Reykjavik Culture Night: the big concerts
Morgunblaðið/Sigurjón Guðjónsson
The events on Culture Night are almost too numerous to count, and they differ in size, genre and location. Many of them have something to do with music, and there are four big outdoor concerts, featuring some of Iceland’s most popular artists.
Tónaflóð ( link )
Tónaflóð is a concert held by the radio station Rás2 and is located by Arnarhóll, close to Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre. Tónaflóð has had a firm place in the Culture Night programme since the event began twenty years ago. The aim of these concerts is to have a diverse selection of music to please people of all ages.
Performing this year are:
- Gísli Pálmi
- Dimma
- Amabadama
- Stuðmenn
These four artists and bands come from completely different genres. Gísli Pálmi is a rapper, a rising star in 2015, Dimma is a rock/metal band, Amabadama is a hip reggae band that has had a number of hits over the last year and a half, and Stuðmenn is a pop band that has been a big part of the Icelandic music scene since their beginnings in 1970.
Eggert Jóhannesson
Garðpartý ( link )
Garðpartý Bylgjunnar is similar in many ways to Tónaflóð – it is a big outdoor concert that aims to be family friendly, held by Bylgjan, another radio station. The location is Hljómskálagarðurinn, a park in Reykjavik centre, not at all far from the venue of Tónaflóð. The location of these two biggest concerts of the night makes it easy to walk between them and enjoy the best of what both have to offer.
Performing this year are:
- Mannakjöt
- Júníus Meyvant
- Milljónamæringarnir
- Bjarni Ara and Bogomil Font
- Dikta
- Stop Wait Go featuring Alda Dís
- María Ólafs
- Friðrik Dór and Glowie
- Páll Óskar
The selection here is perhaps not as diverse as at Tónaflóð as most of the music here leans toward the pop genre, but the artists are all popular and well known all over Iceland. The biggest name being Páll Óskar, the king of Icelandic pop music.
Karnival á Klapparstíg ( link )
Karnival á Klapparstíg is yet another outdoor concert, held close to the other two, in the small street of Klapparstígur. Performing this year are:
- Lunch Beat Reykjavík
- Högni Egilsson
- Uni Stefson
- Yoga Moves
- Logi Pedro
- Reykjavík Dance Festival
- Saga Sig.
- Sturla Atlas
- President Bongo
- Ásdís María
- Benni B-Ruff
- Good Moon Deer
- Exos
- Hunk Of A Man
- Tríó Margeirs Ingólfssonar
- Árni E.
- Pop-Up Yoga Reykjavík
- DJ Margeir
This concert is more hip than the first two. It offers music that you can hear most weekends in the clubs of Reykjavik. The crowd here is likely to be a bit younger than at the first two concerts mentioned.
Morgunblaðið/Eggert
Rokktónleikar X 977 ( link )
Last but not the least, radio station X 977 is holding its annual rock concert at Bar 11. This concert has grown considerably over the years and has now become a regular feature of Reykjavik Culture Night.
Performing this year are:
- Agent Fresco
- Bootlegs
- Bubbi + Dimma
- Emmsjé Gauti
- Ensími
- Fufanu
- Gísli Pálmi
- Júníus Meyvant
- Máni Orrason
- Pink Street Boys
- Reykjavíkurdætur
- Rythmatik
- Trúboðarnir
The theme is not strictly rock – there are artists performing whose music resides within other genres like rap and folk-pop, but most of them are rock bands. All in all, this concert is a bit more hard core than the other three.
All these concerts end just before 11pm, to give the crowd sufficient time to walk down to the docks by Harpa and enjoy the Culture Night fireworks display.
The different themes of these concerts guarantee that most visitors to Reykjavik Culture Night can find music to their taste. If not, these are only the four big concerts. There are plenty of other music and cultural events happening over the day, as you can see here .
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