Two days into the Keflavík Music Festival, five acts have cancelled, visir.is reports. Only two of four bands, that were scheduled to play in the tent last night, went on stage.
“We were supposed to be paid before going on stage, but when I showed up early to finalize the agreement, none of the organizers were there,” said Franz Gunnarsson, guitarist of Ensími. “It was all rather weird. There was no security on stage, no lights and no facilities for the musicians so we were standing around in the cold. We waited and waited for the organizers to show up but they never came so we packed our gear and left.”
Another Icelandic band, Sign, had the same complaint and cancelled too.
Óli Geir Jónsson, one of the organizers, told visir.is that the festival program in Reykjaneshöll was delayed two hours because due to Outlandish missing their equipment when they arrived at the airport from Denmark.
“The programme in Reykjaneshöll was supposed to run from 7 to 11 but instead it went on from 8:30 to 1:30. During that time, bands were supposed to be onstage in the tent outside but most of the crowd was in the concert hall,” Óli Geir said. “Obviously, the bands in the tent didn’t want to perform for only five people but meanwhile there were thousands of people in Reykjaneshöll. There wasn’t much we could do. But we’re not discouraged, we have a really good line-up for tonight and tomorrow.”
However, now it’s clear that troubadour KK, who was supposed to perform tonight, has cancelled too, as has Bubbi Morthens. Both musicians state that it is due to contracts not being ready in advance. German DJ Micha Moor had also cancelled, explaining on the festival’s Facebook page that he hadn’t received plane tickets from the organizers.
UPDATE: Ensími has announced that, in order to make up for withdrawing from the Keflavík Music Festival, the band will throw a free concert next Friday, in Hljóðfærahús Reykjavíkur, at 17:30.
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!
