Catching the flu at a festival these days is like catching a mouse with an atom bomb. It was to be expected: I didn't feel all that well during day five of the Sziget festival. But as real men (or real dumb men to be exact) do: I decided to keep on drinking Dreher in the burning sun that fried the festival with temperatures up to 40 C (105 F). Something that was a wise decision, considering the minor fever I ran during the ride home the day after. And the fact that I still am sick when writing this (the Friday after). Oh well.
But if there was one day worth sticking around for at this year's Sziget, it had to be this Sunday. With a cool line-up including Danko Jones, Life of Agony and of course Faith No More it was quite a busy day.
A day that kicked off with a terrible performance by the Finnish rockers Disco Ensemble. As the frontman himself declared; the band had been at the festival for the whole week, and obviously this doesn't enhance your performance. At times it was hard to make out what type of music the band was trying to play. Better luck next time.
If there ever was a pedantic rockstar, it had to be Danko Jones. During a one hour gig at the main stage the Mango Kid managed to squeeze in about twenty minutes of monologue and boasting, as well as the signature masturbatory self idolization that you either find hilarious or hate with all you got. I am of the former, I actually find Danko not only a good artist with a great band and good up to excellent songs, the guy cracks me up every time he starts talking about how great he is. This led to quite a funny confrontation with members in the audience holding up a sign to support Danko's bassist JC. For minutes on end he ranted that the sign read the wrong name (being 'not Danko' obviously). It only got better when it turned out that the sign actually did have his name on it, be it on the other side. Love or hate the guy, entertaining it is.
If the sound engineer killed off all the amplification during the first minutes of the Offspring gig you could probably hear 40.000 people say "Oh my fucking god, has Dexter gone FAT, or what?" in ten different languages. That being said, all had been said concerning the prominent points of the gig. Not that it isn't fun to sing the songs that are a significant part of our teenage years, but in all honesty The Offspring has had it's best run years ago. Something that became painfully clear when Dexter played two ballads that were a substitute to Coldplay at best. Maybe that kind of material had a better place in a new band or project. Cause what the people in front of the main stage wanted to hear is the chorus to 'Self Esteem', a point proven when 40.000 people started their programmed jumping and cheering as that song kicked in. Seems the choice for The Offspring is: play the classics or start a new 'serious' band.
After grabbing a quick beer we found a good spot close to the stage for the moment most of us had been waiting for: the 25+ entertainment of the festival: the long, long, long anticipated reunion show of the legendary rockers Faith No More. So, how was it? Was it everything we wanted and hoped for? Well let me put it this way: if you thought you heard a thunderstorm last Sunday night around ten 'o clock, that was the collective orgasm of about 50.000 music fans when Roddy, Bill, Mike and Mike entered the stage of the Sziget Festival. In other words: it was AMAZING. Whatever was left of my voice got annihilated by forcing my throat to scream "your menstruating heart ain't bleeding enought for two.' All the classics were there, with a main focus on the Angel Dust and King For a Day albums, brought to us with perfect balance of jazz like ballads and mellow rock tunes. Standing there, watching the band kicking ass and playing in surprising harmony and with seemingly sincere passion, one could only scream like a 13 year old girl watching the Jonas Brothers. One of those "now I can die in peace" moments, you know what I'm talking about. As an extra taste to the blend of psychotic tea Mike Patton got over the top nuts, picking up a pair of panties thrown at his feet and wearing it over his face. Right. And of course the now semi-legendary Youtube moment where Patton picked up a sneaker off the ground and swallowed a shoe lace to much disgust of a large portion of the audience, coughing it up. A bit of a wacky ending to a show, but not less memorable. All that weird stuff aside, seeing this reunion was a rare kind of sensation: it was as good as you'd hope for.
After that experience, the remaining shows on the island were more of a secondary thing. Of course Turbo Negro are a fun live band. And yes, Hank from Hell is a top notch front man. But with the idea that Faith No More had just kicked so much ass in the back of your mind it kind of went by like a background orchestra playing at a very low amount of decibels (courtesy of the mayor of Budapest who turns down the volume at Sziget after eleven o' clock). Still a great live band, and Turbo Negro Must Be Destroyed delivered a fun sing-a-long moment. By the time the show ended it was around midnight, and as I retired to my tent to fall in a long and soothing coma, Buzzin Hornet and Gilles stuck around for the extra late night entertainment: Life of Agony. At friggin 1 in the morning. Take it away Buzz. (Lex)
Last band Metalrage watched at Sziget 2009 was NYC hardcore band Life of Agony. And since they were playing at 1AM the sound was once again not that good. But it was good to see the tent was pretty full, earlier that week the rock stage was pretty much empty most of the time. Life of Agony released their last album 'Broken Valley' in 2005 and they have been using this one to do various tours over the years. They still use the album cover as their backdrop and play only one song of the album (Love To Let You Down). Most songs during the set are songs from their albums Ugly and River Runs Red. Today the band did create a solid vibe throughout the tent and they were able to get the crowd moving. Frontman Keith Caputo wasn't to tight with his timing which sounded strange every now and then. Some call this artistic but I beg the differ.
