Innipúkinn Festival is Iceland’s biggest festival celebrating solely local music and arts. Fittingly, the name of the event translates to “the demon inside” but is also a colloquial term meaning “couch potato”. Scheduled for the first weekend of August, the three-dayer is a great chance to delve into the versatile scene of Iceland, where veterans of punk rub shoulders with up-and-coming collectives. This year’s edition takes place at Austurbæjarbíó, a legendary venue in the eastern part of Reykjavík that saw The Kinks playing their first-ever show on Icelandic soil. Iceland Review presents the highlights of Innipúkinn 2025.
Check our playlist featuring the artists below.
Bríet
Bríet, a standout voice in Iceland’s modern pop scene, brings her signature blend of soulful vocals and genre-crossing sound to this year’s Innipúkinn Festival. With confessional lyrics and a magnetic stage presence, she has captivated audiences both in Iceland and internationally through hits like ‘Esjan’ and ‘Feimin(n)’. Her storytelling is frank, which, combined with charismatic stage presence, makes Bríet one of the notable people’s pop artists in Iceland.
Birnir
Birnir Sigurðarson, aka Birnir, is one of Iceland’s most compelling hip‑hop voices, hailing from the Reykjavik suburb of Kópavogur. He first caught widespread attention in 2017 as a featured artist on Joey Christ’s hit ‘Joey Cypher’, which became one of Iceland’s top singles that year. If you walk down the street somewhere in Vesturbær and see a 19-year-old carpenter at work, his professional routine will most likely be soundtracked by suburban hip-hop from Birnir.
Popppunktur Pop Quiz með Dr. Gunna
Popppunktur Pop Quiz with Dr. Gunni is one of the most entertaining additions to the Innipúkinn Festival programme, taking place on Saturday, August 2, at Austurbæjarbíó. This quiz, hosted by local music legend and historian Dr. Gunni (also a founder of the eponymous band), covers Icelandic and international pop in a light-hearted and engaging way. The format blends playful banter with “no-bullshit” questions about local artists and pivotal movements through the prism of Gunni’s formative years.
Purrkur Pillnikk
At Innipúkinn Festival, a retrospective performance by Purrkur Pillnikk promises to be a raw, visceral journey into the roots of Icelandic punk, channelling the intensity and authenticity that fueled Reykjavík’s underground music revolution. Influential Purrkur Pillnikk was formed in 1981 and lasted for eighteen months, which was enough for the band to produce three LPs, play hundreds of gigs, and support The Fall in the UK. The collective reformed in 2024 to the great exhilaration of the fans in Iceland and abroad.
Spacestation
One of the coolest new kids on the block, Spacestation is set to deliver a raw, immersive set—part dark romance, part defiant dance party—perfectly capturing the restless energy and inventive spirit that define Iceland’s underground scene. The band’s debut, Reykjavík Syndrome, blends the ’60s jangling psychedelia of The Byrds with the disobedience of The Stone Roses. A restless and romantic combo.
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