Iceland Airwaves Music Festival: A Brief Review

It began in an airplane hangar, with an audience of only a couple of hundred people. Now in its 12th year, Airwaves draws thousands from around the globe every October to a city-come-village by the north Atlantic Sea, in order to present the feverish best in emerging Icelandic and international music.

The ticketed festival spans 5 days and kicks off in the early evenings, but the days are also filled with 'off-venue' gigs, and this is where Airwaves differs from your typical overtly structured, queue-monopolised, wristband-flashing music festival. These artists will play anywhere and everywhere; in coffee shops, libraries, cinemas, hostels, swimming pools, and sometimes even on the street. A casual walk through the city will often be derailed as you hear new music through an open door, and suddenly find yourself hugging a brick wall alongside strangers as you watch a guitarist fingerpicking happily beneath a coat rack.

This intimacy and a total love of music is what makes Airwaves so exciting. Many people, myself included, arrive with no prior knowledge of the artists or their music - but we know we'll leave with a plethora of new obsessions under our belts. The buzz in any given crowd throughout the festival - the nodding heads, closed eyes and tapping feet - certifies the feeling that you're among like-minded people with a thirst for new, unexpected, wonderful music.

Reykjavik is a small city, which makes it easy to move from club to bar as the night goes on, and you'll find yourself spotting the same familiar faces in different crowds. If you're lucky, you'll even end up jumping around next to the very attractive lead singer of the band who just played - a vast majority of the musicians really support each other's music and choose to attend the festival themselves, rather than sitting back in their dressing rooms.

This proves the festival's stalwart defence of homegrown talent, as international bands are only permitted to perform at one Airwaves. Ever. It means the focus stays strongly on Icelandic bands and their emergence into mainstream music channels. And there sure are a lot of them. If you think Icelandic talent only stretches to Bjork and Sigur Ros, you'd better think again. As the festival grows, there are more and more Europeans and Americans in attendance, all of whom are rapidly discovering the joys of Icelandic music. Mark it in your diary for October 2012, and get ready for a musical experience like no other.