Many Things You've Come to Expect- Sziget Day Five

I am guilty as charged: sometimes, even during a concert I quite like, if there is a lull in the proceedings, I take out my phone with the rather weak excuse that someone might be looking for me. Generally, a large number of people might be looking for you at any time on Sziget, and they will either find you accidentally, or not find you at all because the coordinates you gave them exist in some iteration on the other side of the island as well and they'll go there, wait a little, get distracted and end up at a pantomime performance or such.

So when I notice no one is looking for me with despair I might perhaps browse the interwebs, just in case there is something of interest there. So yesterday I found an article about how Sziget is an international utopia of friendship and understanding that Hungary in particular and the world in general sorely needs. And then I found another article about how going to concerts makes you happy- according to a study made by those pesky British scientists who investigate all the phenomena of the known and unknown universe. So I promptly slipped my phone back and went on swaying to the music with a grin. In the breaks between songs, about a dozen languages would float towards me- each break a differently made up dozen.The music was great, I clutched a cold cider in my hand- I'm in a week long utopia, I said, and I am happy.

The more bugging part was that the utopia was heading towards it's closing stages, because, as the old gentleman in a wheelchair whom I met in the coffee queue said, he only has two problems in life, namely that Sziget (he called it 'this beautiful thing') will end soon and he won't live forever.  The Sziget beach lounge area by now looked like a scene from a post apocalyptic film depicting the last refuge of humanity's sole survivors and some of these survivors then headed into the wilderness, zombie eyed, with mis-shaped bags and oddly repacked tents. 

Before succumbing to horrible nostalgia, though, we still had plenty of things to see. First among them was twenty year old Norwegian Aurora's gig in the A38 tent. She'd come on my radar earlier in the year and I was very curious to see how her moody electro translates live. It's most definitely stereotyping working right here, but her songs give me the feeling that you're rambling in the primeval mists of some fjord at the end of the world and will soon meet forest elves. Aurora might be one of these forest elves herself, albeit one who comes across as incredibly charming, giggling with delight between songs as if surprised that people turned out for her at all. She notices some fans brought her small presents and flowers, and we are then treated to the sight of the poker faced security guard hoisting a bouquet of orange lilies on stage. Since you might be interested in the conclusion of the train of thought I began earlier: her music is double beautiful live, gaining even more breadth and punch, and definitely places her among Sziget 2016's best shows. 

Before checking out the Lumineers on the main stage, we make a pit stop at Golan's Europe Stage gig and find it a little timid by the band's standards: somehow the last couple of days have drawn people away from a venue which was very popular in the beginning and bands tend to feel discombobulated by the smaller, and spectacularly more tired crowds assembling in front of it. The Lumineers on their part ingratiated themselves with Budapesters by posting a lovely shot of the sun setting over the Danube on their Instagram account, and that is exactly how their music sounds: a by now somewhat faded snapshot of a pleasant holiday you spent years ago in Colorado, that you fondly remember every now and then and then forget all about it. Also, the band's cellist looked incredibly grumpy throughout the gig, as if she'd much rather spend her time back on a boat on the river sipping white wine or something. Hope we haven't done anything to upset you, Neyla.

At this point we decided it was time for our industrious co-photographer to do some field work on his own, and he was sent to report back on FIDLAR's A38 gig. The project might be called a success as he was delighted by the show and called it one of the best of the festival, also pointing out that the band plays some sort of punk and there were strange antics both on stage and in the crowd. 

All this while we were getting in the zone- there's no beating about the bush, The Last Shadow Puppets gig was the concert I for one was awaiting most eagerly, and will therefore be most subjective about it. I'll rush into the bad pun right at the beginning to spare you later horrors: they were everything I've come to expect. There was a lot of bromancing, a lot of posturing, a lot of loitering around the stage being superlative- there was also some crowd interaction from Miles, definitely the more seasoned entertainer and some walking around looking confused, puzzled and in want of a pint of something from Alex. And I totally understand that some might think they are just two spoiled brats from England treating the world to their fantasies of grandeur and there are suckers who buy into it. The reason why we buy into it, though, is very simple: it's the music. Good, honest, beautiful guitar music. Everything happening on stage might be a show, and for show: but the music wears it's heart on it's sleeve. 

And on this bombshell- Sziget ended. There was apparently an actual end show, it apparently involved a Dutch knob fiddler, there were fireworks too and we even had the time to check out Satellites playing a decidedly intimate set at the now almost ghostly Europe Stage. But Sziget had been over the moment the kind of music that festivals truly deserve had died out over the main stage. And it's for these singular moments that it's worth every penny, every suspicious toilet, every headache, every tired limb, every confused Brit asking for directions, every overcrowded alley and every dawn when the gates close and you feel sad a little. 

