Supporting the Hollywood Writer's Strike

Music Festival #3- Sziget

I knew this festival was going to be huge and was likely to be messy but I really could not imagine the scale of it until I was actually there! Immense!

Along with my travelling buddy of the summer, I flew into Bratislava, Slovakia from where we caught the 2 and a half hour train to Budapest, Hungary. We met some girls from Glasgow on the way and got a few beers in (obviously). There had just been quite a severe heatwave in this part of the world a couple of weeks before we got there and the heat was still pretty intense but thankfully we had missed the worst of it.

We cheated and got a taxi from the station to the festival, as we just wanted to put up the tents pronto and check out the bands. Cheeky sod charged us 40€ though!! That's probably a month's rent in Budapest!!! We paid it, silly tourists that we were.

Upon arriving at the island it was immediately obvious that this was one hell of an event. The entrance to the island was absolutely teeming with people. Previous years had seen over 400,000 attend the festival over the 7 days and it was beginning to sink in how many people that meant.

In contrast to the standard English festival consisting of one flat open field for the stages and another for the tents, this was unique. The island is forested with various footpaths and roads spreading throughout it, the effect being a wooded labyrinth. Every now and again there would be a clearing with a stage or two in it, or a road with a selection of food stalls at the side. Otherwise, wherever there was a big enough gap between two trees, people would pitch their tent.

The line-up boasted some big names and I ended up seeing some acts that I would normally have not even thought twice about seeing, which I imagine was quite good for my personal music development. We managed to catch Manu Chao and I didn't expect it but the crowd went absolutely bananas! Chemical Brothers were absolutely immense and their visuals were pretty spectacular. Faithless played an infinitely better set than their attempt at Global Gathering (I think they have a bit of a soft spot for Sziget crowds).

I saw !!! (pronounced "Tchuk Tchuk Tchuk", apparently) for one song as I was on the hunt for some grub, but they weren't my thing and I was pretty hungover so I gave them a miss. Other acts who I would never normally see include Nine Inch Nails and Tool, both not really my cup of tea but no harm done in watching them from the bar. Also saw Pink whilst sunbathing early on in the afternoon and probably could have done without that, really. Madness turned up as well, which was a bit of a turn up for the books!

Had a big of a mad night in the dance tent on the Tuesday to Annie Nightingale (Radio 1) and Plump DJs, who did the business. One of the most full-on rave-ups I've been to in a long time. Lots of crazy backpackers in there, some of which had attended the Fete de Bayonne in France which is a bit of a badge of honour, it must be said. The Killers closed the festival and everybody was too knackered to enjoy them, unfortunately!

Made a nice little trip to Bratislava to wind down for a couple of days after the madness of Sziget. Ate a 3 course meal in one of the best restaurants there for about £15 each. Sorted! Place is a bit of a toytown though, like something out of a Disney film!