Budapest by balloon

From the canvas to the clouds

Hungarian artist Pál Szinyei Merse’s defining painting “Balloon” from 1878 can be seen in the National Gallery and now has literally floated into the city proper after 144 years with much celebratory fanfare, as it beautifully matches the occasion of a new venture in ...

John Cleese is still breathing and will finally appear in Budapest

English funnyman John Cleese has defied death and his “Last Time To See Me Before I Die” tour will finally get to Budapest this June 11 and 12 after being postponed in April 2020 and then in June 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. ...

Iron Maiden, Groupama Aréna, Budapest, June 7, 2022

Music and an instrument of torture

Heavy metal is surely one of the lowest, least cerebral forms of rock music – fortunately rock is a broad enough umbrella to embrace both the ugliest and the cleverest – but it has its audience, and perhaps Iron Maiden’s show at Ferencvaros Football ...

Tom Jones, MVM Dome, Budapest, on July 12, 2022

Tom, Elvis and Priscilla: a kind of love triangle

Welsh music legend Tom Jones remembers being asked in some of his early interviews, “How long do you think you'll be able to keep up the momentum?”, to which he’d reply, "I'll sing until I'm 97!”, a far-distant figure he plucked out of the ...

Tool to hammer eardrums

Los Angeles quartet Tool has released merely five albums, one extended player and one box set in the 30 years since its recorded debut in 1992. The album that the band is only now able to tour, 2019’s “Fear Inoculum,” took 13 years to ...