Best Concerts of Sziget 2016 #10: Róisín Murphy and Bastille

Last year I began the best concert countdown with the remark of how strong the line up was, so this year, for a change, I'll whine a bit. An activity which can be strangely energizing, as a matter of fact, just like reviewing a bad concert is often more satisfying than doing the same with a good one. It allows you to reach cathartic heights of unleashed passions, hatred, contempt, disdain, all mixed up in a cocktail of happy release. Good concerts, on the other hand, often leave you in a kind of contented stupour and you end up articulating sophisticated, nuanced thoughts along the lines of OMG that was so damn NICE.

So back to the whining then and here it goes: this year's Sziget had an army of average concerts and very few spectacular ones. Before jumping into the thick of it, I will indulge in another favourite activity of mine, namely breaking down numerical data: during the festival's 7 days I made it to 39 concerts where I spent enough time to be able to pass judgement on the performance. As possibly interesting information, given how many people complain about the surging cost of Sziget, calculating an average of 5.000 forints per concert (though some acts like Rihanna and Muse would have probably cost at least four times that much), the 'worth' of my concerting only is 195.000 forints, more than double the price of a seven day camping ticket, which includes accommodation as well for those who want it. I rated all these concerts on a scale of 1 to 10, with most scoring between 5 to 7. From those who made it to the final list, a few are more spectacular sevens, the rest scoring 8 or above. 

Since no main stage headliner made it to the top ten, I will say a few words about the two which a lot of people would probably place there. After a week of musing on the subject, I decided not to really like Muse after all, my complaints being those already voiced immediately after the concert. There were just too many guitar solos, too much operatic intent, and too much Queen feeling- while this might also sound unorthodox, Queen are Chinese torture to me, a song like Bohemian Rhapsody being the soundtrack of my own personal hell. A hell where too many things are happening musically, all at once. And that is exactly how Muse start to feel like as of late. 

My objection to Sia, on the other hand, is that nothing was happening musically. It was a wonderful contemporary dance performance, with a bit of method acting thrown in, her songs themselves are ridiculously catchy, her voice is lovely too- but all of that still doesn't make a concert, especially not a festival concert. Without live instruments Sia's stillness in a corner of the stage made me feel duped- not like the Israeli audience who demanded their money back, but duped nevertheless.

Having gotten over these thorny matters, let's get it on with the two acts at number 10, I decided that the position would be shared again, since Sziget is not only the island of freedom, but that of kindness and generosity as well. Róisín Murphy, though not averse to wearing wigs, is by all means the anti-Sia: she loves to be on stage and to put on a show. During her midnight performance in A38 she went through numerous wardrobe changes, in a sort of cooky electro cabaret. This resulted in the fact that, although I am not particularly well versed in her catalogue and she doesn't have any songs which are true festival belters, she kept me involved with what was happening on stage from the first to the last song. This last song having that Sing It Back bit which so many in the audience were waiting for- but I'm being a nihilist again, and will confess to hating it, so I was pretty happy it didn't really get center stage. I was also recently informed that Róisín's first costume, which I assumed to be some horned creature, is actually a flamingo. I consider this wonderful trivia and a very fitting way to sum up the Róisín Murphy experience.

The other act at number ten are Bastille- and yes, I am completely surprised by this myself. Two years ago they were stashed into the cathartic bad concert category and I had horribly unkind words about them. But apparently people change, and either Bastille got considerably better both at writing music and playing live, or I became a better person. So yes, it's the first. Since they are approaching the release of their second album, planned for September 9th, they now have enough tunes for a more muscly set and lead singer Dan Smith seems to have finally found both the rhythm of his dance moves and the way to connect with the audience- a lot of on stage banter seems to be done on auto pilot, more out of boredom than actual desire to connect with the crowds, but he came off as genuine throughout the set. I have also had the epiphany of how some of their songs, namely the hits, are indeed catchy and genuine festival material, the kind of tunes which induce a giddy feeling of contentment with being in the hot dusty now of an August sunset. 

Rappers of the World Unite- Sziget Day Two

Saturday begins with the odd realization that the festival has only just begun in earnest- and is already heading into it's second sold out day, a far cry from early times when it never occurred to you that tickets would not be available at the entrance. Many other festivals don't even have day tickets anymore and sell out passes well before the event, something Sziget could probably do, yet they still insist on catering to people, mostly locals, who might not be able to afford a week long stay, but would want to join in the party even for a shorter time. 

