Concert Review: Ásgeir at Islington Assembly Hall London, UK

Chris Griffiths
15 hours ago
3 min read

Icelandic sensation Ásgeir played the last UK leg of his current European tour at Islington Assembly Hall last Wednesday night. From my experience, there’s something about Icelandic music that hits different. Why? It’s a good question, but this nation of creatives bring a fluidity to music genre that few embrace so well. Ásgeir is no exception to this, with a firm grip of folk, contemporary pop, electronic that all remains delightfully indie.

There's a particular kind of quiet that settles over a room when the performer on stage doesn't need to fill it with noise. Ásgeir has that quality. He is shy in the way that a master craftsmen can be shy. Not awkward, just focused and content to let the work do the talking. On Wednesday night, it talked plenty.

he Icelandic singer-songwriter brought a three-piece to the stage: drums locked in from the off, and a second musician who spent the evening switching between bass, harmonica, and lap steel guitar. While reserved, Ásgeir would drop some gems between songs with information about the tracks and the tour so far. The bassist took a moment mid-set to tell the room how he and Ásgeir had shared a class at school, lost touch, then one day later had seen him on television and reconnected, eventually ending up touring the world together.

The setlist drew across Ásgeir's catalogue without being a retrospective. The mix of genres bleed into each other in his hands, and rather than creating confusion, they create atmosphere. By the time Dreaming had settled into the room, the tone for the whole evening was set. You weren't here to shout along. You were here to be in it.

Two unreleased tracks - Dremið Barn and Peð - arrived mid-set and held their own without the safety net of familiarity. Both in Icelandic, both hinting at where the new album is heading. The language barrier, if you could call it that, barely registered. The songs carry themselves, almost Cohenesque.

King and Cross drew the loudest response of the night - recognition and something warmer than recognition, the kind of applause that means a song has meant something to people over time. Julia and Going Home weren't far behind. Established hits doing what established hits do when they're genuinely good ones.

Ásgeir's voice is a calming falsetto, precise without being precious. His guitar and synth playing are quietly exceptional - he doesn't showboat, but the musicianship is there in every passage if you're paying attention. His dry wit surfaced a handful of times between songs, landing each time with a beat of delay, then a ripple of laughter. Classic Icelandic comic timing, whether he'd call it that or not.

The encore, On That Day, closed things gently. No drama. No extended goodbye. Just a song, and then the lights.

The crowd left the way you leave a show that's done its job properly - buzzing, but also something more… full? Islington Assembly Hall suited him. The right size, the right feel. A room that knows how to listen, for an artist who gives it something worth listening to. As he heads into France now to continue the European leg of this tour, one also has the excitement of a new album ahead.