Tonight is the last night of 2009. This certainly calls for a celebration, since we have high hopes and a good feeling about 2k10. And what better way to celebrate than get drunk, burn shit and blow stuff up?
If you are in the greater-Reykjavík area, chances are that you’ve already made plans for the evening. For your sake, we hope you did. On New Year’s Eve, Icelanders like to eat good food and go look at a bonfire before commencing to get shitfaced while watching the annual Áramótaskaup (year-end-laughs) comedy revue. When that is done, most folks will blow up some fireworks before getting even more shitfaced at some party or club.
There are a total of nine New Year’s bonfires going on in the city of Reykjavík this year. They will all be lit promptly at 21:30, and they usually last half an hour to an hour. Feel free to bring some shit to burn if you’ve got it lying around. The biggest bonfires will go on at Ægissíða (in Vesturbær), Geirsnef (in Skútuvogur), by Rauðavatn (where Davíð Oddsson and his cronies run Morgunblaðið – hey, maybe they’ll burn the MBL palace down accidentally?) and by th’ old thrash yards at Gufunes.
Smaller bonfires will be burned at Skerjafjörður, by Suðurhlíð (near the Fossvogur cemetery), opposite Valbjarnarvöllur in Laugardalur and by Suðurfell in Breiðholt.
If you’ve no idea where any of these places are, we suggest looking them up at www.ja.is or just asking some locals where they think they are. But you really should try and check out a bonfire. Watching shit burn is an excellent way to prepare for 2010. If you’re totally helpless, Reykjavík Excursions has got something called a Bonfire Tour going on tonight, that promises to take you to all the crazy bonfires. Call 580 5400 to enquire about tickets, which are 6.300 per person.
Clubs usually open shortly after midnight, or was it one AM? We forget. In any case, they are open for super long, so if you plan on splurging on drinking at one of them (it’s usually more expensive than on normal nights) you have plenty of time to spend your hard earned krónur on 1.200 ISK beers.
Kaffibarinn’s New Year’s party is always pretty fun and this year probably won’t be an exception, that is if you are into that whole KB spirit. You’ll need a ticket to get in, though. The awesome new Bakkus is also hosting a New Year’s bash, with the ever-amusing DJ Árni Sveins manning the decks. Hressó, NASA, Prikið and, well, pretty much every other club are also hosting New Year’s parties of some kind (the one at NASA is supposed to be pretty cool – it has a Y2K theme and is hosted by Curver and Kitty Von Sometime (of Weird Girls infamy).
But of course, we mostly recommend going to someone’s house. If you don’t know anyone, go out right now and make some friends.
And happy New Year, guys. It’s been a pleasure being with you in 2009.
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!
