So its actually the last day of airwaves, and I’m still back filling from day two. So day two was a day of off venue venues we’d not been to before, starting with Eldsmiðjan (a pizza restaurant) for Elin Ey, it was quite surreal as people were eating their lunch, and people packed on the staircases whilst waitresses squeezed past with trays of food. Elin Ey is one part of Sis Ey, but her set today was acoustic and down tempo, a stark contrast to the upbeat electro sound of her band. She also threw in a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams which was so chilled and oddly perfect for the strange surroundings.
Next we headed to Bio Paradis, a cinema that also has a gallery space – there’s a group show on at the moment, mostly 2D media, worth checking out if you’re still in Reykvavik. We came to see Sekuoia from Denmark, acoording to the bio, Sekuoia is just 1 guy, but there were two performing today, maybe that’s just for the live version? There were a few technically issues (such as the sound cutting out completely), but they smiled and got on with it, chilled out beats, sort of reminded me of Royksopp, but not.
Next stop was Galleri Fold, next door but one to the infamous Lucky Records (whose Off venue program lasts a full weel). We’d never been in here before because it’s always had that vibe of posh commmerical gallery. We stayed for two bands here – the amazingly prog rock Electric Space Orchestra, whose intruments included a digeridoo and the theremin. They were followed by Black Desert Sun who were more traditional rock metal.
Next up it was time for some on-venue action, so we headed to Harpa, starting out watching a band trubotharnir by accident, as the sign posts outside the rooms were incorrect, no offence to this band, they sounded great but we were wanting to check out Borko next door.
Always a humerous performer and once again flanked by trombones and trumpets, Borko got our spirits lifted with tunes such as Ding Dong Kingdom and Sing To The World and it was all too soon before he was departing the stage.
Next up was Low Roar, which as the name might suggest, sound like a low roar, lo-fi, but I’m afraid their performance didn’t set me on fire – somewhat lacking the roar bit. This was despite having enjoyed listening to some of their tracks on Spotify. So if i’m honest, waiting for Mercury Rev was like torture. But eventually we were put out of our misery, and Mercury Rev burst onto the stage in spooky smoke, throwing long shadows around the stage.
They were nothing short of amazing, Jonathan Donahue’s flamboyant gestures and performance were show stopping. The only suprise for me of the set was that they didn’t bother with recent single ‘Are You Ready?’ (was it really a single? it had a video release, which makes me think it kinda is). And I also didn’t really expect them to play my favourite (Little Rhymes) – but this didn’t stop them being a favourite of the festival.
Culturenator 