SZIGET!
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
60
70
Trip End
Ongoing
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Budapest,
Hungary
Thursday, August 14, 2008
I would go on day 2, August 14. Public transit to the island was a breeze. No crowds and no complicated park and ride type system. There was a plan. I would meet with the Novi Sad crew, Vincent and Dayna and Michelle at the information booth nearest the main entrance. Not an easy feat. As well, Russell, an Aussie from my hostel would join us. Two meeting times, 13:00 or 14:00. No one made it for 13:00. I was there by 13:10. I wandered around and found the HVG Café and Bar, killer groovy tunes and adjacent to what I call the avenue of flags that leads up to main stage from behind. Poles along the avenue bear flags for each country represented by performers at the festival. One flag has been taken. Care to guess? Yeah, the one with stars and stripes. Anyway, I could have spent the day at HVG. There were painted tires you could lay in and damn the music was good. Half litre cans of cold beer all over the festival were only $2.87! Draft was even cheaper. Hello... Oh, my ticket...$48. Only Vincent was there for the 14:00 rendezvous.
Sziget action
Dayna had texted him to meet at four. He and I caught the first show of the day, The Presidents of the United States on Mainstage at 15:00. Whatevva. I was close to the front. Who knew so many people under 25 would like these guys. Sometimes... We managed to meet with Dayna and Michelle and five other dudes from their hostel at four. Everbody was thirsty so it was back to HVG for a beer before heading to the stellar Talentum-Zazuda Stage where we caught two amazing groups, the six member Myzrab that pound out some electronica powered Turkish Arabic melodies-brilliant, followed by Zubrowka, described in the program (which comes free with the purchase of a ticket by the way) as 'electro-free folk reinterpretations for flute, guitar, perka and cello. Sooo good. The best part is, half way through the first group's set, I look down to the end of the row I'm sitting in and who's sitting there? Russell from my hostel. 200,000 people! Russell and I would spend the rest of the day together. We agree to meet the rest of them back at HVG before the Kaiser Chiefs take the main stage at 19:45. That was the last time we saw Vincent, Dayna and Michelle.
Russell and I started rolling. A little bit of food, which was a bit pricey but fantastic. A little bit of music. It seemed there was a stage everywhere you turned. And the music was absolutely top drawer. We stayed for part of Kaiser Chiefs who I can take or leave, mostly leave. Then it was over to Rokia Traore from Mali for part of her set at the iWiW World Music Stage.
1-Sziget action
Killer good. After that it was over to the Roma Tent for a gypsy music session with Farkas Quartet from Hungary. Maybe there were 50 people in the audience. More brilliance. Why don't we get this at EFMF. Oh yeah, I remember... Jamiroquai, the evening's mainstage headliners were up next. A good percentage of the island's temporary population turned up for that one. I caught part of the set but wandered to some adjacent stages during and saw Deak Bill Gyuta a one legged local legend, apparently with a large following. It's so cool when you walk into a performance and the entire audience is singing along. Next to the Blues Stage sat the Open Merry Music Stage-an open stage I think. Hungarian band Stenk was playing. These guys just plain rocked. Indy style. 70's/90's style. Loud and ultra-cool. Centre stage was a table on which there was a bowl, a mixing spoon and a number of ingredients. Through the song, during vocal breaks the lead singer would run to the table, pouring and mixing to the beat. Crazy. The video and light show was incredible. Attendance...20 or so.
I moved over and caught the last three songs of Jamiroquai's set and met with Russell at 'The Charles Bronson bar back of the mainstage audience. From there, on Russell's reccommendation we moved on to see the absolutely incredible Hammond B3 player Rhoda Scott, an American now residing in Paris and described as the 'barefoot witch' of the Hammond, at the Klubrado Jazz Stage. Rhoda is like 70. She was accompanied by a contemporary on drums who was also nothing short of amazing.
2-Sziget action
Close your eyes and you think there's a full band on She packed the house. Russell and I were less then 10 metres from the front. Funny but two girls from Paris who I met at Novi Sadi and jokingly said I'd see them at Sziget, walked up and stood in front of us. Odds? Anyway, I couldn't believe this audience's demo-almost everyone is under 30. The place was heaving. Three screaming, foot-pounding encores. Smokin'.
It was around one a.m. when we poured ourselves out of the Jazz tent and started wandering. There are more people about now than there was during the afternoon. Within minutes we came upon the Converse Wan2 Stage. neo, a techno band from Hungary was about to take stage. More goodness. Four songs later and make a move in the direction of the Afro-Latin stage and village. It's about 1:30 and they're winding down but next door is the EST Meduza, hip hop heaven, a round walled off area with an open ceiling. Inside is Hench. Wedge Komonazmuk and MC Jakes (a.k.a. Papa 'ench) are trading licks, behind them an army of laptops and decks. Zany sounds, swirling lights, great beats and an electric audience kept us there for a while. I don't know what time it is but we move on. Hippikiller vs Laband is playing the Open Merry Music Stage. We catch a couple of tunes by this tight Budapest metal outfit. The video graphics were sensational. This was often the case. I look at my watch. It's something like three in the morning. I don't even know where we ended up next but there was another band playing.
At 04:00 we were catching the HEV train (runs all night) back to the Margaret Bridge where we could catch a bus or take a 40 minute walk back to the hostel. We were home by about 5:30. What a day. It's easy to see how one could spend a week out there.
