Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.08.2013, Page 34

34The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 11 — 2013 Music
An Unbelievable
Weekend Of Mayhem
The Eistnaflug experience
by Tómas Gabríel Benjamin
The chance to have Iceland’s great-
est heavy bands obliterate your
eardrums with pure metal murder
should be reason enough to go, as
should the excuse of camping out
with your best mates for a weekend,
but there is more to the festival than
that. The fact of the matter is that it
is the best possible location for any
music festival in Iceland.
Neskaupstaður is the eastern-
most settlement of the country, and
is flanked by majestic and colourful
mountains. On the Thursday after-
noon of my arrival, the mountain-
side facing the town across the
narrow gulf has erupted into a full
bloom of deep greens, browns and
reds, momentarily paralysing all
onlookers with its magnificence.
My host for the weekend, Ína
Gísladóttir, tells me people usually
immediately notice how colour-
ful the Eastfjords are compared to
the rest of Iceland. Ína describes
how the shrubbery, grass and lava
all react differently to the summer
sunlight in the East of Iceland, cre-
ating unique breath-taking sights
with deep contrasts and a rich co-
lour palette.
This in turn also describes Eist-
naflug very well. Out in the Eastf-
jords, the bands are both presented
with the dreamlike natural scenery,
and have nothing but the very best
and most devoted fans. Even medi-
ocre bands become legends of rock
and roll on stage, as the enthusias-
tic crowd eats up everything they
have to offer. Never before have I
seen so many heathens pump their
fists to songs about bearing heavy
crosses. Likewise, nowhere else
can you see good and proper bands
receive so much deserved praise.
Eistnaflug has been held an-
nually on the second week of July
since 2005. What started as a one-
day metal festival now engulfs
Thursday, Friday and Saturday and
features various off-venue action
and activities. Tradition is being
built right before our eyes!

In the company
of friends
Another cool aspect of Eistnaflug is
the friendly vibe it offers. Make no
mistake, this is not on par with the
sometimes-violent drunkfests that
take place in Iceland during sum-
mer (most notably on Merchants’
Weekend), but a place to enjoy mu-
sic, good company and plenty of
booze. On the few occasions when
a fight looks to be about to break
out, I see concerned people leap
into action and defuse the situa-
tion. “Not at Eistnaflug,” one such
hero says as he steps between two
people on Saturday evening.
And if there is a VIP area, the
bands aren’t hanging there. It’s
as easy as pie approaching them
outside the venue and striking up
a friendly conversation. Humbly I
see them accept shots and shake
hands with ecstatic fans, sharing a
fag and talking about what bands
they look forward to seeing.
Speaking to a handful of musi-
cians, I ask what they think of the
festival, and what could be im-
proved. Each band assures me that
this is the very best festival to play
at, with no improvements neces-
sary. They only get paid in beer
and petrol money, but they all love
coming here.
The only concern that the bands
hint at is the fear of the festival be-
coming much bigger than it already
is. Becoming mainstream may offer
more commercial rewards, but at the
moment the size suits the fans, ven-
ue sizes and bands just perfectly.
READ REVIEWS OF THE MUSIC AT
GRAPEVINE.IS
Eistnaflug, “flight of the testes,” is sacred ground for the rockers and metalheads of Iceland. Featuring sets from 70 bands over
three days, 700 kilometres out of Reykjavík, it is a great place to relax or rock out to your favourite kind of music. Whether you’ve
branded every inch of your flesh with infernal symbols to the dark gods of metal, or just like the sound of Skálmöld on the radio,
you should go to Eistnaflug. Having just concluded my first visit, I can attest this wholeheartedly.
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NESKAUPSTAÐUR
ON EISTNAFLUG
Speaking to Jón Björn Hákonarson, chair of the town council, he says
the town has really embraced the festival. “Stefán, the organiser of the
festival, makes sure people don’t get up to any trouble. Eistnaflug is a
great promotion for Neskaupstaður, and creates a lot of value for the
food and hospitality sectors. The town has a long musical history, one
that Eistnaflug compliments well. The town takes a couple of days to
recover afterwards, but the camping sites and venues are all cleaned
up quickly. There is significantly less of a mess here than we hear from
other festivals, and violence and sexual assault incidents are unheard
of. It just goes to show that they don’t necessarily go hand in hand with
music festivals.”
Flights to Egilsstaðir provided by Air Iceland, book
flight at www.airiceland or call +354-5703000
Guðný Lára Thorarensen
Guðný Lára Thorarensen