It was a beautiful feeling, when fans from such a musically strong nation like Iceland, applauded our band.
The Ills have returned from Reykjavik, where they played 2 concerts at the Iceland Airwaves 2016 festival. They are historically the first Slovak band to achieve this. Both their shows, one in the popular Húrra club and the other at the off-venue Whiskey Bar Dillon, were packed and the Bratislava-based post-rock quartet received enthusiastic ovations.
The biggest attractions of this year’s Airwaves were definitely the “home” outfits like Kiasmos, Björk or Sóley, other established international outfits like PJ Harvey, Warpaint and Santigold, or promising up-and-comers like Gaika, Kelsey Lu, Liima or Frankie Cosmos. Even a glance at this short list clearly shows one of the festival’s biggest strengths – diversity. Slovak The Ills felt right at home, and the audience welcomed them with open arms.
Members of the band only had good things to say about their stay in the Icelandic capital. Martin “Iso” Krajčír celebrated his birthday there, and he labelled it as “probably his most beautiful birthday”. “This whole stay in Iceland has been marvellous. It was only short, but it was extremely intense,” says Iso. Other band members were also very excited: “We were excited, but had no idea what to expect. In the end, both concerts were absolutely amazing. The clubs were full, the people reacted well and we are happy that it went so well. It was a beautiful feeling, when fans from such a musically strong nation like Iceland, applauded our band,” said of the experience drummer Ľuboš Hodás.
The “trip” was also praised by Tatiana Lehocká from Real Something, The Ills’ booking and management agency. “It’s a great feeling to see that a Slovak band can play alongside foreign ones, and equally well. Both concerts by The Ills were proof of that. You could see that the boys were enjoying the whole experience, and it was manifested on the stage, too. I think they made a good name for themselves.”