music for the mindless masses
Volt Festival to be Headlined by Massive Attack and … Billy Idol?
The organizers of the annual Volt Festival have announced that the top two international acts playing this year will be trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack and solo-dancer Billy Idol, who last had a hit when the Soviet Army still had units in Hungary. Admittedly, the choice of Massive Attack for the rock-oriented Volt Festival is a bit odd too. The other performers are your standard assortment of Hungarian acts. Performers have not been announced for the Sziget Festival, but ticket prices have. This year, early purchase week tickets are Ft 38,000 (€140), regular week tickets are Ft 46,000 (€170) and day prices are Ft 12,000 (€45). By contrast, in 2007 the early purchase week tickets were Ft 25,000 and a day pass was Ft 8,000, or a 50% increase over three years with two less days of drunken festivities. And that's not even taking into consideration that they screw you over if you try to buy your tickets from abroad. [sziget.hu]
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COMMENT!How i miss hungary, Billy Idol at Volt, darn, a guy i really wanted to
see... like in 1980! Why dont they throw in Billy Ocean and Billy Joel
and it'd be puuuurfect!
Just take a look at some of the other
hip'hop'n'happening acts coming to Hungary this
year:
Mark Knopfler
Kiss
JM Jarre
Hungarian festivals have a great atmosphere but
really weak lineups, usually the headlines are bands
which were top of the pops 10 or more years ago
(e.g. headliners at Balaton Sound were Moby,
Kraftwerk,...). Most fashionable acts simply don't
come out into the boonies when they can play the
festival circuit closer to home in US and UK.
Don't know what you consider fashionable, but the team of Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood will do a European tour this summer, that leads them from London via Munich and Vienna to Belgrade, Bukarest and Istanbul - bypassing Hungary ...
Sure they by-pass Hungary. Hungarians are notoriously sheltered regarding music unlike their slavic neighbors. They listen to shit. The organizer of Sziget has even commented on this. I remember buying Pearl Jam tickets 10 years ago only to have the show canceled as it was more profitable to play a third show in Czech Republic than even one here. Genesis had to cancel as well. Why go to a concert when you can just stay at home and watch Hungarian soap operas (Baratok Kozt, Joban Roszzban). Billy Idol is probably too modern for Hungarian tastes as far as rock music. Of course, when it comes to brainless techno/trance idiot buzz they are on top of it.
