The Blue Lagoon must be
Iceland’s most popular tourist attraction. Encircled by rocks, the natural
hot springs are curtained by huge banks of steam and when you’re submerged and lost in the mist there it’s easy to reach new levels of relaxation. Unless of course you happen along on the same day as Iceland Airwaves holds its hangover party. The place is rocking. DJs have dressed up in thick jumpers and woolly hats and are holding court over the swarm of revellers splashing about in the water. At the pool edges, girls and boys wear sunglasses, swimming trunks and drink beer. It’s about minus four hundred degrees and it’s a surreal sight. It’s like
Ibiza has suddenly been transported to a polar dimension and no one’s quite noticed yet. Most of the music played has been delivered straight from the coolest clubs, but it’s the John Paul Young classic ‘Love Is In The Air’ that really sends the sense of uncontrollable excitement through the roof. It’s an incredible moment. Back in town things are a bit more subdued. It turns out to be the best night for live music, though. Benny Crespo’s Gang and Sudden Weather Change prove to be the greatest of the Icelandic acts, whilst ultimately CSS do translate a good percentage of that earlier party energy over to one of the venues. Lovefoxx is on fire. Dressed up like Cleopatra on some kind of LSD-induced trip to the nether-world she intoxicates the audience and dazzles us all with a performance that more than justifies the choice of the Brazilian outfit as headliners. Their presence is more than fitting actually – adding as it does to the impression that in a country this wintery, it seems the best method of survival is denial. Create a world that’s half-
Mediterranean and half-South American and even the puffins will start sun-bathing. Brilliant.
