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Please Don’t Leave: Suicide Awareness Is All The Rage During Yellow September
Last week, a remarkable video emerged of legendary rocker Jon Bon Jovi talking someone off a ledge in Nashville. In the three and a half minute video with no sound, a heart-wrenching scene unfolds as Mr. Jovi and his production assistant calmly…
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The House of Revolution Are Trying To Make A Better Society
If you are feeling a bit drab, lost and in dire need of some variety in the form of live entertainment, head on over to the House of Revolution where they are serving radical representational fierceness. The House of Revolution is an…
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New In Town: Ramen Momo, Mosinn, & Daisy
Reykjavík changes pretty fast. If you don’t stop to read our New In Town once in a while, you could miss it. Ramen Momo Bankastræti 8 Opening hours: Monday to Friday from 11:30-21:00, Weekends from 12:00-21:30 For ten years, Ramen Momo founder…
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Norðanpaunk Forever: Ten Years Of Iceland’s Best Festival
It was Merchant’s Day Weekend 2024 when the independent DIY underground music festival Norðanpaunk turned 10 years old. This great weekend shall not be soon forgotten, no matter how much Prosecco was chugged from a large plastic bottle in front of a…
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Culture Night Craziness: How To Spend Your Menningarnótt
Have you been yearning for a day of free waffles, street parties, mylar balloons, candy floss and frightened dogs in crowds all over town? You’re in luck pal, because Saturday August 24th is once again time for Menningarnótt (“Culture Night”), Reykjavík’s de…
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Enfiladed Chambers of Dreams: Visiting the Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum in Akureyri
“Look for the statue of a giant man,” I told my passengers as we headed up Svalbarðseyri in Eyjafjörður, just across from Akureyri, being tailgated on the narrow highway while searching for the elusive left turn to our destination. The giant statue…
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Three Little Reindeer: Visiting East Iceland’s Magical Reindeer Park
The thing I really loved about believing in Santa Claus was the idea that reindeer would land on our roof. It didn’t matter that our fireplace was non-functional and hidden behind furniture, when my mom would rattle those jingle bells at midnight,…
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Pretty, Witty & Gay: Reykjavík Pride Is A Week Full Of Wonders
It still comes as a surprise to so many fine visitors to our fair isle that the public party that draws the biggest crowd is the annual Reykjavík Pride parade. “Not the Independence Day parade?” they ask. All tea no shade, but…
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Party On: What To Do On Verslunarmannahelgi
You know that feeling when summer is winding down, your vacation is already a distant memory, and the return to quotidian drudgery hangs over you like the sword of Damocles? Doesn’t it just make you wanna get on your bike and go?…
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Grapevine Events: Drag Comedy, Street Food, Indigenous Dance
IT IS. THE FREAKIN. WEEKEND. And a lot of folks have packed off to LungA Festival on the Costa del Seyðó. But if you happen to be chilling in Reykjavík and looking for some fun things to do — we got you.…
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The Village People: Don’t Dry Your Balls With the Hairdryer
The Village People is a series of micro-interviews with the people who make life in Reykjavík better. Name & age: Fríða Björk Einarsdóttir, 55 Occupation: Shift manager at Vesturbæjarlaug How long have you worked here and do you like it? This is…
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The Village People: Daníel the Cobbler
The Village People is a new series of interviews with the people who make life in Reykjavík run in subtle yet crucial ways, while giving it colour and character. Full name & age: Daníel Magnússon, 31 Occupation: Shoemaker (Þráinn Skóari) Place of…
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Polishing Iceland: The Reykjavík Ensemble Brings The Polish Experience To The Stage
Icelandic theatre has a long and distinguished reputation in its native tongue but, to date, is all but inaccessible for non-Icelandic speakers. The recently established Reykjavík Ensemble International Theatre Company is bringing about change to the status quo with a troupe of…
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The Strength Of Sensitivity: Entanglements in New Dance Piece Þel
We strive to connect. We crave touch and intimacy. We want to belong and be a part of something. We strive to feel some shared experience. These are not questions to be answered in Þel, Katrín Gunnarsdóttir’s newest dance piece for the…
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Melody-Minded Chapters: The Visual Classical World Of Gabríel Ólafs
Gabríel Ólafs’ debut album ‘Absent Minded’ is out now on One Little Indian, available on all streaming platforms and in stores on vinyl. As Icelandic artists continue to establish themselves in the world of modern classical music, a new generation of musicians…
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Flowing Freely: Flæði Art Venue Seeks Artists On The Fringe
It looked like a small town summer art festival. Dozens of interestingly dressed, mostly young people loitering in the middle of the street, passing bottles of rosé back and forth, laughing and chain smoking. From an open door nearby, the loud sound…
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From Biennale To Vinyl: Styrmir Lays Performance Art Down On Wax
Most of us at some point have taken pause to ask ourselves “What am I doing with my life?” For Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson—artist name simply Styrmir—this question came to him during a fateful walk through a Riga cemetery and became the title…
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Darkness Rising: The Ascension MMXIX Metal Festival Shrouds The Midnight Sun
As the summer light increases and festival season takes off, Ascension MMXIX brings together the blackest of the black metal and dark music in Iceland. Risen from the ashes of the Oration festival, held for the past three years, the newly christened…
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Make Us Laugh, Clown: Ari Eldjárn’s Life Of Laughter
It is impossible not to laugh while talking to Ari Eldjárn. The ebullient and vivacious comedian constantly breaks into dead-on impersonations, reenacts comedy sketches and enthusiastically quotes his friends to a point that you feel you are part of the story. This…
