Music Festival

G! Festival

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“The wild Faroe Islands party that you can’t afford to miss.”

– WIRED magazine

The annual three-day celebration of music is unique. Sure, music festivals are held on islands and beaches around the world. But G! is something else. Taking over the village of Syðrugøta – population 400 – on the island of Eysturoy, the festival’s stages are built on the beach and the football pitch, right under the windows of houses. Locals welcome the visitors, a refreshing contrast to the grudging reception which can greet festival goers elsewhere.

G! is also held against the backdrop of the Faroes’ breath-taking landscape, a terrain dominated by grass-carpeted mountains. Caught between the peaks and the ocean, in a break between the cliffs skirting the coastline, Syðrugøta is set in an unrivalled natural amphitheatre. This is where Tróndur í Gøtu confronted the Norwegians who brought Christianity in the 11th century. He was threatened with beheading. Thankfully, times have changed.

If the drama of the setting and the hot tubs on the beach are not enough, there is the world-class music. Since 2002’s first G!, the festival has drawn the UK’s Metronomy and Travis. The Blind Boys Of Alabama too. Major Scandinavian acts that have chosen to travel to the Faroes include Denmark’s Veto, Iceland’s FM Belfast, Norway’s Serena Maneesh and Sweden’s Veronica Maggio. All welcomed by over a tenth of the Faroes’ 48,000 population and visitors from around the world.

G! sounds as though it could be a dream. But it isn’t. However you arrive in the Faroes – by sea, by air; wherever you stay – the festival’s campsite, bed and breakfast, maybe even a hotel in capital city, Tórshavn; whether you’re a local or not; whoever you see – from Faroese talent to the overseas’ visitors, one thing is certain: by bringing music and this magical place together, G! Festival is unforgettable.