all you lovers were there with me...

or so it felt at various points during last night's Radiohead concert under a mild sky on the island of Obudai in Budapest. This was at the Sziget festival, which has become the biggest music festival in this region and is one i've fancied going to for several years. It's a magnificent set-up contained on an island and despite murmurings from those who were here back in '93, the size it has now gives a lot of variety. That said, we were distinctly there for radiohead, and the rest of the excellent program took rather a back seat; it would be worth coming for several days (it's a week long) and taking in more than is possible in nine hours (i was peer-pressured onto the midday train, rather than my fantastic seven am plan...).


The Silent Disco was rocking, though, and nicely filled the hours between two and four, in preparation for our long walk to the train station (and then the other train station, from where our train left) for the 06.50 Budapest to Hamburg via Bratislava (which negated the need for accommodation). Everyone had a pair of headphones, and the choice of two channels, one techno dj and one more funk-pop stylee. It's remarkably difficult to figure out which most people are listening to - it seems most of us dance with our body but not our soul (exceptions noted for Diana, Laura, Wahay-Rach and others...). Forgive me - i'm tired.

(William and I also helped make the world's biggest ever cow (hopefully they'll put a photo on the site) and saw the scandalous Teatro de Automatos from the heyday of innocence that was the 1900s.)


Budapest is absolutely gorgeous. Maybe more of Europe would look like that if certain people hadn't waved their willies around so, but there we are. I have to go back for a longer stretch, but I'm glad to have walked through the unreal, breathtaking use of public space that is Margit Sziget*, and the Hungarian parliament is even more impressive than (i realise) the British parliament is.

But this is all window dressing - the point is: i saw radiohead and they were grreat. i didn't realise i was waiting for this; for those who know you should have been with me, know that i missed you and turned to smile and hug you many times during the show. We're always hearing this is a band of massive importance, but I guess I hadn't realised what a big-deal band they had been in my listening to music over the years too; it's nine years since i bought ok computer now, followed by those prior and subsequent, and given a fairly sustained listening over that time, it's perhaps little wonder that you find so many of the songs attached to this or that memory.feeling.coincidental significance... however this sort of sentimental nonsense is unworthy of a blogue-aux-ue, and shall cease. it's also entirely unnecessary, since they are such a fucking genius band that nobody could be unmoved seeing them play. and i'm done.

Let down would have been appropriate in the current british context. they didn't play electioneering either - could have been an oversight, but it was probably because Lexus and the Love Bullets did the definitive live version back in 2003.


I have some photos and video to post at some point. but now to have some dinner, stretch my poor legs and try to stay awake until eleven.

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Sun, the twelfth day of Alp Arlsan, YOCH 2006 (photos to follow)

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* This is an island in the Danube which is a mile-and-a-half-long park with virtually no advertising to be seen, a wonderful array of plants, beautiful grass (which you're, you know, allowed to walk on) and many different types of tree, all spread out beautifully to give a sheltered, magical feeling without being claustrophobic. They have a dancing fountain, and there's even a sports ground with stands tucked discreetly away at the southern end. Just the sort of place it would be great to go and relax, alone or groupwise, summer or winter. And it's still open at five in the morning!