Iceland Airwaves
The Iceland Airwaves is an annually since 1999 in Reykjavik take-find music festival .
history
The festival first took place in 1999 as a one-off event in a hangar at Reykjavík Airport . Due to the unexpectedly great success, it was repeated on the third weekend in October in the following years and quickly became an initially five-day, later four-day event, which always took place from Wednesday to Saturday or Sunday and in various clubs and bars .
In 2007 the Iceland Airwaves took place in eight locations and was sold out for the first time in advance sales with 4,150 visitors.
Since 2014 the festival has been taking place on the second weekend in November .
Iceland Airwaves was hosted by the Mr. Destiny agency in collaboration with the city of Reykjavík and Icelandair until 2017 .
From 2018 the festival will be organized by the concert agency Sena Live. Icelandair remains the main sponsor.
In 2018, 50% of the performing artists were female. The festival is one of the first festivals to include gender equality in the line-up. Visitors could see over 200 artists from 30 different countries in more than 20 different locations. The locations included a. a cinema , the Fríkirkja , a swimming pool and a branch of the Landsbanki .
The main aim of the festival is to introduce new bands, both Icelandic and foreign. Some bands then made their international breakthrough, so that every year many representatives of the music industry travel to Reykjavík to discover new talent. The organizer estimates that of the approx. 2000 visitors who came in 2006, over 1000 were from the music industry. Among the visitors there are also editors of almost all of the major music magazines that praise the festival every year.
Line up
Among the bands that have already performed are !!! , Bloc Party , of Montreal , The Magic Numbers , Kaiser Chiefs , Klaxons , We Are Scientists , Wolf Parade , Dälek , Fjallabræður , The Zutons , Juliette and the Licks , Junior Senior , Ratatat , The (International) Noise Conspiracy , José González , Zoot Woman , Clap Your Hands Say Yeah , Architecture in Helsinki , Au Revoir Simone , Keane , The Shins , The Bravery , Hot Chip , The Kills , TV on the Radio , Matthew Herbert , The Album Leaf , Gus Gus , The Rapture , Fatboy Slim , The Hives , Sparta , Chicks on Speed , Sigur Rós , Suede , Flaming Lips , Thievery Corporation , Múm , Roger Waters , Of Monsters and Men , Dikta , Kraftwerk , FM Belfast , Yo La Tengo , Jon Hopkins , Mammút , Sólstafir , PJ Harvey , Retro Stefson and Gavin Portland .
