We rolled into the festival on day one, only to join up with a massive crowd of fellow festival-goers and spent several hours waiting in the sun, then slowly inching forward towards the half-hearted security checks at the entrance. By the time we'd gotten in, the campsites were already chockers - anywhere that looked half decent was taken, with more tents crammed in next to those. Eventually we found a shady spot which at first didn't seem that great, but as days went past and we saw the spots people resorted to (like on the side of the road next to the toilets), it seemed like paradise.
Music wise there was a lot going on, so here's a bit of a summary of some of our highlights and disappointments:
Highlights
- Calexico - bit like a mariachi rock band. We heard them during sound check, were suitably impressed so we went back to watch the real thing.
- Miss Platinum - Romanian ex-pat based in Berlin, with a massive voice, solid band and very entertaining back-up singers with moves. With an opening song "Give me the food" and a cover of Justin Timberlake, she could do no wrong by us!
- Pendulum - a little taste from Oz (even if the Brit in the band wouldn't shut up), massive sound, perfect for the main stage and as a lead up to Prodigy (who weren't as good)
- Gitans - a gypsy band that was impossible not to dance to, and who produced the first genuine (ie. unplanned) encore we've seen in year. In fact, a lot of the music from the Roma (gypsy) tent was awesome - not something we've ever listened to before, but the bands had some amazingly talented musicians, and the music was catchy and intoxicating
- Lily Allen - the diva from the UK could barely muster an ounce of enthusiasm throughout her performance - except for in between songs when she dragged on a ciggie like her life depended on it
- Prodigy - after Pendulum? boring...
- Al Di Meola - without doubt an incredibly talented musician.. but the concert was all for his benefit, not the crowds. It was a case of 'now I'm going to play a song, and you're going to listen and enjoy it'. Biggest princess getting around, he stopped several times - in the middle of songs - to yell at the sound technician to 'Kill the subs' and adjust other things. What a princess!
Aside from the music, there was the food. Boy, was there the food! My god, so much food.... well maybe we just paid a lot of attention to it, but the food was good. Goulash soup and stews, langos (fried bread-like things with garlic and sour cream), hot dogs, cakes, chicken and mushroom stew, fresh watermelon, noodles (so spicy we nearly died).... we ate it all and then some... except for the rooster testicles stew. 
Unfortunately, despite all the fantastic things about the festival, one thing that ruined it for us was the smoking. It seems that the youth of Europe is intent on killing itself with cigarettes, and along the way, kill plenty of people through passive smoking too. It was unescapable - we found 2 non-smoking areas; one was the internet room (where non-smoking was actually enforced), the other a tiny pergola that fit about 30 people - and people were smoking in the middle of it. Our tent was filled with smoke from the camps around us, and everywhere you walked smelt like a filthy ashtray. We had to leave the festival grounds to actually get some fresh air, and after suffering through it all it became unbearable, so we ended up leaving a day early.
Apart from the Sziget festival, we did very little - except visiting the public thermal baths for a long soak to get all that festival filth out of our pores, and checking out the Terror House museum (very graphic museum documenting the time of the Hungarian Arrow Cross party (Nazis) and later, the AVO an AVH) and Memento Park (politically themed sculptures from the Communist dictatorship era, including the boots from the toppled Stalin statue).
Next, we're off to Bulgaria for a short visit, complete with our very own Bulgarian guide, Marty.
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