Icelandic punk legend Einar Örn joins Vaccines onstage at Airwaves show

As the band’s Iceland-born bassist Árni Hjörvar took the microphone for the closing song – a cover of local punk band Purrkur Pillnikk’s 1981 song “Ekki enn” – Einar Örn joined him on stage to share vocal duties.

Infamously known as the first punk in Iceland, Örn was also the singer in Purrkur Pillnikk, whose short existence left a mark during Iceland’s post-punk revolution, with “Ekki enn” one of their enduring anthems. The band - whose name translates as "Sleepy Chess-Player" – broke the Icelandic top ten with their debut album and toured the UK with The Fall.

Speaking about duetting with Orn, Hjörvar told Best Fit: "Einar's music, lyrics and general fuck-you attitude has been an incredible source of inspiration for me since I first came across him as a teenager. Purrkur Pillnikk's music in particular has followed me ever since, and to have him show up on stage at Iceland Airwaves - totally unannounced I might add - for a ramshackle version of 'Ekki Enn' is a moment I´ll never forget. What an amazing honour to share the stage with such a giant."

The band were also the subject of recent documentary Sofandi Vakandi Lifandi Dauður ("Sleeping Awake Living Dead") which documents their story alongside a reunion of sorts. Forty years since they broke up, Örn, along with Bragi Ólafsson, Friðrik Erlingsson and Sigtryggur, came together to create studio recordings for the first time of five songs they played on their final tour.

"The band has not decided to reform in the traditional music business sense,” Örn told the Reykjavík Grapevine. "We wanted to record Orð Fyrir Dauða as it is our only set of songs which we hadn’t recorded in a studio. And we wanted to make a proper delivery of that. We got Bambus [director Kolbeinn Hringur Bambus Einarsson] with us in the studio to film our work, which evolved from making five music videos for Orð Fyrir Dauða into the documentary."

Örn's son Kaktus also played during this year's Airwaves, bringing out his own special guest in the form of Of Monsters and Men's Nanna for "Be This Way", taken from this year's Lobster Coda Album.

You can watch the entire Vaccines set from Airwaves over on veep.com.

The Vaccines last played Airwaves back in 2012 where they closed their set with “Ó Reykjavík” – a song by Vonbrigði, another band from the early 80s Icelandic punk scene.

Iceland Airwaves celebrated its 25th anniversary this year with three days of music led by the likes of Overmono, Magdalena Bay and Mandy Indiana. The festival also showcased some of the best rising local talent with bands such as Virgin Orchestra, Supersport! and Inspector Spacetime winning new fans from across the globe.