There are times that you make good life decisions. And there are times when you pay 1,200 whatever the hell the Hungarian currency is to go to a rock concert in Budapest on a Friday night.
Relaxed and rejuvenated from our time at the baths, and with the recent good news that our planned train was finally running again, we decided we needed to celebrate that we would be able to sleep in the next day and have a comfortable 2 hour train ride to Vienna instead of 9 hours crossing (possibly illegal) borders on buses! When we arrived in Budapest, we asked the nice hotel receptionist to recommend a place to walk to lunch. She sent us in a great direction where we enjoyed $3 goulash in a cute kettle and $1 large pints, so we decided to check out what else she had randomly circled upon the city map.
The rain had let up a bit, so we decided to take the 10 minute walk to the large area she indicated as the “ruin pubs”. We didn’t bother to first find out what a ruin pub was. I think my husband just assumed it was bars in the old and crumbly buildings of Budapest and we all know by know how willing he is to seek out old and crumbly… Unfortunately as we get into the area of town and start looking at menus, it’s clear that ruin pub really means “expensive area we send the tourist to eat”. The goulash here was triple the cost! The area was bopping though, so there had to be more to it than this. We decided to stick it out and grabbed dinner from a food truck while we searched to see what else was going on (yay phone with data for Google…)
It turns out, the ruin pub district is an area of town with gastropubs, bars known for cheap microbrews, and music. Cheap beer? Well we had to stay now! We started to walk down the street to find a place to have a drink…on my right was a lively spot that claimed to be a “Klub”…inside we went! We pointed to a Hungarian draft at random and found a corner to sip our pints. And then my husband saw people with wristbands going downstairs and our interest peaked. A concert? In the Klub? I had to know more. I walked up to the large bouncer and greeted him in English with a big smile and a hope he understood. He did…a little. “Yes, rock concert. You pay. 1,200.” I went back to report the findings…and my husband hesitated. Did we really want to spent 1,200 whatever to see a rock show in Budapest? Was it worth the money? I started to agree with him and then I did the math…it was about $4. I grabbed his wallet and left him behind, decision made. [Ed. note: I followed.]
Downstairs the band was warming up…3 guitarist, a drummer with no cymbals, and a trumpeter. I’m not sure what kind of rock they were playing with that combo, but there was no way I was leaving before we heard a few songs! [Ed. note: the drummer finished setting up his kit…with cymbals.] As they started playing, we were shocked how all the fans knew every word! These guys must be pretty popular and we got to see them for only $4—hooray for Eastern Europe prices! The type of music was eclectic and led to some fans swing dancing to one song while a very dedicated man in front created his very own solo mosh pit for the next.
Suddenly, a few familiar chords rung out and we glanced at each other in shock…Could it be? Is this even possible? It made sense finally, this was a cover band and while they had so far only played songs which probably were originally Hungarian, they were playing an American classic now…we got ready to sing along and as we piped up with the well known lyrics, we realized that they were saying something much different. The tune was the same, but this Budapest rock concert was playing “Sweet Home Alabama” with the lyrics 100% in Hungarian!
favorite wanderers 