Airwaves 2017 Kicks Off – Pixeled Passport

| 01-Nov-2017 | I took advantage of light rail from downtown to SeaTac on Tuesday: quick and easy. Met up with Jason at the airport where we hopped FI 680 bound for Keflavik. Our aircraft this time was a 767 (a first for me on Icelandair) which was much more comfortable than their typical 757. Binge watched (well, re-watched) Trapped, an Icelandic murder mystery mini-series. Also caught the latest Iceland Airwaves documentary to check out our cameo appearances in a number of scenes.

Jeff and Norberto, who arrived on Monday, met us as the Cathedral after our ride in from the airport. After dropping off our stuff at the apartment and having a quick bite, we delivered freshly baked (and well traveled) pumpkin bread to Lucky Records and Reykjavik Record Shop. Fortunately, TSA decided that, though wrapped in aluminum foil, the pumpkin loaves posed no threat to international air safety.

“Iceland Airwaves – a musical microcosm”, a documentary released earlier this year, covers much of the 2016 festival, with a few clips from prior years – including the Lucha Libre Ghostigial off-venue show at Harpa in 2013. Grainy, cell phone pictures from the in-seat screen onboard.

There’s a new burger place in town, Block Burger, so of course we had to check out that scene. It’s only a few blocks from the apartment so we stopped in on the way back from picking up wristbands at Hapra. Burgers were tasty and, equally as important, the fries were hot and crispy. Voted by the Reykjavik Grapevine as Best Burger in 2017, I hope to see Block Burger stick around.Formerly the “big venue”, Harpa is only hosting a few shows and the media center this year. Festival passes were limited to 6,000 in 2017 (down from 9,000+ last year) and did not sell out, so only using the smaller venues shouldn’t pose a problem for capacity.

The Hard Rock Cafe re-opened in Reykjavik just before Airwaves last year after a 12-year hiatus from the city. We didn’t catch any shows there during its debut as an official venue, but have heard good things. We kicked off our festival this year posting up in the cozy downstairs venue for an evening of heavy rock and electo-goth.

Kicking things off: Phlegm. Their introduction: “We are angry guys, singing angry songs, about things we hate. And trying to have fun doing it.” Yup, that about sums it up. Only drums and bass, though not your typical “drum and bass” music.

Rock on, my friends, rock on.

Next up, Skelkur í Bringu, a noise rock project fronted by dj flugvél og geimskip. Her drummer and guitarist were awesome and they created a fast-paced, rockin’ soundscape. The vocals where her own and very similar to her DJ mix but with more reverb, which kind of hung over the music in a disjointed way. But, you know, with lots of animal noises mixed in too. And not to disappoint, there was a story about a snake.

Benny Crespo’s Gang. We’ve seen this band once before, though many years ago. They’re fun live; keeping a good pace, sonically interesting with a mix of rock and electronics, and shared vocals.

The lovely ladies of Kælan Mikla with their dark, Goth-y synth-punk. Their sound has evolved since we saw them last year, becoming tighter, darker, and heavier.

Dressed in black, of course, their live performance is a must-see.

Finally, bounced to Húrra around midnight – a schedule announcement suggested Dr. Spock was playing an unplanned set, but it’s actually tomorrow night. Since the final set there was NOT one we wanted to see, we stopped by the hot dog stand’s temporary location to wrap up Airwaves Day 1.