The next question one ponders is how the two sold out days compare in terms of headliners- is Muse sharing Rihanna's popularity levels, albeit with a different crowd, is it the same crowd (a bit scary from Muse's perspective) or is it the combined effects of Muse's might and the fact that it's Saturday, so those Budapesters who just want to pop out for a day chose it having in sight a long and restorative Sunday sleep session. Judging by the crowds assembled in front of the main stage at 9 PM, one would tend towards the third alternative, as the crowd is definitely less packed than for Rihanna and allows for comfortable movement at the back- it also helps that, this being a 'real' festival day, many more alternative venues are available than during Rihanna's gig. This being said, the number of people rambling on the island in Muse band t-shirts was quite overwhelming during day, and since high street retail chains are yet to launch Muse themed attire along the lines of fifteen year olds running in Nirvana t-shirts, I assume everyone in a Muse t-shirt kind of knew why they were wearing it.

But much was to pass before the headliner's show, and we'll jump into the thick of it- or rather, the rarefied relaxational bit of it, namely the sparsely populated early afternoon A38 slot of Norma Jean Martine, whom I will honestly admit to having picked only because of the name. Someone who gets a head start in life with her parents thinking it appropriate to endow her with a name of such weight should be of some interest. Instead of launching into a Shakespearean 'what's in a name' diatribe however, I will let you know that Norma Jean is a singer song writer with a pleasant enough voice and catchy enough tunes who might or might not get a big break sometime in the near future- only time will tell whether her moniker brings her luck.

After loitering around the island and witnessing a small Sziget miracle, namely the lately decidedly un-lazy co-photographer of the blog consuming vegan food, we were ready for some !!!, as much as anyone can ever be ready for them. For I do resent the name- as you can see I am super objective at judging artists only by what's relevant to their craft. But you just keep having to be silly and go chk chk chk when talking about them, or alternatively maybe try to launch into producing the sounds as glottal stops and forever alienating the few friends you still have left. They're also the kind of band whose rather tame dance punk will always be entertaining and a bit camp, not unlike lead singer Nic Offer's compulsory shorts, but will never move mountains and they do stay true to form this time as well. 

Going head to head with !!! and probably explaining the relative emptiness of the tent are Bring Me The Horizon, who have a rather intense juvenile following, just as Kodaline do, bringing further clues as to why the day might have been sold out. Nifty move from the programmers, yet we decide to pretend like neither of the bands are happening and pick up the thread of our one sided quarrel with aforementioned programmers: why in the sweet name of Thor, Odin and a gathering of lesser Viking gods are Sigur Rós playing on the main stage when it's still light outside. The band come complete with one of the most elaborate set ups to grace the main stage, their mesmerizing visuals  and a wish to start earlier so they can play longer. Let that sink in. No, really, take a moment and think about it. These nice people come from Iceland, make music akin to the early sounds of the universe coming into being and want you to be happy. The fact that many in the crowd are a bit puzzled, quote boredom and weasel around waiting for Matt Bellamy's thunderous guitar is just a sign of them being unworthy. It also ruins the gig for everybody else, which is he kind of sin that will make Odin come after them one day. 

Before skipping on to the man with the thunderous guitar, I will spend some time to elaborate on a sequence of events which underline Sziget's unique greatness: in less than three hours, with the interlude of some in this context quite conventional English guitar music, I could listen to 18th Century Karelian rap delivered by Finnish trio Värttinä, 21st Century Turkish rap from Ceza and Mexican rap rock band Molotov. You really can't get much more entertained than that, as they were all quite good at their craft, with a particular shout out to Ceza, who kept an impressive and not only Turkish crowd in front of the Europe Stage, going partially against Mr Thunder. Here we can also touch on the fact that besides a really strong showing from Turkey, which we already mentioned, this year South America is also sending a surprisingly large amount of Szitizens to the island, and we also ran into Indian and Iranian flags on several occasions, and felt quietly smug about telling them apart at a first glance, since they happen to be quite similar.

Now to the main stage thunder: somewhat strangely, right after the gig opinions seemed to be quite divided. Raving reactions mixed with grumbles and in all honesty I think I can understand why. Muse delivered exactly what they were expected to deliver, thus pleasing hardcore fans, and they have them aplenty. For a non convert, though, there is just too much museness about Muse. Their insistence on how well they can play their instruments (ridiculously, awe inspiringly well), launching into solos every half a song or so, can get overbearing and downright tedious after a while. There, Matt is doing it again, where is that bloody chorus, we might be here for the night and it will never come, oh, but it does, and now: drum solo! 

