Iceland Airwaves 2009

The Iceland Airwaves festival is known for its intimacy and party spirit. The eleventh annual Iceland Airwaves festival will take place in various venues all over downtown Reykjavik during the week of October 14-18, 2009. Approximately 200 bands will perform.

Iceland Airwaves is looking for artists from all over the world to play at this year's festival. Iceland Airwaves has reserved 5 slots exclusively for Sonicbids artists:

• 3 bands from Europe


• 2 band from North America

Artists from other continents are also encouraged to submit. Iceland Airwaves has selected more than 20 Sonicbids artists in the last 2 years, including artists from Africa and Asia.

5,000 festival passes are sold each year with an additional 2,000 - 3,000 people purchasing day passes. That means that 7,000 - 8,000 people attend the festival per day! Also, since Iceland Airwaves is a showcase festival, it attracts hundreds of journalists and music industry professionals from around the world, especially from the US, UK, Scandinavia, Germany and France.

Iceland Airwaves 2009 will take place at 8 main concert venues in the center of Reykjavik - all in walking distance from another - with capacities ranging from 200 to 1,000. Then there is the 'off-venue program', taking place during the whole festival, from afternoon into the night, in selected record shops, bars, galleries and even a church.

Renowned for featuring only quality, up and coming and cutting-edge acts from around the globe, the Iceland Airwaves festival has featured performances by some of the best and brightest artists of today.

All types of music are booked, especially Alternative, Pop, Dance/Techno, Hip-Hop, etc. Typically, about 50 artists out of 170 are booked from outside of Iceland and Europe. New York bands Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Bravery and The Rapture all played their FIRST international shows at Iceland Airwaves and there are many other success stories just like those.

Last year's stars included Vampire Weekend, CSS, Crystal Castles, Simian Mobile Disco, Handsome Furs, Singapore Sling, Final Fantasy, White Lies, Bloodgroup, GusGus and Junior Boys. Other previous performers include Bloc Party, !!!, Sigur Rós, TV on the Radio, Hot Chip, Ratatat, Architecture in Helsinki, Kalxons, Deerhoof, of Montreal and Chromeo. Now in its 11th year, Iceland Airwaves 2009 bill looks even more promising.

Since the first show held in 1999, which was planned to be a one-off event in an airplane hanger, Iceland Airwaves has become one of the premier showcases for new music - Icelandic and otherwise - in the world.