Sziget 2014 Diary- Day One

It's the first day in full swing, and a hot and humid one- long queues clog the entrances and all the locations are now up and running. There's circus and opera, street theatres and movies, a beach and a gym, so it seems a bit of a stereotype choice to start the day at the main stage but Jake Bugg is definitely an act to check out. Barely 20, he already has a flock of dutifully screaming groupies, but his music should go down well with more mature audiences as well. There's nothing mind blowing about the performance, it' basically him and his guitar, plus a small band-whose drummer seems out of synch at times- in spite of this, Lightning Bolt ends the set on a high, signalling hopefully grander things to come. Time is definitely on Jake's side.

Jake is followed by one of those bands I can't really fathom- Imagine Dragons. The very name irritates me and I go all grumpy cat style, no, I won't imagine them just because they tell me so. Thier music is also something indefinite, a bit The 1975 style- should be nice in theory, but fails in practice. Unlike The 1975 though, the live show seems to work for these ones- what was utterly dull and lacklustre on the radio comes alive on the stage, and sucks the audience in its vibe. Imagine Dragons might not be your music of choice for home listening, but were born to play festivals. I would hazard saying that Sziget should have kicked old school Placebo in the butt and shoved the Dragons in the later slot, for the snooze fest to follow fell particularly flat between Imagine Dragons and Skrillex. This is not necessarily a compliment to the two though. It's just a fact- they're not sleep inducing, whereas this time Placebo truly were.

It's safe to say that the quality of Placebo's Sziget concerts can be predicted based on Brian Molko's hair day- and this one was rubbish. The hair was a classic Darth Vader helmet, unmoving like the coiffure of a wax statue. The feeling of the concert itself was something alike a statue's unmelted heart- they pretended to he happy to be back, but seemed to be actually, utterly bored, like a 9 to 5 office worker who decides today will be the day she will spend browsing cat videos and taking long trips to the coffee dispensing machine.If she is then asked to do anything worthwhile she'll just mess it up quietly- and so did Placebo, rushing into some songs at a frenetic but out of place speed and inexplicably slowing down into others. They'll probably be back some time soon though, hopefully in the wake of a better album and well, let's just pray Brian finds a proper hairdresser as well.

The moment Skrillex dropped his first bass on the unsuspecting crowd was the moment I ran for my life to the A38 tent. Miles Kane is often mentioned as the other guy, and people glide over the fact that his Last Shadow Puppets project works so sublimely because both Alex Turner and himself are so pivotal to the sound and the atmosphere of the tracks. His evening slot on Sziget came to prove what an extraordinary musician and showman he is.For 75 minutes it felt like meeting an alien, coming from a planet of superlative music, where we're all guitar gods, we all dance flawlessly to the rhythm and everyone is a good guy out to have the time of their lives. Every Sziget has one concert that you expect to be good, but it turns out borderline perfect. In 2014, although this was only the first official day, Miles Kane most definitely takes the prize.

You know a concert was awesome when any other music listened to immediately after it sounds like an insult to your ears. Therefore we cannot say anything about Clean Bandit except that they filled in for London Grammar and looked rather spectacular on stage.As for the music, give me some more Miles Kane, thank you.

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.