Best Concerts of Sziget 2015: #2 Foals

There's always one concert on every Sziget that doesn't immediately feel great for any number of absurd reasons. Like you have a cramp in your left toe, the crowd around you is fidgetier than an anthill, the bottom left stage reflector is pointed straight at your over sensitive retina, and the list can go on forever. All these nuisances don't actually stop you from enjoying the music, because the concert we're talking about, as already pointed out, is actually good enough to absorb you, it's just that straight at the end you will focus on whatever tragedy befell you and won't have the peace of mind to ponder the more important stuff.

Given that some time has passed, I now cannot actually remember what pissed me off during the Foals concert.Something surely did, for I was quite a bit grumpy about the whole thing until about the next day around noon, when the epiphany of just how colossally good the last three songs were sank in. It's of course not only those three songs that place Foals at number two overall, but on the strength of that encore alone they would have probably made it to top five anyway. An encore is a slightly dubious thing at festivals, where bands don't always have enough time to really build it up and make it work and some don't bother with it at all. With Foals however I had the impression they kept revving the engines, like a jet ready for take off on the runway, and then blasted off to the skies at the end. 

The revving up part was not without glitches, as the sound system actually went bust on them halfway through Mountain at My Gates, which was a more subdued affair anyways, being a new and relatively unknown track. As a side note, if you want to lose all your indie smart credentials and be ostracized from a group of hip friends, loudly ask during a Foals concert when will Cassius be played. Never is the correct answer, Cassius is one of those things the band picked a fight with, like Enter Shikari, David Guetta and random security personnel. It's quite telling of the band's dynamic that they will feel so strongly about one of their songs (a pretty good one, at that)- a somewhat indefinite simmering tension has always played an important part in their appeal. 

The concert moved in the same realm: there was anger, energy, tension, the rawness and immediacy that justifies the existence of live performances in the first place. There might have been slips here and there, and maybe an ideal Foals show would look a degree more cohesive than this, but overall it was made of that addictive stuff that keeps you going to concerts. The cleverly crafted artifacts from the record suddenly coming to life. 

How to Be a Groupie-Sziget Day Two

The day began with some casual sky watching, as the more technically adept Sziget goers had checked their weather apps and found out storms might be brewing across the city. They didn't, of course, at least not above Sziget at any rate, but some cloudage occurred late in the afternoon slightly breaking the sweltering heat. No storms were brewing in front of the main stage either for the first afternoon slot, as The Maccabees seem to be a happy experiment of the superb alien civilization we have been talking about: they took every indie band from the beginning of time until now, averaged them, and got the Maccabees. Further evidence to test our theory, the ever on duty Russian indie groupie commando, with ages from five to twelve by the looks of them, but hopefully hovering a day or so over eighteen, were plastered to the first row fence, randomly screaming out the names of band members deemed cuter by their pre-pubescent indie barometre. (They liked Orlaaaaaaaandooooooh the most.)

We bid our farewell to Orlando et al and went to check out Kadebostany in A38, who technically hail from Switzerland, which is slightly disturbing, as they were late. This brought back fond memories of everyone on the Bahia/Wan2 stages being just a tad to catastrophically late, but did not bode well for our present situation. And Kadebostany were pretty far from blowing our mind indeed- the idea is that Kadebostany is some sort of a gimmick country (where people are late, apparently, unlike the Swiss), with vaguely dictatorial overtones- or it's simply that purple Russian style uniforms look cool. And in the state of Kadebostany they blast electronic dance music, rap and do a bit of ghetto style dancing. Spasibo, but no spasibo and off we were, first to have a quick glimpse of a, yes, I know you had this one coming, Finnish-Beninese band at the world music venue and then over to the main stage, though maybe we could have chosen a shady tree and eaten a hot dog or something instead.

The Ting Tings are one of those bands who at some point had a song I vaguely liked because of odd reasons- in their case, it's really nice to run to That's Not My Name, because it has an even rhythm to which you can easily match your stride. But then comes the next phase, when every time I see their name mentioned somewhere it dawns on me, gosh, do they still exist, have they done something of late? The answer is no, they haven't, not at all. Their playlist might have matched their previous Sziget appearance song by song- or maybe they were new songs which sounded the same, and I can't really tell which is worst. The atmosphere in front of the stage was lukewarm as well, so we had an itch to finally see something worthwhile. 

