Iceland Airwaves showcased artists from across the globe

Iceland Airwaves is an annual music festival held since 1999, except for a pandemic pause, and in 2024 ran from November 6 through 8. Over the course of three days, Reykjavik revved up for the festivities and scheduled 110 musicians to perform live in a variety of venues across the city.

Sponsored by Icelandair, the team was stationed at the Iceland Parliament Hotel with special conferences hosted at the NASA club. Movie screenings and music-focused talkbacks were part of the programming planned at Airwaves.

The 26th edition of the music festival brought Iceland's president Halla Tomasdottir and Chicago's Rolling Stone editor Althea Legaspi together to reflect on progress on November 6. It was a chance to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Iceland's women's strike and plan for the future. The curators of the festival focus on an even number of women singers with a good amount of queer performers in the mix.

The first night started with a wing and prayer from indie singer Jelena Ciric at the historic Frikirkjan church and ended with Icelandic artist Floni at Kolaport.

For day two, the Reykjavik Art Museum kicked off with Canadian electro pop singer Lilyisthatyou. November 7 was her first appearance in Iceland and Lily confided that she was only six days sober at the time. The artist who sold out Chicago's Beat Kitchen in 2024 is quickly moving into a bright future while leaving the party girl in the dust.

Antony Szmierek followed her with his band, full of funky sounds paired with his rambling lyrics. The lads from Manchester created an atmosphere that matched Antony's casual delivery with his brother Martin firmly on guitar.

Babymorocco shut it down with sexual energy and performance art placed in the perfect space for him. More babies were on the way late in the evening at the disco club Gaukurinn for sister act Baby Said. Jess and Veronica Pal sat down at their hotel beforehand to talk about their journey into becoming rock goddesses. From playing instruments during their childhood to recently performing at Glastonbury, this Baby is growing up fast on the road.

Across town, a mixer was held at Idno and bisexual beat master Marius Dam Christophersen was in attendance to meet his fans. Marius DC is from the Faroe Islands, one of the smallest countries in the world, with a population of 50,000 people and part of the Kingdom of Denmark. He explained backstage that he has always been creatively minded with supportive parents and made an art exhibition at 10 years old. He was influenced by Chance the Rapper at a young age after hearing his mixtape Acid Rap. Marius mentioned that he would like to collaborate with Chance if given the chance, but his eye is currently on independent rapper LaRussell based out of Los Angeles.

He is set to release the track “Free Gaza” in February and plans for a new EP of English music sometime in 2026. Like many other artists, he doesn't want to be pigeonholed or put in a box.

That applies to Icelandic songstress Briet, who talked before her set on Saturday at the Art Museum. Her country music endeavor just dropped with an EP titled Act I in time for her return to Airwaves.

Technically, the following day, hip hop duo Fabrak ended the festival after 2 a.m. at Gaukurinn. Revelers had no desire to end the party and events continued for several days.

Singer Rakel took home the Iceland Airwaves Plus Award thanks to her stunning creativity and formidable stage presence.

Over 8,000 attendees travelled from over 40 different countries to converge in Iceland for a communal music experience. Visit icelandairwaves.is to plan for November 4-7, 2026.