[ATTENDED: September 17, 2022] Daði Freyr
Daði Freyr has been in Eurovision twice and that’s how I know him. He hasn’t won, but he won the hearts of many. He was the leader of Daði & Gagnamagnið and was due to represent Iceland in Eurovision in 2020 with the song “Think About Things.” But the event was cancelled and he was invited to represent them again in 2021 with the song “10 Years.” They came in fourth place.
He is a goofy guy for sure–he is super tall (6 ft 9.9 in) with quite a deep voice. In the performances his band was quite humorous dressing in identical sweaters with pixilated images of themselves. Back then the group was his sister Sigrún Birna Pétursdóttir (backing vocalist), wife Árný Fjóla Ásmundsdóttir (dancer), and friends Hulda Kristín Kolbrúnardóttir (backing vocalist), Stefán Hannesson (dancer), and Jóhann Sigurður Jóhannsson (dancer)—known as “Gagnamagnið”. Gagnamagnið, while translated to English as “the Data”, literally means “the amount of data”, and is the Icelandic word for “data plan”.
But for this tour it was a trio–he is on synths, with percussionist Ylva Øyen and guitarist Pétur Karl rounding out the trio.
His videos are exceptional-he really has the visual side of things down perfectly. I wasn’t sure how he would translate live, but I had to take the opportunity to see him. He was not only a great, engaging frontman, he was very funny as well. He told us that he has to stop moving his microphone stand so much, so if he did we should yell Hey! But not in a mean way.
He started with “Thank You,” a classic synth pop song. His voice is surprisingly deep and yet very warm at the same time.
He stood between two small synth rigs and sang “thank you for being fabulous, wonderful, and nice.” It was earnest and catchy. But he immediately started joking with us since the next song was called “Shut Up” (nothing personal, he assured us). “Shut Up” had a disco feel with the slinky guitars. The song ended with him pointing to everyone pretty much individually and quickly singing Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up.
When I got a ticket for this show I had no idea how crowded it would be. I assumed it would be me and a few other popele. But the show was quite packed. And, more impressively, lots of people were singing along (even to the Icelandic parts).
It wasn’t all synth pop, though. “Næsta skref” is a slower jazzy song (sung in Icelandic) and “Somebody else now” had a pretty ripping guitar solo (Pétur Karl was quite good).
Then he promised that a dancing song would be coming up next. It was a big build up and if anyone was going to crazy tonight, this was the opportuinity. It was pretty funny, but even more so when he pecked out “The Chicken Dance” on the keyboards and they actually played a rocking synth version of it. This led me down a pretty deep well into the origins of the song. Which is pretty fascinating .
I really enjoyed his newer songs which had a bit more depth and compexity. Like “I’m Fine” which is a super catchy song that’s going to be on his album out next year.
In 2021, he was part of a single called “Feel the Love” which was largely sung by Ásdís. He took a verse near the end. He played this song for us and Ylva Øyen sang Ásdís’ parts. She sounded great. “Kemur Þér ekki við” has a rap (in Icelandic from rapper Króli ) which Pétur Karl did for us. It wa sa surprise seeing this guy who didn’t seem to be very dramatic get up and rap out these lyrics (that none of us understood).
Someone in the audience had printed out a pixelated version of his head from the videos and he taped it onto his shirt in order to sing “10 Years” which made the crowd go nuts. It was fantastic, and he really enjoyed the adulation.
“Sabada” followed. It is a sweet and catchy song that is instantly hooky and I hope is the next single.
And then he did a cover. I couldn’t really imagine what it might be especially from his humorous build up. He started singing it and it sounded familiar, but wrong. Then I realized that he was singing Smash Mouth’s “All Star” but in his own synth style. It was awesome.
He ended with “Think About Things” and once again, the crowd was super excited, dancing all over the place.
He left for an encore break and came back with another surprise–a cover of “Party in the U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus. This one was also done in his down beat sort of way that was fun and low key–a catchy contrast to the actual song. He ended with an Icelandic song that everyone seemed to not only know but to sing along too. And once again, Ylva Øyen sang the parts that were sung by Blær in the original.
Daði Freyr is an outstanding performer. And I would assume that if he actually had his full band it would be even more fun. But this scaled down version was excellent and everyone left with a smile on their face. I hope he comes back to the States!
- Thank You
- Shut Up
- Where We Wanna Be
- Næsta skref æ
- Somebody Else Now ϖ
- Chicken Dance
- Skiptir ekki máli &
- Clear My Head ϖ
- I’m Fine
- Feel the Love by Daði Freyr & Ásdís
- Kemur Þér ekki við &
- 10 Years ϖ
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Sabada
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All Star (Smash Mouth cover)
-
Think About Things ϖ
Encore:
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Party in the U.S.A. (Miley Cyrus cover)
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Endurtaka mig &
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