And that's where MØ of Denmark comes in -I must totally mention she's from Denmark because I just really like the country and their Ø letter, which I can now use several times in a paragraph and it gives me giddy pleasure. But enough of being weak minded, MØ came, saw and conquered, on her birthday no less. Our lazy co-photographer wishes to emphasize that he was a bit musically bored both before and after MØ (with the second part we thoroughly disagree), but was very impressed with our girl. According to her Wikipedia entry her genre is electro with guts, and I kind of like the idea, because it pretty much sums up what we saw and heard: the music is indeed electronic, but of the more intriguing variety and she has a riveting stage presence and some wicked dance moves. She's actually so cool she can pull off a socks in sandals look, and well, that's the epitome of cool if there ever was one. 

We did however leave her a bit ahead of time- and as on Sziget everything is upside down so no evil deed remains unpunished, we missed the confetti party which we had set out to see. Judging by the video some nice people showed us in the spritzer garden a bit later, it was a blast. I had prepared for Foals as a blast as well, but they took off a bit flatly, which culminated in the sound system giving up on them- a welcome brake for Yannis though, who immediately lit a cigarette and started hydrating. The poor man must have Hungary marked on his map as a red hot hell of fiery summer sun, as he was subjected to the same thermal treatment last year at VOLT as well, and he did sweat hell of a lot on both occasions. 

It's maybe due to having seen them in such extreme weather both times that Foals always give me the impression of looking like my next door neighbours bored stiff with their life and deciding to start a band as a distraction. But as the sound system kicked back to life, it proved that their decision to start a band was a correct one: as the darkness descended onto the island, their songs got more intense, more sinewy, culminating with the absolutely brilliant three song encore which saw Yannis ferociously diving into the crowd (I know you are worried, so here it goes: no Russian groupies were harmed during the making of this concert.)

As indie is not his pint of beer, and most particularly not his glass of spritzer, the lazy co-photographer set off to A38 to check out Ella Eyre and came back with nothing to say, which is either not a good sign or he was still too much under the influence of MØ to palate anything with less swagger than hers. He did however have pivotal input regarding the next band of A38- Balthazar: they are like the festival's staple brand of beer, sounds like a great idea at first, gives you a headache later. Try as I might I simply could not put my finger on their style of music either, but at least we survived another small smurfapocalypse, as yup, they are of course Belgian. 

Insert scientific observation here: we spent precisely 1 minute and 27 seconds listening to Ellie Goulding, and those were 1 minute and 27 seconds too much. If anyone ever identifies a proper chorus in any of her songs, kindly let me know.

And here comes the point where I put any pretense of objectivity aside, and just blow over into a gooey mass: there isn't anything vaguely factual I can say about the Interpol gig, because I just love them to tiny shreds- suits, smirks, New York  cool kids posturing and all. Paul Banks hardly breaks a sweat in the still positively oven-like A38, because he is of course, a demi-God, and I am a groupie, but at least not Russian or twelve ( needless to say, there is nothing inherently wrong with being Russian, though I can bring one or two arguments against being 12, but luckily we all grow out of that). I assume someone will grumble about their show, and so they should, we all have different cups of tea, but this is my most favourite one. If somewhere there is some sort of a paradise, every now and then they have Interpol play Slow Hands.

Look Who’s Coming To Sziget- Continued

This could very well be entitled the post I just had to come up with to shamelessly re-share our old Horrors pictures and be all smug about having guessed correctly they would join the line up as well.

I can also express my elation at this having happened, and my bafflement at them still being shoved into an afternoon slot- they were actually great on Sziget in the same slot last time, but they forever will be one of those bands better suited for the darker shades of life.

Since I touched on this subject, I can indulge a bit in the classic Sziget-goer sport of making the time slots a bigger deal than they actually are. Like Kasabian going on the Main Stage before Avicii, oh sweet blasphemy, and Interpol being exiled into A38 at midnight no less- okay, got it, someone actually realized they were dark matter as well, but midnight might be a tad extreme. Also, since when is Ellie Goulding a headliner?!

To be frank I just realized I haven’t really listened to her properly, so I am presently pressing a Youtube play button in a rather distressed state. Had to stop a NIN album for this so it better be good...nope, it isn’t, off for some beers it will be for me right after Foals. Since I had ventured out into the wilderness anyways, I investigated The Script as well and they are either Westlife for sad grown ups or U2 for very senile senior citizen. Or both rolled up into one bundle of Irish scary.

I also confess to having checked the line up to see whether MØ and Major Lazer are on the same day, to figure out if she’s gonna pop up during their set for my Thai lunch soundtrack song- I still can’t really figure out whether I hate or like Lean On, or whether my love of pad Thai makes all that irrelevant. But since they seem to be slotted for different days, they might as well both play it, how lovely.

My dream of having a blast in A38 during the shiny flame throwing main stage apocalypse seems to have been a vain dream after all, as both Passenger and Milky Chance are for me two blokes who wrote an insanely catchy song each- and both songs are perfect for advertising some hipsterish product that you could perfectly well live without- but won’t. I am of course open minded enough to give them the benefit of doubt, and I’ll make sure to let you know how it went.

