Words by

Jesse Ziebart

Saturday night NASA turned ten years old! A solid gold dance-a-thon, this birthday party was one for the books. DJ Margeir kicked off the night with a deep and groovy set of dance music. DJ Margeir is a craftsman with talent, a large vocabulary and range. His set was a well thought out storyline of dynamics, subtlety and precision. He transported the listener from one movement to the next with sexy, groovy seamlessness. He was the perfect launch pad for the live bands.
FM Belfast hit the stage with guns blazing. KAPOW! In seconds the whole room was a spastic pogo mob, jumping up and down in unison. Shooting stars! Disco balls! Cotton candy! Their music was a happy tantrum of flashy, splashy techno-marching-band-on-crackness. FM Belfast are super fun and super cute, and they are also a super legit Heavy of the Icelandic music scene. And the drummer played a fierce cowbell—FIERCE, I tell you! FM Belfast brought the party to NASA: club goers were hyper, clapping and joyously singing every word to every song. Best birthday party EVER!
Páll Óskar is a human disco ball and I could not take my eyes off of his vampy fabulousness (or the other sequined and gyrating male dancers for that matter). He danced onto the stage in a silver sequins body suit, with lights shooting off of his body in all directions like rainbow laser beams. The man knows how to use his voice (and how to move his body). He is emotionally expressive and looks smokin hot in skintight clothing. He belted out club anthems with attitude, but what I loved most about his performance was how much he loved the audience. And what I loved about the audience was that the same people who knew all of the words to every FM Belfast song also sang every lyric to Páll Óskar’s songs. Iceland kicks ass.
Smoke machines filled the room with warm fog and NASA heaved with sweaty excitement as GusGus took the stage. The beats were SICK, the vocals had endless power, and NASA danced its ass off. GusGus are pros who always leave you wanting much, much more…and not because what they gave you wasn’t enough. They leave you wanting more because what they give you is just so damn good.
DJ Danni Deluxe finished things off with a set of addictive pop hits that a body craves like nicotine, caffeine and greasy food. People danced wherever they could find space and the temperature in the room was so high that I felt the bass beat blast gusts of hot air from the speakers. It was 3:45 AM, but with Rihanna’s new single blaring strong and the strobe lights going full bore, I was nowhere near tired. Happy Birthday, NASA! Here’s to ten more years of music! To quote FM Belfast “I don’t want to go to sleep either!”
Where: NASA
When: November 12, 2011
Who: DJ Margeir, FM Belfast, Páll Óskar, GusGus, DJ Danni Deluxe