Guest
July 30th, 2006. “Klambratún looks very impressive. A large, sloping, grassy site, a few hundred metres away from the centre of town, it has never staged a large-scale music event before and the hope is Sigur Rós could set some sort of precedent. Finni, our film producer from the immaculate True North production company, tells me he has managed to blag a helicopter to take some aerial shots of the event. Also in the air is the PA, which is hanging from two enormous cranes on either side of a stage specially imported from the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Jónsi turns up on his shopper bike from his apartment downtown, while Georg parks his caravan round the back of the art museum that will today serve as our dressing room and place where we will later shake hands with the great and the good of Reykjavík who have contributed funding to make this unique event financially feasible. I meet the folks from Reykjavík city council who put their money where their mouths were, while Craig, the Word journalist, tells me he’s been introduced to no fewer than half the current cabinet. Later, the President himself will turn up, but, despite urging from the band, his First Lady will refuse to parade across the stage with the brass band at the climax of ‘Se Lest’.“ - John Best