Continue Reading
» Day five: the reunion that lived up to the expectations
» Page 2: Day two: Day of the Living Hippies (Misanthropy and Dreher)
» Page 3: Day three: Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért
» Page 4: Day four: Brittish Invasion (A serious lack of metal)
» Page 5: Day five: the reunion that lived up to the expectations
But if there was one day worth sticking around for at this year's Sziget, it had to be this Sunday. With a cool line-up including Danko Jones, Life of Agony and of course Faith No More it was quite a busy day.
A day that kicked off with a terrible performance by the Finnish rockers Disco Ensemble. As the frontman himself declared; the band had been at the festival for the whole week, and obviously this doesn't enhance your performance. At times it was hard to make out what type of music the band was trying to play. Better luck next time.
If there ever was a pedantic rockstar, it had to be Danko Jones. During a one hour gig at the main stage the Mango Kid managed to squeeze in about twenty minutes of monologue and boasting, as well as the signature masturbatory self idolization that you either find hilarious or hate with all you got. I am of the former, I actually find Danko not only a good artist with a great band and good up to excellent songs, the guy cracks me up every time he starts talking about how great he is. This led to quite a funny confrontation with members in the audience holding up a sign to support Danko's bassist JC. For minutes on end he ranted that the sign read the wrong name (being 'not Danko' obviously). It only got better when it turned out that the sign actually did have his name on it, be it on the other side. Love or hate the guy, entertaining it is.
If the sound engineer killed off all the amplification during the first minutes of the Offspring gig you could probably hear 40.000 people say "Oh my fucking god, has Dexter gone FAT, or what?" in ten different languages. That being said, all had been said concerning the prominent points of the gig. Not that it isn't fun to sing the songs that are a significant part of our teenage years, but in all honesty The Offspring has had it's best run years ago. Something that became painfully clear when Dexter played two ballads that were a substitute to Coldplay at best. Maybe that kind of material had a better place in a new band or project. Cause what the people in front of the main stage wanted to hear is the chorus to 'Self Esteem', a point proven when 40.000 people started their programmed jumping and cheering as that song kicked in. Seems the choice for The Offspring is: play the classics or start a new 'serious' band.
After grabbing a quick beer we found a good spot close to the stage for the moment most of us had been waiting for: the 25+ entertainment of the festival: the long, long, long anticipated reunion show of the legendary rockers Faith No More. So, how was it? Was it everything we wanted and hoped for? Well let me put it this way: if you thought you heard a thunderstorm last Sunday night around ten 'o clock, that was the collective orgasm of about 50.000 music fans when Roddy, Bill, Mike and Mike entered the stage of the Sziget Festival. In other words: it was AMAZING. Whatever was left of my voice got annihilated by forcing my throat to scream "your menstruating heart ain't bleeding enought for two.' All the classics were there, with a main focus on the Angel Dust and King For a Day albums, brought to us with perfect balance of jazz like ballads and mellow rock tunes. Standing there, watching the band kicking ass and playing in surprising harmony and with seemingly sincere passion, one could only scream like a 13 year old girl watching the Jonas Brothers. One of those "now I can die in peace" moments, you know what I'm talking about. As an extra taste to the blend of psychotic tea Mike Patton got over the top nuts, picking up a pair of panties thrown at his feet and wearing it over his face. Right. And of course the now semi-legendary Youtube moment where Patton picked up a sneaker off the ground and swallowed a shoe lace to much disgust of a large portion of the audience, coughing it up. A bit of a wacky ending to a show, but not less memorable. All that weird stuff aside, seeing this reunion was a rare kind of sensation: it was as good as you'd hope for.
After that experience, the remaining shows on the island were more of a secondary thing. Of course Turbo Negro are a fun live band. And yes, Hank from Hell is a top notch front man. But with the idea that Faith No More had just kicked so much ass in the back of your mind it kind of went by like a background orchestra playing at a very low amount of decibels (courtesy of the mayor of Budapest who turns down the volume at Sziget after eleven o' clock). Still a great live band, and Turbo Negro Must Be Destroyed delivered a fun sing-a-long moment. By the time the show ended it was around midnight, and as I retired to my tent to fall in a long and soothing coma, Buzzin Hornet and Gilles stuck around for the extra late night entertainment: Life of Agony. At friggin 1 in the morning. Take it away Buzz. (Lex)
Last band Metalrage watched at Sziget 2009 was NYC hardcore band Life of Agony. And since they were playing at 1AM the sound was once again not that good. But it was good to see the tent was pretty full, earlier that week the rock stage was pretty much empty most of the time. Life of Agony released their last album 'Broken Valley' in 2005 and they have been using this one to do various tours over the years. They still use the album cover as their backdrop and play only one song of the album (Love To Let You Down). Most songs during the set are songs from their albums Ugly and River Runs Red. Today the band did create a solid vibe throughout the tent and they were able to get the crowd moving. Frontman Keith Caputo wasn't to tight with his timing which sounded strange every now and then. Some call this artistic but I beg the differ.
Continue Reading
» Day five: the reunion that lived up to the expectations
» Page 2: Day two: Day of the Living Hippies (Misanthropy and Dreher)
» Page 3: Day three: Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért
» Page 4: Day four: Brittish Invasion (A serious lack of metal)
» Page 5: Day five: the reunion that lived up to the expectations
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