My other fever dream was to spend Saturday evening at the World Music Stage instead of the main one, watching Goran Bregović for the umpteenth time, but this was dislodged as well, in a rather more positive way- although I never loved Kings of Leon quite as I did other indie rock bands, they were always a group I wanted to add to my ’seen live’ record, hoping this would be the test of whether they’re the real deal.

I will however definitely visit the World Music Stage at some point or other- most acts have already graced the island previously, which is great, because you know what to expect, and I was particularly delighted to see HK & Les Saltimbanks making aanother appearance, they were one of the most pleasant random discoveries of Sziget back in 2012. Yes, I am already excited about this year’s random discovery and I scan the programme feverishly to get an idea who it might be- which is of course the wrong way to go about it, because the random discovery must be unexpected.

When it comes to lessons (never) learned, I am hoping to avoid falling in love with an act right after Sziget and forever regretting not having seen them, so I’ve done some more successful youtube-ing than Ellie Goulding, and came to the conclusion that Foxes on the other hand is not bad at all- only to realize she sort of clashes with Kings of Leon, but A38 is just a really short dash from the Main Stage after all, so I might catch a bit of her as well. Because a crazy stage to stage dash is also compulsory for every Sziget, I can only hope that this year’s venue revamp won’t lead to getting catastrophically lost, as I so very often did in other years.

Look Who's Coming to Sziget

Well, erm, it’s Robbie Williams. And Robbie out of all people even has one of the special pre-festival days dedicated to his artistic endeavours- kind of  a far cry from the times when he was my favourite ’take that’ based on the simple fact that he looked most clueless. (Insert here perusal of old Take That videos and oh my god, Robbie in a denim overall/onesie in Pray. What has been seen can, of course, never be unseen.) Now truth be said, and this is a snippet of epic importance here, Take That were never my favourite boy group, and I kind of took to Robbie more when he went solo, plus his concert reviews are consistently of the better variety, yet I still find the fuss a bit strange. But then again people have been going nuts over things that are even more of an enigma to me, like let’s say Kanye, so guess I will settle for Robbie, thank you very much.

The second special day will have Florence and the Machine headlining, and that’s also a bit odd to me, she’s still kind of stuck in the redhead with great voice and quirky outfits category. Of course I know that she has in the meantime taken to more dramatic attire and upped her „belting her heart out to giant ass tunes” game quite a few notches, so there, I want feathers, sparkles, sequins, showers of light and the likes to warm my dark little heart.

Speaking of my dark little heart, I might as well get the end show out of my system before I get too worked up about it. I kind of get the point of the whole endeavour, it’s nice to have some fireworks and easily digestible acts at the end of the festival, especially since so many revelers are by that time, as the lead singer of Hangmás nicely put it last year „washed shit”(the Hungarian version actually makes sense, yes.) Nor do I have anything in particular against electronic music, there’s quite a lot of it that warms said dark heart. But Martin Garrix is just beyond my powers of understanding. He is the most average EDM act I’ve ever heard, and as I was perusing Wikipedia and saw he’s Dutch I suddenly had the epiphany of oh yes of course he sounds like a poorly recycled Tiёsto. That’s what he is, to the core. I can only pray the similarly timed act in A38 is as good as La Roux was last year, to make whatever Calvin Harris had been doing on the main stage utterly irrelevant.

As I keep writing this thing on and off, kind of trying to let any rabid feelings settle by the time I shoot it out into the great wide open, some new acts keep popping up and then falling into a category I already ranted or raved about- so here’s Avicii, being the Swedish version of „average (insert nationality here)DJ” who plays exactly the same stuff as the other guys. I do remember liking one song from his varied repertoire, though, so I'll settle for aimlessly walking around the main stage during that one, then. And as a fresh development, the Eurovision winning song sounds exactly like that Avicii song I like- so as an improvement to the set, Måns Zelmerlöw could be occasionally thrown in with his little dancing stick man.

Interpol 2011

Since I’ve been pretty much on a moan ride above I guess it’s time I moved on to the good stuff. Because there is good stuff, actually, brilliant stuff and loads of it. So I will jump into the thick of it. Kasabian and Interpol. That sounds like a prayer answered.

I’d actually been eyeing Interpol’s calendar early in the year and noticed a Sziget shaped hole forming in it right about the second week of August. And I was so right (I kind of love being right, so I was double tickled pink by the loveliness of it falling into place.) Now I’ve always loved Interpol a bit too religiously for my own good, but I will admit to their arts falling a bit into the monotone around their self titled album, when they seemed at a loss as to what to do with themselves without Carlos Dengler. So last year’s El Pintor was the sweet sound of victory- yes, the magic is still there, Interpol can still sound like the coldest music to melt your heart, something they do better than any other noughties bred indie band.

