This year’s Iceland Airwaves festival may be postponed until 2021, but you’ll still get a chance to hear your favourite Icelandic musicians perform this November. The two-day streaming festival Live from Reykjavík starts tonight, featuring performers such as Ásgeir, Hatari, Emilíana Torrini, Of Monsters and Men and Mammút.
According to Iceland Airwaves CEO Ísleifur Þórhallsson, festival staff worked hard to create a concert experience for people watching from home. “we wanted to make an effort,” Ísleifur told RÚV. “We’ve seen plenty of the world’s biggest artists in their underwear in the kitchen strumming a guitar, but this is a concert.”
The lineup consists of 16 performers: Ásgeir, Auður, Bríet, Cell7, Daði Freyr, Emilíana Torrini & Friends, GDRN, Hatari, Hjaltalín, Júníus Meyvant, Kælan Mikla, Mammút, Mugison, Of Monsters and Men, Ólafur Arnalds and Vök. The performances are recorded in venues that have been part of the Airwaves festival for years, such as the Reykjavík Art Museum, Iðnó and Gamlabíó.
While the performing artists agree that there’s nothing like a live performance with an audience, they hope that the concert will bring a little bit of that Iceland Airwaves atmosphere to viewers around the world. Einar Stefánsson, member of Vök and Hatari told RÚV he suggested people treat the live event like they would a real concert and give it their unlimited attention. “focus as you would at a concert, don’t be on your phone or Facebook at the same time. At a concert, you’re sharing a moment with the artists and others in the room, so that could be one way to get that atmosphere, turn off your phone and turn up the volume.”
The concert will be broadcast on RÚV and Rás 2 radio station. For viewers outside Iceland, tickets are available online.
