Iceland Airwaves Announces Final Lineup for 2026 Music Festival and Industry Conference
Iceland’s premier new music showcase will feature 107 artists at shows across Reykjavík November 5-7
REYKJAVIK, IS, October 29, 2026 (MusicWire) -- Iceland Airwaves has announced the final lineup and industry conference schedule for its 2026 edition, which will take place November 5 - 7, 2026. Iceland Airwaves is an annual, award-winning, multi-genre music festival that brings together music lovers and adventure seekers from around the world for three days and nights of music in iconic venues across downtown Reykjavík, Iceland’s capital city.
The 27th edition of the festival will showcase some of the world’s buzziest new prospects, including Dove Ellis, whose debut album Blizzard was praised by The Guardian as a 5-star, “glorious debut”, and Ireland’s word-of-mouth sensations, Bleech 9:3. Londoners The Itch will make their Icelandic debut having spent the past eighteen months packing out basement parties around the UK, with a combination of dancefloor fillers and disenchanted pop songwriting from their debut album It’s The Hope That Kills You. The festival will also feature BBC 6 Music-tipped six-piece Adult DVD; LA-songwriter Arima Ederra, with music from her new record A Rush To Nowhere; and London musician Heartworms, whose 2025 debut album Glutton For Punishment was released via Speedy Wunderground to five-star reviews from the likes of NME and DIY Magazine, alongside an appearance on the iconic BBC show Later…with Jools Holland.
The festival will also elevate Icelandic artists from the nation’s vibrant music scene, which has produced globally celebrated artists across genres, including Björk, Of Monsters and Men, Sigur Rós, KALEO, and Laufey. Featured Icelandic artists at the 2026 festival will include Inspector Spacetime, a genre-blending pop act that specializes in high-energy music and electrifying performances to make people move; SCAM, a high-energy duo that broke onto the global music scene at Iceland Airwaves in 2025; and virgin orchestra, which combines post-punk with experimental soundscape, dreampop, and noise, among many others.
Over its expansive history, Iceland Airwaves has provided career-defining early slots for everyone from Florence and the Machine, Young Fathers, James Blake, and Mac DeMarco to recent successes like Kneecap, Fat Dog, Magdalena Bay, Saya Gray, and Mary In The Junkyard.
The full lineup and schedule for Iceland Airwaves 2026 are available here. Remaining tickets and travel packages for the 2026 edition of the festival, in partnership with Icelandair, are available here.
Alongside the 2026 festival, there will be three special additional performances by global touring acts. On Wednesday, November 4, City Hall will host DJ, lyricist and self-proclaimed provocateur Shygirl (TICKETS). Beloved local singer, songwriter and producer Daði Freyr will take to the stage at the city’s waterfront opera hall, Harpa, on Thursday, November 5, for a one-off performance backed by The Iceland Symphony Orchestra (TICKETS). On Sunday, November 8, The Streets will perform their 2004 album A Grand Don’t Come For Free in full at Harpa, alongside a selection of Mike Skinner’s most beloved songs from across his catalog (TICKETS).
Connect with Iceland Airwaves:
About
Launched in 1999 as a one-off event in an airplane hangar, Iceland Airwaves is the world’s most northerly music showcase and industry festival, situated halfway between North America and Europe. Each November, downtown Reykjavík comes alive with the country’s brightest emerging musical talent and forward-thinking international acts meeting for three days and nights of nonstop music, hosted everywhere from tiny record stores and art museums to cool bars and stately churches, to nightclubs and large-scale venues.
The festival is promoted and produced by the concert company Sena Live, with support from Iceland’s national airline and founding sponsor, Icelandair, and in cooperation with the City of Reykjavík. Iceland Airwaves also continues its commitment to gender-balanced line-ups through its ongoing work with Keychange, ensuring representation remains a core part of the festival’s identity and community.