It’s music, now dance!

It is the next to the last day of the Sziget 2008 festival in Budapest. Relaxing with a cup of tea before starting for the Óbudai sziget in the Danube with my boyfriend, going to dance or just listening to some more relaxed music. Hopefully. As sometimes we do not dance as the band is not fun at all…No bad words for them now though, just few words for the good ones. At least I will try to be more positive.

So, here we go…

DAY ONE, 13 August 2008

It was hot. Day first for me at a big festival like this one. It feels like a festival not in Central but Western Europe, most of the permanent inhabitants of the little grass areas filled to the maximum with tents, of the stages and tents, of the mobile toilets and showers, are cool blonde hippies from France, Germany and many others somwhere there to the West. The conversations in the toilets “Where are you going from?” “Vienn? I will going there before Budapest.” and other charming friendly expressions in broken English.

I like the foreign audience here, especially the French. Very noisy, happy and partying. The Hungarians are coming in only-girls or only-boys groups with searching eyes and imitating the festival fashion. Not all of them of course, but many that I noticed…

RÓMEÓ VÉRZIK

At first we went to the HAMMER’s stage. A good beginning. We started to shake and twist, still without jumping. A good energetic Hungarian band.

BLACK OUT

Another good Hungarian band. Already we jumped a bit. I do not know why my boyfriend does not like the vocal as much as the previous one. I found him very cute. Also he sang from his wholeheartedly.

VODKU

At the A38 stage. A Hungarian band . The style consists of something russian, gypsy, Balkan and so on, but the final mess was not able to move us somehow.

TANGO UNDERGROUND

At the open stage for young talents. They started nicely, very energetic punk rythm, the second song was with the same very energetic punk rhythm, the third song – too, so we withdrew. When we passed beside the stage half an hour later they sounded still the same. As we couldn’t understand the lyrics, maybe deep and socially engaged, we concluded that this was boring.

ALANIS MORISSETTE

She gave me the goose flesh with her first song. A deep balad from her first strong albums. Unfortunately I do not know its name, I have always had exactly one her song that I know and like very much – that says “do you think of me when you fuck her…” I enjoyed it very much at the concert too!

In general the concert was OK. I guess that I would be in trance if I loved her as much as one friend of mine who was so jealous that I will see her. Well, she is a bit strange, holding her hands together, modest and with extermely strong and nice voice. But dancing very heavily.

Definately she is BIG.

HOCUS POCUS

I thought that they are cool, they are French, and I like so much Sporto Kantes. But these were so unvaried, the same jazzy rhythm with the same recitative during all their first 3 songs…So we left.

Anyway, the french audience liked them exteremely much. Later I thought that sometimes they do not mind at all what they listen to. The music is in them, they dance to it with no compatibality with the songs at all…And they support very much the French bands.

KULTUR SHOCK

Great! I love them from the concert in Sofia. They give themselves to the full, and not only the Balkan audience jumped to their cool and strong Balkan punk.

HVG DISCOTHEQUE

It was a very good spot in the Sziget area. The Hungarian weekly economical magazine HVG unexpetedly for me had a very nice stand made extremely from garbage objects like old barrels and car tyres in very artistic and comfortable way. The discotheque was improvised, the DJ played some sweet minimalistic songs like „Disco partizani“ that I learnt from there. Absoutely stupid, but it felt fresh.

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DAY TWO, 14 August 2008

MODERN ART ORCHESTRA

We were a bit tired from the last long night so we relaxed over plastic cups of beer in the Jazz stage with this Hungarian band. Their music reminds me very much of Cinemtaic Orchestra. I liked them.

I noticed that most of the public was engaged in gazing the opposite-sex reresentatives in the public so I was a bit pissed off, but anyway interested in the new scratches in the portrait of the festival’s inhabitants.

PEET

I think at A38. They were great! So few people listened to them but they played from the bottom of their hearts. Nice strong Hungarian alternative.

ROKIA TRAORÉ

The absolute favourite of mine for the second day! She is not human, she is an African goddess! She dances like a graceful animal, I was utterly extatic when she jumped like a horse in her dance, dressed in her white linen trousers and white vest. Slim and beautiful.

And when she started to play her song Dunia with a blues guitar I knew that I discovered my new PJ Harvey. Already I am listening to her at home, I found her last two albums.

In the beginning I noticed the happy faces of some red-haired rasta boys, then I understood. I did not know her, she is really BIG! And even I danced some African steps I have never believed I would like. I am thinking now to start african dances classes:).

Kaukazus

We did not see them now on Sziget but we have been at their concert in Budapest last year. They are very very good!

JAMIROQUAI

I just reassured myself that I am not their fan. Although I discovered an old song of them that I like very much now – „Runaway“.

