The festival located in a charming green and peaceful recreation area of Laugardalur that can be translated as Hot Springs Valley is a lovely place to experience a day of the summer solstice. The second day of the first-ever Secret Solstice Festival put a gloss on the event both due to much better international mood and, as it could be noticed, a quite children-friendly surrounding.
It is worth to point to a project called Sísý Ey that got into Icelandic minds the previous winter with a debut single entitled ´Ain´t got nobody´. The three singing sisters presented that afternoon on Valhalla stage very good vocal skills and at the same time they gave their live house music an attractive shape.
Meanwhile, on Gimli stage fit… seventeen girls! That was Reykjavíkurdætur, an intriguing music phenomenon. The girls drew attention not only by their music or appearance but mostly thanks to lyrics. Most of Midgard focused on their diverse show in form of clan what means that except of performing all together they also make songs as solo artists, duos or trios.
Saturday presented, most of all, a lot of live music and a good Icelandic representation. A gig of an esteemed rock band Mammút in Asgard appeared to be like experiencing a powerful magic. The vocalist has an amazing stage personality and a tremendous voice. The new material from the album ´Komdu til mín svarta systir´ worked out well on stage and hypnotised listeners.
The music socery turned into spreading positive vibes, love and peace from Gimli stage by 11-pieced reggae group Ojba Rasta. The musicians shared an extraordinary energy showing all round their joy on the stage and leaving it in the hearts and minds of the audience. Nobody will tell me anymore that in this cool Iceland it is impossible to create such sunny sounds!
Now, apart from Nordic gods also Johnny And The Rest tried to call a good weather and at the end of their performance they played a song entitled ´Golden Tibet´ with a phrase ‘sjáðu sólina’ (’see the sun’). Well, they succeeded! Those crazy people were able to start an uncontrolled fire of the energy making an electrifying impression by their psychedelic rhytm’n’blues and a stage attitude.
The magic was still in the air when Múm went on stage with some delay. The band, that is no stranger to Icelandic music audience, opened the show with ´Slow Down´and made a pleasant and light ambiance thanks to songs from the last album entitled ´Smilewound´. What a delicious sound! Especially that a new material gives an opportunity to listen to juicy bass lines. The musicians were enchanting and swapping instruments while presenting their talent and Mr Silla together with Gyða Valtýsdóttir made magic with their lovely voices.
One of the Icelandic biggest rock acts, Brain Police, performed on Gimli stage in the sun and… the festival euphoria was reached. That was the only thing I really missed about this festival – a kick, an unstoppable flame of the dirty sound like was delivered by those stoner rockers who got such a huge feedback that the band could feel how appreciated it is in Iceland. Brain Police played also one brand new song and hopefully a new album will be released around February. And by the way, there is no real festival without a stage diving. Checked, Secret Solstice is real!
The most expected show of the first-ever edition of Secret Solstice Festival was the concert of Massive Attack. A lot of people gathered specially for this occasion around 11 p.m. in Asgard. This legend of British trip-hop gave over one hour long performance, a masterpiece beneath the sun. In addition to the material from the last album ‘Heligoland’ like songs ‘Girl I Love You’ or ‘Paradise Circus’ Massive Attack performed also such hits like ‘Teardrop’ or ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ that drew an enthusiastic reaction of the audience. The band premiered also one new song.
The day no. 2 was exactly the summer solstice. It seemed to me the most impressive and the most interesting of the entire festival under the midnight sun. Without doubt, Secret Solstice has deserved a title of the truly European music festival with its international atmosphere which appeared that day. Well done!
Justyna
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