A couple of months ago Metalrage attended at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary. After that we received the Superbutt album from HardeBaran and the process started. We got in touch with the band and after a short conversation we were talking about the festival. The band helped us with arranging tickets for the festival and they also arranged press tickets for Metalrage. So on August 3^rd we started our journey to Budapest.

On August 3rd after driving for 14 hours we arrived in Budapest and luckily enough we found the island in one try. After getting our tickets we grabbed our chairs and bought a beer outside the festival. We had to wait for 4 hours so we called some of our friends and they joined us. After a couple of hours it was time to enter the festival and we joined the crowd of waiting people.

After 2 hours of waiting we walked over the festival grounds. But because our bags were that heavy we weren’t able to look around and see what was there, that magic happened the day after. After putting up our tents we ordered 12 cans of beer and we paid 12 euros, the party started.

The first morning we woke up because there were people sound checking at the Djeuce World Music Main Stage. Because the music program at the Sziget Festival starts around 16.00h we had some time to look around and to pick up our press tickets. The first band we have seen was Casket Garden, we once received a CD of this band and they were pretty good.

Of course we needed to see a little bit of the Pet Shop Boys. In the 20 minutes I saw they played their greatest hits like Go West and New York City Boy. After that we went on our way to the WAN2 stage. It was a struggle to find it but we found it in time to see The League of XO Gentlemen, this Dutch band was playing in Hungary and most of the people that were watching were Dutch. The lead singer of this band worked with Junkie XL and was a part of Urban Dance Squad. The show they played that night was very good and the reaction of the audience was awesome. After the show the audience was shouting ‘Nog een liedje!’ which means, ‘Play another song’ or ‘We want more’. The entire band was surprised of the fact that the most of the people were Dutch. After that we started to party with beer and music.

The second day arrived. The weather was still great and again we were hanging around, checking the festival grounds and enjoying everything.

Two of the biggest bands today were the Bloodhound Gang and Children of Bodom. The Bloodhound Gang put on a good show with a setlist that included most of their hit songs. The right part of the crowd got treated on a mini-concert by the band with small instruments and a look at the tittie of Bam Margera’s girlfriend, who was present as well, together with Bam. Bodom had a great show as well, much better then the time I saw them at Graspop. Somehow the band played much tighter, and the fact that the Hammerworld stage was beyond full helped a lot of the general atmosphere.

The Main act on the main stage today were the Fun Lovin’ Criminals. The guys played a normal set without anything worth mentioning, besides 1 new song. As usual, FLC put down a good show. In the Hammerworld tent it was up to The Gathering to play the role of main act. The tent was pretty full with people which you wouldn’t expect at a The Gathering show, but I think thats mainly due to the fact that there was nothing else playing besides the FLC. The Dutch band played a set containing older and newer songs, so it was a good mix of the older "melodic doomy metal" with the more modern ambient and electronic sounding songs. I do have to say that finishing with only a piano piece and vocals was quite special. We finished the day by having a drink with Andras from Superbutt and some other guys, thanks again!

One of the heaviest acts on the main stage was In Flames. The band told us that their equipment for the keyboard parts (DAT tapes etc) didn’t arrive because of trouble with customs, so the band quickly rehearsed some older songs in their tour bus. This resulted in a special In Flames set with a lot of older songs, which probably pleased a lot of fans! I also saw a little bit of The Rasmus, which didn’t really impress me, although I think they’re were a better live band then when I saw some footage of them on TV a few months ago.

Day 5, we are more than halfway. The time was going fast but it felt like we were there for ages, but for one day at the same time. At 16.00h the press office of Sziget called us if we wanted to do an interview with Linea 77, off course we wanted this but without any preparation it was hard to think of any questions. The bands we saw were Iron Maidnem, this Iron Maiden cover band played all the hits of the band. The reaction of the audience was great to see!! After this band it was time for Linea 77 to come up, this Italian nu metal band played their set with great power and they really gave the audience a boost of energy. A minor was that the people in front of the stage were mainly Italian.

After that our photographer went off to the main stage to take pictures off Anthrax. He got one song frontstage to take pictures and after that the security forced them to go. The show they played was good but being pissed he went back to the rest of the group that was waiting for My Dying Bride. This doom metal band doesn’t play often and because we could take pictures we could see the act frontstage. Doom metal is something you like or hate. The music was nice to listen to but the show that we saw was pretty damn good.

Earlier that day we were sitting in the press area and Mambo Kurt was playing at the main stage. This guy plays all kinds of covers and adds a little bit of humor to them. We were watching the show on tv screens and there was a big smile on our face constantly.

Yeah, Japanese Rock ’n Roll. On the 6th day there was Electric Eel Shock playing at the main stage. These three guys that come from Japan try to play Rock 'n Roll but the show is one big crazy scene and it is lovely to watch.

Later that night Basement Jaxx entered the main stage and we were watching it from the side. The show they played was energetic but it is harder to judge than a metal or rock concert. It is great party music and we were having a good time.

After that we went to the Bomba party tent near the Hammerworld stage. After a couple of minutes we went back to our tent and drank a beer.

This day was our saying goodbye day. In the morning 3 people left us and we were hanging around at the tent. Walked around a bit and the only thing we saw was Faithless later that night. The songs they played seemed to be slower than on the album. But after all it was good to look at and some of us were even dancing a little bit…

After that finally, we didn’t forget to watch the miss wet t-shirt competition (that was every day!!!).. After voting all the girls away there was one girl who won the competition, why? Because she took her shirt off… men…

That was our week of Sziget. The best thing that has ever happened to us. This festival is hard to describe with words. You just have to go there. The atmosphere, the people and the music. One vacation that you will never forget!

For Metalrage signing off:
Mickel (Carn)
Remco (TheWizz)
Tibor (Buzzin Hornet)

And thanks to Alex (Napalm Lex)

All pictures taken by Buzzin Hornet