It was very monotone, there were extremely many people and the funky dancing was impossible, so what’s the sense then? Yet they played nicely.

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DAY THREE, 15 August 2008

URH

I liked them very much. Dark bassy beats from the 80-s. The vocal is so serious and cute with his curly ginger hair and a black suit.

LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE

Some little Italians making rave energetic music.

BRISA ROCHÉ

She was quiet impressive, had nice sound and vission, interesting music. I thought to find her albums. She has exactly that rhythm that one friend of mine calls наебателен (good for fucking).

Unfortunately, she is imitating Bjork so much that from the middle of the concert I couldn’t bear watching her boasting manners and silly gestures. Why should she blink with her right eyelid as in a tic, and talk so many and so silly things between the songs? I believe that Bjork is much more modest although I have seen only her taped concerts, not live.

MORY KANTE

Funny. We left after the third song.

There were two back vocals, one of them was a white woman that was hardly following the black snger with the dance steps. Yes, baby, Afrika is something else!

LA CARAVANE PASSE

Uau, that was hot! Extremely impuslive and emotional, great connection with the public, mainly French of course. Big show, great dancing! With them I became a fan of the Gypsy tent and I understood why there were always people there dancing.

selim sesler

We did not see him, he was at the same time as Apocaliptica, that was a must. My boyfriend likes the Finishes extremely much. But I have seen the gypsy musician in the movie „The sound of Istanbul“ and have an idea that he is quiet good.

APOCALYPTICA

These are beautiful! And incredible like nonhuman beings with these cellos. It was funny how there were minority of heavy metal fans in the audience. The nice French boys and girls were nevertheless happy with them.

Actually Apocaliptica is very pop.

HVG DISCOTHEQUE

The same songs, the same mood, nice dancing. The pain in the calves from the previous days went away this night. But we did not go there anymore after that, it would be boring!

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DAY FOUR, 16 August 2008

It was already colder with 20 grades. That day I got cold but I am already recovering. I was missing the half naked pretty young people. I realised that it is modern to wear black switchers. The crowd was black.

SERJ TANKIAN

Stupid. He himself did not believe of the pale comments he was making for the politicians.

R.E.M

Big crowd, melodic rock, monotone for me, no familiar songs at all. We left after the third one.

GORAN BREGOVICH

„Mesecina“ was great played during the lunar eclipse. When the songs were slow people were gazing the moon. At the end – the great old songs of Bregovich – nice jumping, dancing and singing. I do still believe that the westerners do not feel the Balkan music as the Balkans. I have watched a concert of him on the TV, from Plovdiv. It was…mindblowing.

At this Sziget the concert was…OK.

OSTAVA

As the only rock&roll band from Bulgaria I wanted to see them for a while. They disappointed me, not they I like their music in general. The singer looked bored and did not like the small numbers of his listeners. Well, what does he expect when he sings so sleepy and stiff. Noone would come in the tent. People want action!

ACQUARAGIA DROM

Some Italian gypsy band in the Róma Sátor. They sounded to me very foreign, I feel only Balkan gypsy music it seems:). And the truth is that the French La Caravane Passe sounded a bit Balkan too!

MACEO PARKER

Cool! Many excited people, happy hippies. He himself said „I’ve travelled all over the world and the truth is that the audience in Europe is the best!“

We were dancing outside with some other thousand melomen that could not fit into the Jazz tent. I had never believed that I would dance to jazz. This also happened though! Slowly and playfully, in the cold night, to the cool hip-hopping Maceo Parker.

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DAY FIVE, 17 August 2008

Last day. Heroes are tired. I have a soar throat from the previous night. At the end I had a fever and we missed my favourite Korai öröm. We decided that they play in Budapest at any time of the year so it is better to go home and rest at last.

BABYSHAMBLES

Some British thrown up. I am not sure who was more bored – Pete Dohorty or his public.

N&SK

Great French band! Great French audience! My respect! Without you our jumping would look ridiculous among the solemn adult spectators.

MY DOG’S BONE

A very good Chech band, such a shame that there were few people in the tent! Despite this the singer said to us „You are great!“. They deserve more popularity. Maybe they are popular, just this festival’s life and movement of the crowds is something difficult to explain and rely on.

KEREKES BAND

Marvellous!

The cherry of the icecream for the closing day of Sziget. We had an album of them and already liked them. We waited 20 minutes till they tune up their strange old instruments and, frankly, we got nervous and unhappy. But when they really started, with this unique sound of the vocal who is not singing but playing some pipes from the bottom of his lungs…oh, we were completely rapt.

LEE PERRY

Funny. Both of us do not like reggae.

JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ

Vajk was wandering why he is so famous. I told him what I had read about the advertisement with the balls. I got the peak of my fever in the tent – too much people, slow monotone music. No doubt, romantic and gentle.

korai öröm

Next time!