Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.08.2012, Qupperneq 39

Awkward Times
At Innipú inn
pologie on a Tuesday” vibe. However,
this band does Icelandic lounge quite
well and brought the swaying to the
next level whilst playing their biggest hit
“Stutt skref” (“Short Steps”).
After what seemed like a four-part
opening act, Þú og ég took the stage
with a vengeance. I didn’t see it coming,
but they delivered a powerhouse per-
formance with only four songs! This late
seventies disco band had every person
singing aloud, clapping, groovin’, pulling
at, what seemed like, basically every-
one’s heartstrings. The audience was a
perfect reflection of the pop stars’ ex-
ecution—a cathartic release of pent-up
excitement that had been building for
what seemed like decades (maybe it ac-
tually was in their case?). They provided
the climax of the night, as Tilbury main-
tained the fervor to the evening’s end
with a synthpop dance routine. Overall,
a success, and it really was oh so sweet.
- MELKORKA LICEA
To be perfectly honest, by day three of Innipúkinn,
I was hardly thrilled to be
heading to another night of
music at Iðnó. It wasn't the
music that was problematic. It was the
overall setting: the whole festival felt
too tame. People didn't seem engaged
in the music, opting instead to chat in
the back of the hall, or hang out on the
porch overlooking the Pond. There was
one woman who decided to dance the
weekend away and you could see her,
front-and-centre, during almost every
act. At first it was painfully awkward to
see her dancing in the otherwise stag-
nant concert hall, but by the third night,
the joke was on us. Why wasn't every-
one dancing like she was?
I arrived at the end of Gang Related's
opening set, a four-piece indie rock
act in button-down shirts. The crowd
was embarrassingly small. A few more
people showed up for Sudden Weather
Change's set. Their live performance
doesn't really do justice to their record-
ed sound, but overall, the songs were hit
and miss.
Hardcore favourites Muck followed.
It's not my kind of music, but the the-
atrics of their performance really sold
it—flashing lights, long-haired head-
banging. Still, the crowd remained
calm—shouldn't I have been thrashing
instead of chilling against a wall with a
cold Tuborg in hand? Their performance
was solid. They rocked so hard that the
“K” fell from the “INNIPÚKINN” sign that
hung above the stage spelling “Innipú
inn,“ which sounds like a seedy motel
in Greenland. Muck finished their set
strumming their instruments, unplugged
from amps—a clever, understated end-
ing, which drew attention to the distinc-
tion between noise and silence.
The next act, a piece of performance
art by the Shivering Man, drew the
crowd in, finally. But not in a conven-
tional way: Sigtryggur Berg Sigmars-
son (Shivering Man), entered, shouted
at the crowd, got naked and lip-synced
to Klaus Nomi. Finally, the curious audi-
ence packed in.
Ojba Rasta followed, and their well-
polished, well-balanced live sound fi-
nally got people moving. It didn’t matter
that some of their lyrics are pretty vapid:
“It's all good, it's alright / I feel jolly good
tonight.” At least people were dancing. I
had to leave to catch sleep before an 8
am bus ride (which I ended up missing
anyway). But I was happy that the awk-
ward energy had dissipated in dancing
by the time I left. I can only imagine that
R&B outfit Úlfur Úlfur and electronic
musician Oculus kept people moving
into the wee hours of the morning.
- ELI PETZOLD
39 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 12 — 2012MUSIC
05
SUNDAY
Iðnó
Vonarstræti 3
Lineup
Dr. Gunni, Kiriyama Family, Borko, Auxpan, Jónas Sigurðsson, Prins póló, Mammút, Just another
snake cult, Ásgeir Trausti, Lay Low, Gísli Einarsson, Moses Hightower, Þú og ég, Tilbury, Gang
Related, Sudden Weather Change, Muck, Shivering Man, Ojba Rasta, Úlfur Úlfur, Oculus
Innipukinnfestival03
AUGUST
04
AUGUST
05
AUGUST
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