Sziget 2014 Diary- Day Three

Thursday was so implausibly good in spite of the rain that Friday seemed to be doomed to the fate of a bit of a letdown- or a slower day in the least.  This was well reflected in the dwindling number of people arriving to the main stage for the 4 o’clock slot, held by German usual suspects Die Fantastischen Vier. They are of course an acquired taste- which you can probably acquire only if you are German yourself, or at a native level of German, which of course no non-German ever attained, so well, people from Stuttgart were happy- and so were we to see there are so many people from Stuttgart coming to the island. 

We left the main stage around the time when people started wondering why they are vier when there’s three of them on the stage -well, three of them were rapping, and then there were several others in the band, so no matter how you added and extracted, the four remains a mystery. The A38 stage was hosting the Palma Violets (who are actually a foursome, sublime victory for maths, finally), who for me are the epitome of the „bands NME hypes but I just can’t get the hang of” label. They sound so much like all other raucous indie acts that I simply cannot remember any of their songs- I have listened to the album several times, I have now seen them live as well, yet would not be able to recall one chord- not even if my life depended on it, so I can just hope it never will.

The main stage area became decidedly more animated when an infectiously cheerful Cee-Lo Green showed up in an Emperor Palpatine meets silk nightgown ensemble and was accompanied by a group of wonderfully skilled female musicians- in their undies. My feminist side should probably go on a rampage right now, but it won’t, because there was something utterly charming and quite harmless about the whole act- a perfect dose of sugar and funk for a Friday festival afternoon.

Having the Manic Street Preachers come on after Cee-Lo is probably akin to landing on Cardiff airport in the middle of an autumn drizzle after a holiday in the Bahamas- it’s somehow good to be back, but you’d rather it wasn’t happening. I always get this unsettling feeling when watching the Manics live- I love their records, and on paper their set should be brilliant, and it actually sounds alright, and they are of course extremely skilled musicians, but the spark just isn’t there. Maybe it’s something related the lack of connection between them and the crowd- very few people are actually aware of the band’s back catalogue, and most just idle away with a beer, waiting for whoever’s next. It is probably unfair to the Manics, and I always feel a bit sorry for not being more excited, but this concert didn’t send shivers down my spine either.

Counting this year’s disappointments, I would say Angel Haze is somewhere on top of the list- though maybe it’s not entirely her fault- it’s just that the bass was pumped so loud in A38 during her gig that it was hard, if possible at all, to distinguish the tracks and you could barely hear the rapping- which is a total pity in her case. She did look ill at ease for the entire show and finished quite early, leaving a gaping whole in the programme, which was made to bleed even more by Kelis arriving (un)fashionably late.

The only excuse I can accept is that she was fixing her hair, or had an army of minions fixing it for her- it most definitely looked amazing, like a sublime halo of otherworldly auburn flames. Her dress was also impeccable and she seemed moderately pleased to be there- moderate being the word for her entire performance: she slowed down most of her tracks, turning them into somewhat jazzy lullabies. Yes, you can make a jazzy lullaby from Milkshake, trust me. Which is a fine intention and would have worked wonders in a smoky little club, but fell a bit flat and awkward in a festival tent, with the public being at their wits’ end already.

When Kelis strutted of with a moderate smile, it was time for the Klaxons, who were back on Sziget after a gig that no one seems to remember- not even themselves, though they confirm remembering the parliament, which would suggest them having been here, though maybe in another dimension. In this one, however, we might not recall the new concert either- it did have some strong points, but overall it somehow falls short of memorable, you keep getting this eerie feeling that all their detractors were indeed right, and the Klaxons are more hype than music. Time will maybe tell- provided we remember the Klaxons at all.

While we were being moderate in A38, there was indeed a Korn concert on the main stage, of which people in the know speak as having been much better than their 2012 Sziget affair, though that might be a confusing snippet of information, since that outing is known as one of the basest in the festival’s history.  Given that we are not experts on Korn, nor do we wish to be, we can only conclude that based on this satisfactory result, they’ll be back to torment us into the darkness of A38 sooner that we’d like.

The Usual Suspects of Sziget

Every year when the Sziget line up starts taking shape there'll be a bunch of moaners complaining that oh, it's the same acts all over again. There's no pacifying them- pointing out that maybe these bands are liked by the majority of the audience doesn't work. 

Getting a bit more sophisticated and suggesting that major UK festivals also rotate pretty much the same headliners year after year doesn't do the job either. Hell, Glasto tried to break the mold and put on Beyonce and Metallica and that kind of backfired- just go for good old Kasabian instead and you'll be just fine (a hint to Sziget organizers here about whom to bring back next year from the usual lot). 

There's also the fact of some bands being better festival bands than others- there's a way of getting silly to Prodigy that won't really work with some newer, more groundbreaking acts. Other bands technically only work at festivals- I see no other use of Madness, to be frank. And then there's Korn. They'll always have the die hard fans to crowd the main stage area to the sounds of doom- which is quite lovely for those who want to breathe more freely at one of the smaller stages. 

So here we go with the list of bands I'll be delighted to have back this year.

Okay, delighted might be an overstatement for Lily Allen, though she definitely was just that when she actually got to headline in 2009, something no other major festival graced her with. Her new album might not be her best, but her older material is absolutely festival compatible.

One cannot be not excited by the Manics. No band that can open their set with Motorcycle Emptiness and close it with A Design for Life will ever get boring. And of course there's not resisting a Welsh flag with a fiery red dragon.

I remember the times when I actually spent the better part of a scorching hot day with my claws locked onto the front row fence to watch Placebo.  These days I'd rather lounge in the spritzer area and watch them from a safe distance. We're getting old, Brian's getting old too, but no one can deny that Pure Morning is one hell of a song and few tracks can beat the festival meanness of Infrared.

This here is Ruben Block. He is awesome. His band Triggerfinger are on the Main Stage Sunday afternoon. You have no excuse not to be there.

The new Wild Beasts album has constantly been selected into the best record lists of the year so far and they also graciously survived a frantic 5 PM heat last time around, so they sure deserve a headline spot on the A38 stage this year.

La Roux's debut album blasted onto the electro scene with the likes of the infectious Bulletproof- and then she promptly disappeared. She's back this year with some fine new tracks and shares the fate of Wild Beasts in getting a more adequate spot- her moody electro was not best fit for an afternoonish main stage, but should work wonders late in the evening on A38.