It's like your super gifted neighbours, possibly of alien origin, are improvising a jam session each night and you love them to shreds but also secretly wish they'd stopped the nonsense. When they do stop the nonsense and deliver their better known songs you have time to pause and realize just how much like Queen something like Madness sounds, and wonder whether that's good. All in all, this jury's still delivering. While this showing was vastly superior to Muse's previous Sziget visit, there are still some question marks I just can't brush aside. There's nothing to be brushed aside about Róisín Murphy though: the lady is a bit of a cook, in all the right ways, and provides an entertaining wind down to a pretty intense day- it seems ages, but the festival has only just passed its mid point, so we keep the seat belts fastened for the rest of ride.

Monday Pleasures: New Names for Sziget 2016

I will be frank and admit I had two main hopes for the new Sziget line up announcement, which seemed to be pretty much in the cards based on the traditional beginning of year festival/concert schedule watch, namely The Last Shadow Puppets and LCD Soundsystem.  Both are returning after a long(ish) hiatus and kept filling their calendar with juicy spring/summer dates.

So my hopes were half fulfilled, though that’s not a completely correct assessment, because the prospect of Alex Turner and Miles Kane on the island is tantalizing enough in itself and has caused a case of whole day Cheshire cat grin unintelligible to the uninitiated. Miles Kane has of course graced the island before and gave one of the best concerts of the festival in 2014, whereas the Arctic Monkeys have sadly only made it to VOLT in the same year- because they were quite ridiculously in Japan during Sziget, which is something they should really avoid in the future.

The other big name for the indie crowd are Muse- technically of course Muse should be the number one name, but one cannot help but get the feeling that they are a bit past their peak of coolness, and the new album just falls on the wrong side of the paranoia/anthemic songs ratio. They should nevertheless still be a pretty spectacular headliner and an antidote to one of the yearly unmentionables- this time, the majesty of David Guetta is back to thump  minds and souls into numbness. Though I cannot refrain from the slightly evil thought that if you keep going to David Guetta concerts your mind and soul were most likely numb to begin with.

Róisín Murphy is a repeat offender on the island, but one cannot feel but delighted to have someone wrapped in shiny clothes and exciting accents to entertain us- plus her kids have the improbable names of Clodagh and Tadhg- yes I plead guilty to random perusal of Wikipedia, but the main point is that  Róisín is never boring. Bullet for My Valentine and Parkway Drive fall a bit off my map of interest, but I am always open to as many genres as possible being present on Sziget- the island is big enough for everyone to have their bit of well deserved entertainment.

The rest of the new names sounded a bit esoteric to me- there’s just too many bands out there these days and too little space in a lifetime to listen to people who are not Arctic Monkeys or ALT-J, so I decided to give them all a quick listen and come up with a first verdict as a result.

The Lumineers look like friendly local baristas and made me google The Courteneers, who are decidedly livelier, but the Lumineers should be able to pull off better heartfelt singalongs. I therefore pass them. Years and Years sound like an average British electro act with a slightly squeaky lead singer, probably because that’s exactly what they are. Borderline, at best.

I then discovered that I do know Jess Glynne, for her song Hold My Hand is often played as youthful shopping music in H&Ms, which is exactly where she belongs. To the borderline pack she goes with Years and Years. K.I.Z. is the yearly compulsory German acquired taste, but at least the rapping puts my language skills to test, so I pass them on grounds both of intriguing oddity and first chorus that actually stays with me after the one listen.

The Neighbourhood sound exactly like another band I can’t quite put my finger on, mostly because I don’t want to, plus the writing your name as a consonant cluster gimmick is really tiring by now. However, as a reward for spelling the complete version of their name the right way I might consider them if no other options are available and the beer queue is not too long, but a fail for the time being. (The Youtube autoplay sensed my despair, and after a couple of Neighbourhood songs, promptly jumped to Arctic Monkeys. Big Brother is listening and has good musical taste.)

Datsik has a song that features Snoop Dogg, but it’s not half as good as Snoop narrating nature documentaries, and he drops the base about a million times too often. Either he plays clips of Snoop explaining the feeding habits of the honey badger, or I mercilessly fail him.

Kovacs and Rico and Sticks are Dutch, and since everyone who is not Belgian on Sziget is Dutch, it is most natural that the organizers would cater to their needs. Kovacs is a bit of a mind-bend for a Hungarian speaker, for she’s a young lady with a rather classical jazz voice, which could go anywhere in the long run, she therefore receives a pass on the already invoked oddity grounds. Rico and Sticks on the other hand rap in Dutch. And here I rest my case. There is only one band in the world who can rap efficiently in a language originating from the Netherlands, and they are Die Antwoord.

To end the post on a high, do revel in some Miles Kane and Alex Turner being awesome separately pictures, as a warm up to this summer’s Miles Kane and Alex Turner being awesome together action.