Kasabian 2010

Kasabian on the other hand never really put a foot wrong- or always put all their feet wrong, depends on whom you ask. You might go on a rampage and label them lad rock, then go on another one saying how pointlessly sophisticated of them to have an album with song lengths as titles. But for me any criticism can be countered with the sheer feeling of joy I have at any Kasabian concert- and due to them being busy bees and not avoiding Eastern Europe as much as other big acts, I’ve now seen my fair share of those. From playing for a handful of people in Pecsa to the Main Stage of Sziget I’ve never felt anything but giddy whenever LSF came on. I’m actually feeling pretty giddy right now, there’s one hell of a night waiting for us in August.

Foals 2014 VOLT

Last summer I boarded a hot capsule of tardiness (that’s a MÁV train for you, yes) to the far off provinces to watch Foals at VOLT, now they’ll be boarding something I assume fancier to come straight to my back yard, but I regret nothing, double Foals makes me double happy. ALT-J are one of those bands that could go either way for me- I fancy a couple of songs, but don’t go over the top for them, so if the live show is any good, the might just etch themselves into my heart. If not, they’ll go onto the ’other generic indie acts’ heap. Future Islands managed to get NME’s nod for the 2014 track of the year for Seasons, which baffles me to this day, I hope to be at least a bit less baffled after their concert- a bit of an ALT-J case this one as well, it might turn out great or utterly meh (like the 1975 did last year, another case of weird NME hype).

Speaking of what I did last year (not necessarily summer, but mostly the spring and autumn), well I missed some concerts, as I always do, and mostly because stupid. MØ I missed because I still cannot properly consult a calendar and not plan trips to clash with concerts. So I thank the heavens above she’s coming to Sziget, yet, judging by my matchless talents, I can imagine wandering off to some alternative tent during her time slot, because see above. Kadebostany were cancelled, so that’s not my fault, I would say, but since I was rather curious to see their act I’m glad they got regrouped to Sziget (Though really, The Horrors cancelled a Budapest concert as well, I’d say that demands a grand regrouping manoeuvre too.) The reason why I missed Dropkick Murphys will forever be shrouded in mystery, so I will try to compensate for said horror this time around and catch one of my absolute favourite songs live-the only way I could stop playing Rose Tattoo in a constant loop is my iPod growing tiny iHands and slapping me each time I do.

Enter Shikari 2013

There’s of course, as always, complaining about how Sziget brings the same acts, year after year. Well I guess when you’ve grown into a bloody big festival, you arrive at a point where everyone who matters has  already been around. So either you go Glastonbury style and bring, erm, Stephen Hawking, or you stick to the stuff that works. Like Enter Shikari, the absolute Hungarian festival sweethearts- with a bit of luck Rou Reynolds will climb onto a tractor this time, or any eerie moving object in the main stage area. Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello wouldn’t say no to a tractor either and is generally very adept at promoting wine as a staple festival drink in it’s rather underdog battle with beer. I don’t have fingers and toes to count just how many times Goran Bregović has been to Budapest, but he’s always a sure hit on the World Music stage- and since Saturday doesn’t yet look all that promising on the main one, I might just end up among Italians screaming their hearts out to Ciao Bella and then suddenly becoming fluent in Serbian as well.  

Gogol Bordello 2011

Beatsteaks were an excuse to get really wild to No One Knows long before Queens of the Stone Age themselves graced Sziget and it’s good to have one biggish German act each year to please the large Bier und Spritzer drinking contingent. Speaking of acts that are brought mostly for the enjoyment of their fellow nationals, I have the distinct feeling Fauve are here mostly for the giant French village, but God bless their hearts they gave Sziget organizers a really grand idea. For Fauve are great, though probably something IS being missed from their charm if you do not speak le French, so everyone start assaulting those fast tracked summer courses at le French institute.

José Gonzalez 2008

The Ting Tings haven’t had an album in a while, so it will be interesting to see what changes they can bring to their set compared to the previous one, but José Gonzalez does have a new album, and it is quite splendid (his previous Sziget gig was splendid as well, mind you), so I am totally looking forward to some more splendour. Marina and the Diamonds comes in the wake of an album as well, and while I might not be quite as taken with it as with José’s effort, her shows are always absolutely worth their money.

                                                        Marina and the Diamonds 2012

Then there’s a list of acts I might as well see if the time slot allows it, grouping the likes of Paloma Faith, Ellie Goulding, Tyler the Creator or SBTRKT (hell yeah, I typed the name correctly from the first go).And yes, I will try to stick to my promise of discovering something new and exciting as well.