheese into my mouth as I walk to
the campsite. A young man, drunker
than Graham Chapman on a film set,
brandishes a cap gun. “Your hat or
your life.”
18:28 Still in the tent, drinking
and listening to Enya. Someone tells
me Chino were lame.
20:12 Everyone has gone to see
On Tour | Grapevine Goes Eistnaflug Rock Festival – Part Two
20
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2009