PS: Enthused over the success of his FIDLAR endeavour, our co-photographer was sent out into the night to check out Bullet For My Valentine (He now calls them Eardrums, What Are Those and Why Do You Need Them). Presently he claims this was not the best idea, they were awfully loud, very angry, and he's still scared a bit. 

Of Musical Contests and Village Fairs

As I am a person who always gets her priorities right, I spent quite a considerable chunk of my time a few days ago musing over why can't I get the Eurovision vibe this year. For I must confess to being a total Eurovision fiend, and a proud one at that. The idea of guilty pleasures is overused and overrated- Eurovision is wonderful and I could think of dozens of reasons why it is so. But that is another matter altogether- for I have by now identified what's been nagging me this time around. The bastards expelled us. Yes, admittedly, the Romanian state television owed them some money, which is something Romanian organizations do every now and then, but depriving the continent of any of the spectacularly silly contestants lined up for this superb yearly camp fest is intolerable cruelty.

To avenge this affront brought upon me by the European Broadcasting Union (I won't ever be able to look at the musically named Norwegian superviser, Jon Ola Sand, with the same childish sympathy ever again), I decided that instead of peering at the line up as kitten thrown out into the snow peers into a hot living room, I might as well investigate the names lined up for this year's Romanian Sziget talent competition. The first result of my endeavour was, quite naturally, the discovery of actual music. (As I am writing this I did actually overcome my frustration and started the Eurovision playlist, only to chance upon the Polish contestant, and wish I were a small amoeba without any sense of hearing and knowledge of what is good and beautiful. Though maybe the song can even qualify as cruelty against amoebas.)

But enough useless splutter about irrelevant contests, here's what I think you should listen to instead: White Mahala, because they'd rock Sziget's world music stage anytime.(Also, they don't use wind machines and rhyme fire with desire.) Mouse'n Monkeyz , because they wish to find their banana and their banana is most likely not inside a wind machine. The Kryptonite Sparks, because they sound a lot like the Arctic Monkeys, and while that might not be overly innovative it's still devastatingly better than sounding like 99% of bands which are not the Arctic Monkeys. I like them so much they could actually get away with a wind machine as well. Fine, It's Pink- because they're so relaxing that for a while I became one with the vibrations of the universe and forgot that those bastards kicked us out of Eurovision. Tomma Alistar- because their video looks like actual wind was also involved. Actual. Wind. Palma Hills- because you know your country is evolving musically when they start having bands that sound like pretty obscure British bands. ApresKeyz- because, apparently, there's electronic dance music you can listen to. And it's not Dutch. Since I must ride this bandwagon to the end, the Dutch Eurovision song begins with the line I'm going nowhere and I'm going fast. There jury is still out on whether that's better or worse than rhyming fire with desire.

Speaking of juries, the winner of the Romanian Sziget Talent selection will be decided on the 18th of May, and will probably be one of the bands I didn't mention, because I always back the less fashionable choices at the Eurovision contest as well, like that time I thought the Irish chicken puppet was quite alright. ( I know it was technically a turkey, but it will forever be a chicken in my heart.)

And to end on a truly weird and wonderful note, I must touch upon my weekend experience of visiting the prestigious Budaörs Fesztivál, now in it's 19th year of relentless activity. Alright, time to be frank: the thing is a village fair, minus the bearded woman. But for some non apparent reason the organizers thought it was nice to squeeze a foreign, Romanian, no less, act in the Saturday night programme, playing electronic music which to the inhabitants of the fair city, or rather, tiny town of Budaörs must have sounded like the starship Enterprise making first contact with an alien world. Golan, representative footage below, for their part, sound pretty good. They sound promising. They sound like in a world where even the Irish are desperate enough to send a former boy band member past his expiry date to the big Euro bash, we might rest on the sideline a little and make some pretty fine music. 

PS:Yes, I am still awfully cross and I actually like the Irish song. Though I am not sure what's with the lyrics spelled out in the video trend. Was the competition aimed at the deaf all along? Also. Moldova avenged us. They have intensive wind machine action and go tantalizingly close to rhyming fire with desire. And lastly, to get this out of my system, my douze points goes to Latvia. A small hard working nation who pay their debts to the EBU. What's not to like?

I Know What You'll Be Listening to Come August

I might as well start this year’s second Sziget line up review with the same world altering concerns I had last year: the day 0 headliner and the knob fiddler of the end show. So the fiddler is Dutch, who would have thought- there is something super rotten in the kingdom of the Netherlands, and they seem to be producing these absolutely average but ridiculously successful one man acts like other countries make chocolate rolls. Don’t really know how chocolate rolls popped into my mind first, but they seem vastly more entertaining than Hardwell- for that is the man’s name, and with this off my chest, I shall approach the next subject, namely that of Rihanna.

