Welcome To Our Hangover Issue

Welcome to The Reykjavík Grapevine’s first and maybe last “Hangover Issue.”

Unfortunately, this issue had to go to the printers directly after the Iceland Airwaves festival. As usual, we reviewed every official show at the five-day festival and that’s something like 200 shows right there (go to www.airwaves.grapevine.is to read those reviews and more). And, as usual, we partook in some of the partying that inevitably accompanies such a music festival. Judging by all of the broken glass and puddles of puke that we had to dodge, a lot of Airwaves-goers partied harder than we did, but we are still pretty beat after it all.

The truth is, though, the post-Airwaves streets of Reykjavík looked much like they do after every weekend. The way Icelanders binge drink, smash bottles, urinate and puke all over the place, you might think we were all raging alcoholics (if you haven’t witnessed it, just go read the stories on page 30-31).

It’s so out of control that you might even be tempted to think that alcohol consumption and alcoholism are among Iceland’s per capita world records. That’s actually not the case, but Iceland does have the per capita record for the most people seeking drug and alcohol rehabilitation. In fact, more than 10% of Iceland’s living male population over the age of 15 has been to 10-day inpatient treatment. And that remarkable statistic is what this issue’s feature story, “Rehab Nation,” is about (page 16).

Finally, if you don’t think rehab is the answer to your hangover, turn to page 33 to read about our hunt for the best Bloody Mary. It turns out these are few and far between in this town and some of the strange concoctions we received hardly fit the bill.

You can thank us later for the time and energy we just saved you.