Sziget 2005 - Day 0

The real Sziget festival starts today but several thousand people, including yours truly, decided to get down with the oldies last night.

As always, the first journey to the sziget is always the worst. Huge crowds of people queuing up to get their wristbands and be herded across the bridge. This was compounded by the threat of a downpour. Just as we got off the HÉV it started to rain. Everyone made for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Read moreThere's mud about but luckily not of Glastonbury proportions. The ground was the consistency of a rich, gooey, chocolate brownie, so while it wobbled underfoot, the surface tension was not broken and (mostly) everybody stayed clean.

There was only one band playing yesterday. Illés were on the main stage, playing their goodbye concert (again). It looks like this really will be their last one. They're getting so old they're dropping dead (the original drummer, Pásztory Zoltán died recently).

They went out in style with a fantastic set watched by more people I've seen in a long time. Honestly, the crowds were as big as any big international band or the Hungarian favourite of Tankcsapda.

Some pics



Some links
Est.hu interview with Illés
Some info in English about Illés