She’s the face majestically staring off into the distance over Margit bridge on the festival’s biggest poster, so we can safely infer she’s therefore it’s biggest star. There’s really no need to argue with that, what certain people argued with is whether Sziget needs such a big star at all. On the day of the announcement Facebook was flooded with posts of how people either thought this is the end of days, or described the speed with which they snapped up their ticket to her show.

On the one hand, Sziget is a big happy place, and can fit both Rihanna and semi unknown acoustic acts, on the other hand, one cannot but think at how many lesser, but festival friendlier acts could have been signed with the same undisclosed amount of money. Rihanna’s fans aren’t necessary the festival going type either, though presumably her presence will give day 0 a whiff of Coachella, which is not necessarily a whiff I’m particularly fond of when foreign influences are concerned.

Luckily, there’s plenty to see and listen to if you’re feeling a bit ANTI- yes, that is a bad joke and I apologize, but sometimes I can’t help it, just like Noel Gallagher couldn’t help badmouthing his brother in the late Oasis days, which in a meandering way led to him coming to Sziget with his oddly name outfit of High Flying Birds. He’d probably be taking offence at his new effort being labelled a poorer attempt at being Oasis, but then again, so is Liam’s Beady Eye, therefore we’re being totally just.

For a more genuine 90s experience, one should probably scurry to whichever tent UNKLE will be playing in- let’s just hope it’s a tent, and it’s late at night, and dark, as it should be, though lately the Sziget programmer has been in a bit of a whimsical mood so fingers crossed we won’t have a trip hop picnic in the blazing island sun.(In the meantime I ogled the press release better and got confirmation that UNKLE will indeed be ensconced in the cozy darkness of A38, but now the trio hop picnic idea sounds strangely appealing.)

There’s plenty of repeat offenders this year as well (and that really isn’t a complaint), though with Manu Chao soon it will be hard to tell when he isn’t in Budapest. Jake Bugg on the other hand is pretty young to be a repeat offender, but the man just likes to tick boxes at such a tender age. Kaiser Chiefs have seen finer days- last time they were in Budapest they got a police escort from the airport to the venue and I bought one of their band T-shirts- but they should still be entertaining enough in one of the earlier Main Stage slots. Skunk Anansie are slowly becoming a Hungarian festival staple in the unlikely company of The Prodigy (who are gracing VOLT this year) and Enter Shikari (who don’t have a Hungarian date for this year yet, and I’m beginning to worry.)

There is of course no Sziget without a reminder of past sins- though I will forever blame missing out on Die Antwoord last time they were on the island on the oft reviled programmer, who scheduled them to go head to head with Kasabian. And one does obviously not desert a Kasabian gig, entertaining as Ninja and Yo-Landi might be. Missing out on Crystal Castles should however qualify as a bigger sin, firstly because I have no idea why I did it, and secondly because this time it’s an Alice Glass-less act, which is missing out on half the fun. Or almost all of it. Bloc Party are also returning with a changed line up, and also, alas, a rather tentative fifth album- but I still expect them to provide more entertainment than Bastille, who are basically back to annoy me. Actually they’re back to make little girls happy, which in the grand scheme of things is not such an objectionable mission. I’m probably just bitter I’m not little anymore.

The World Music stage is basically one big jolly repeat offence as it is, with regulars such as Goran Bregovic (also pretty much always in Budapest, just like Manu Chao), Rachid Taha, Leningrad, Fanfare Ciocârlia or Pannonia Allstars Ska Orchestra all making appearances. It does however give me a little heartbreak not to have Shane MacGowan present, especially given that the man has new teeth and could have finally shown Sziget a smile that wouldn’t scare the living daylights out of us. And it’s also supercool to have some Irish music in general- which reminds me, there was a year when I got free Guinness on Sziget, that’s one idea right there on how to make this year’s edition both appealing to the masses and old school at the same time.

But there’s plenty of new names as well, like Norwegian Aurora- whose wiki page revealed firstly, that she’s ridiculously young, being born in 1996, and that there are several bands by the name of Aurora, one of them being, naturally, a British Christian girl group. Whatever that means. Aurora sports a blonde bob, which comes in very handy to link her to another artist on her first Sziget appearance, Sia.

Good electro is not always easy to find, so it’s double nice that one of the bands who are doing it quite well these days is from Romania- Golan will be playing on the Europa stage, which will also host the winners of the Sziget talent contests held in 16 European countries.

I’ve also successfully identified a lengthy host of artists I have never heard of before- which first threw me into fits of panic along the lines of I’m getting old and disconnected from new music, but then I realized that all Sziget line ups have been similar, it’s just that in the past we weren’t so glued to the Internet, dissecting the line up months in advance.

At some point in mid-summer, the good old PestiEst special edition came out with the programme, and you really couldn’t be bothered with the acts you did’t know, you just focused on the ones you wanted to see and the logistics and financial conundrums of doing that. Riding the wave of online possibilities, I have decided to give all these strange names a chance and listen to at least one of their songs- the verdict, however, is left for the next installment.