When getting to the venue, there was a pretty huge line awaiting us. Luckily we got in just in time to still catch a handful of songs of the enigmatic Kanga. The US musician, producer and remixer was dancing on stage in her lonesome only accompanied by her keyboard, laptop and some stage lights, completely taken by her own music. She sang, crooned and danced like there was no tomorrow and easily swept everyone already inside off their feet with her simple yet mesmerizing performance. The dark soundscape and beats, yet highly catchy nature of her songs quickly made a good chunk of the crowd start dancing and moving to the tunes of her music. The songs soon crawled into my head and nestled in a corner of my brain to not leave again for quite a while. It might have helped that most of the setlist consisted out of songs from her latest album ‘You and I Will Never Die’, an album I’ve been listening to repeatedly whenever I felt the need for some dark electronic music. It really was a delight to see Kanga live for sure!

Every time I’ve caught Kælan Mikla live, it’s been slightly different. The first time at Blowup Festival passed like a fairy tale ritual and seeing them as support for Alcest solidified my belief in how wonderful of a musical trio these 3 girls are. But I have to say that seeing Kaelan Mikla live at a headlining show is the most ideal way to see them. More songs, more magic, more dreamy meandering on their mesmerizing music… Just like Kanga, they were here to present their latest creation ‘Undir Köldum Norðurljósum’, and with 7 tracks on the setlist from that album, it was well represented. Add to that the always amazing tracks like ‘Nótt eftir nótt’, ‘Kaelan Mikla’ and ‘Skuggadans’ and these mysterious Icelandic nymphs had everyone in their grip and bewitched. It was a highlight of my week, if not month or even year to get to enjoy Kaelan Mikla live again. Can’t wait to be able to welcome them again as soon as possible.