Sziget 2005 - Day 3

Got back at 4am but had a great lie-in this morning. No time to do a proper post as off again to the Sziget.

Here's a quick roundup of Day 3. I'll add details later maybe.

- Brand New Heavies (BA made them late)
- Basement Jaxx (Big women in big band)
- The crazy woman (songs about smelly people on the metro)
- The old pair (becoming a cult?)
- Turbonegro (packed with people doing the "we will rock you" hand clap)
- Megasztar (packed and could hardly see anything)
- Zap Mama (sounds like Macy Gray)
- Pupilla Projekt
- Charged up phone
- Ate langos & Balkan Burger
- Beer from travelling pumps
- Impromptu dumpster drumming

Updated!

Click for the updateSo here's a quick update...

Brand New Heavies
The Brand New Heavies were late but they were great. The British Airways strikes at Heathrow meant they got in a lot later than expected. We missed the beginning of the show but when we turned up they were belting out the old favourites of Dream On Dreamer and Midnight At The Oasis. The new singer may have a more slightly timid voice than the original but she did well and wiggled her bottom sufficiently enough to keep everyone interested but the gig was cut short as their time had run out.

Basement Jaxx
I never realised how big the band was for Basement Jaxx. More and more people just kept coming onto the stage to perform. It made the whole gig seem like a group of friends taking turns to sing and dance. Which is what a band is I guess. The stars for me were the two er... large ladies that sand Fresh. They really got the crowd going.

The crazy woman
The crazy woman was what the lovely lady called her but her band went by the name of Tereskova. They were playing at Wan2 and drew quite a few people. Imagine if you will a very classy set up with violins, trumpets and smooth backing vocals from the girl from Jazz+az, and the lead singer being an attractive woman with long blond hair, belting out songs along the lines of The nut cake is ready, kitty's got lovely fur, Smelly people on the metro etc. Very bizarre songs with an absolutely crazy woman.

The old pair
Korda György and Balázs Klári to give them their proper names. They've been around forever, or at least the last 25 years. They turn up on TV shows and do "playback" of their old classics. They were playing in the Táncdalfesztivál tent in a slot between a wet t-shirt contest and DJ Paplan and the tent was so full we had to watch from just outside the entrance. Everyone sang along, cheered and clapped. Everyone knew the words. I think this says something about the culture in Hungary and while everyone thinks that people are listening to the latest DJs and following the latest fashions, the majority still like good old fashioned stuff. Maybe.

Turbonegro
Again, so packed that we just hung around the entrance. When we got there, the Turbonegro (which we couldn't really see) was playing some rock tune that had the crowd clapping just like when Queen plays We will rock you. Didn't hang around long.

Megasztar
Similar to the old pair above, the tent was packed with people trying to catch a glimpse of the stars from the Megasztar TV show. I was a bit disappointed to be honest. The stars didn't seem to have the confidence that comes from playing live often and the tunes (all covers) reminded me of a rather well practised team of kareoke performers.

Zap Mama
Recommended by some friends, we just caught the end of Zap Mama. They were pretty good and the lead singer reminded me of Macy Gray, which is a good thing in my book. Funky & groovy.

Pupilla Projekt
Another one of the Shameless projects, we ended the evening sitting on the floor of the Ambient tent listening to quite non-ambient music from Pupilla Projekt. Or rather, it was good music and not the usual kind of lullaby stuff that sends the ambient tent into sleep.

Other notes from the day ...

Charged up phone
A great free service on the Sziget provided Pannon is the stall providing free charging of mobile phones. I forgot to check my phone before we left for the Sziget and realised it was about to die and leave me socially challenged. There was a bit of a queue to hand over the phone but picked it up 2 hours later, fully charged. Lovely.

Ate Langos & Balkan Burger
Title says it all really, but to expand, Langos is great if greasy, so the lovely lady and I halved one. Followed a short while after by half a Balkan Burger (aka pljeskavica each. The Balkan Burger being an absolutely huge (though thin) meat burger the size of a dinner plate. Others had warned of Balkan Burger Belly after consumption though I put this down to devouring a whole one in half the time, we had no complaints.

Beer from travelling pumps
For people that think there still aren't enough bars on the Sziget, there are bartenders with beer on their backs happy to dispense a pint wherever they are. Though the beer I had from one of these tasted slightly different. It might have been the end of the barrel or it might have been something to do with the container they carry on their backs. I think I'll stick with the normal pubs if I can.

Impromptu dumpster drumming
Walking down the path to the World Music Stage we heard some metallic drumming going on. I thought it was some proper act going on but it turned out to be a group of people just banging on the huge metal bins by the side of the road. More and more people joined in until there was no space left. It all seemed very spontaneous and also quite musical.