Getting Down on It

Location: Budapest
June 4-5, 2010
Adventure #18

It only takes one.

As Mike so aptly described after our sojourn into the '70s music scene this weekend, a band can still call itself by its original name so long as it retains at least one original member.

Thanks to a thoughtful perk from my editor, I received press accreditation for Budapest’s Stargarden Festival, a three-stage outdoor classic rock showcase that hosted headliners Deep Purple and Kool & the Gang, along with a plethora of other aging groovers. Expectedly, Mike and I were towards the younger end of the crowd's age spectrum, but what threw us was how spiffy the setting was. Rather than what I would expect for a rock crowd (meaning lots of Budweiser tents), this festival was an upscale fete where there were more wineries and palinka vendors than breweries, and fancy meat and cheese stands were opened next to the fried food ones. We stuck to the beer, but we did enjoy some mangalica cuts along with our greasy pizza for dinner. Another surprise was how few people rushed the stage – at any set we could saunter up to the front and even shake the lead singers’ hands if we so desired. Better yet, we could even sit down on the fringes of the lawn and have unobstructed views of the stage.

On Friday, I caught a set by myself - Eric Burdon and the Animals. As with the rest of the weekend’s line up, I knew the bands’ major hits, even if I couldn’t recognize the group by its name alone. Mr. Burdon’s voice is still powerful, and I rather enjoyed hearing him belt “Oh Lord, Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “We've Gotta Get Out of This Place.”

The next day, Mike and I set out to see Blood, Sweat and Tears. Originally, I thought we were seeing Earth, Wind & Fire, but I just latched on to serial band names from the same era. (Sorry to any fervent fans of either group who I may have just insulted by my mix up.) Since BS&T’s major hit “Spinning Wheel” was released in 1970, obviously the band is a bit past a rock god’s ideal age bracket. Thus, the original lead singer took a backup role, spending as little time as possible on stage and was replaced by a Nashville native who I’m convinced spent some time as an Elvis impersonator. After we heard their major hit ¾ of the way through the show, our rapt attention diminished, so we devoted our time to other location-sensitive endeavors, like counting the number of rat tails, full denim ensembles, and men in cutoff shirts whose back hair poked out.

It wasn't long before we saw an overworked fog machine begin to perspire on the stage, so we knew we were in for a treat with the final act: Kool & the Gang - who resurrected all the '70s "cherished" kitsch just as we hoped. Like its opener, only three of the large ensemble's members were original, but thankfully Kool was still rocking towards the back of the stage - donning the preferred costume of leather, snakeskin pants and sequined collared shirts. The lead singers now look like Boys II Men dropouts, but they could dance with the swaying, finger snapping finesse of the Jackson 5 and get all the women (or men who didn't speak English) to squeal each time they gyrated and simply whispered "ladies." After playing some younger hits from their 30+ album repertoire, the group time traveled back to the disco age and gave us all what we were waiting for: some “Jungle Boogie,” “Celebration” and “Get Down on It.” We certainly weren’t in Hollywood, but that didn’t deter anyone from Swinging into a full Saturday Night fever.