Ten
 | 06-Nov-2019 | Iceland Airwaves 2019 – our 10th festival – is ON! Full possé: me, Jeff, Berto, Tristen, and Andy! Jeff and I flew out of London mid-day today and touched down in Iceland at 3:30pm. KEF has a new baggage system that throttles loading bags onto the collection belt, so they not only put multiple planes worth of bags on a single belt, they only shoot bags out when there’s an open space. Totally makes sense, but it also makes something of a game out of waiting for you bag, particularly when everyone is hanging out in Duty Free instead of collecting luggage.
“Don’t hold that bag, there’s space – go for it!” “Shoot it, shoot it! Don’t miss that spot!” “Take that weak-ass game home, baggage belt!” Um, yeah … talking to the automated baggage reclaim system – it was a thing. |
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Transfer to downtown Reykjavik was relatively painless. Either that or our expectations have been lowered to the level of “shitshow” and the nonsense is acceptable. Seriously, your business is to move people, how can you look surprised when a bus load of people shows up at the bus terminal? This is what you do! The supply chain professional in me wants to bring order to the people-moving chaos. |
| Dropped our bags off at the apartment and hit City Hall for wristbands, then dinner at Block Burger. We’d heard this joint had closed, but it’s still alive and well. Best fries in Reykjavik … and good fries DO make the burger. |
| Met up with the guys at the Reykjavik Art Museum, one of the few venues with a full schedule tonight. |
 The lovely, goth-y goodness of Kælan Mikla. We saw them a few weeks ago in Seattle, and they sounded even better tonight.
Crappy lighting – there are three women just below that screen … somewhere. Trust me on this. |
 Next up, aYia. More goth-y synth. Jeff described them as barefoot electronica – you know, crystals and shit. Their uptempo songs are jammin’. |
 Orville Peck. Super-popular Canadian country. Not my deal, so I’ll leave it at that. |
Une Misère. Dark. Heavy. Industrial. Compelling. They’re all in with a 3 guitar attack and bangin’ drums. We saw this band two years ago and were excited to see their evolution having just released a record at the 1st of the month.
Arnór can scream and whip up an emotional frenzy with the best of ’em. |
| The best thing about tonight’s show was re-connecting with Airwaves friends “Calculon Rob”, “Vancouver Matt” and Tanya, “Scotland Paul”, and some of their extended Airwaves circle. Over the years it has become less about the number of shows and what we see, and more about who we see and connect with on the street, at shows and generally around town. |
