Panensky Tynec…near Prague… Czech!

A nice early start in Budapest saw a bleary eyed Faithless fall out of the mini vans and stumble onto a little Czech airlines propeller plane…

…Where 1 hour and ten minutes later, and 277 miles, they found themselves in Prague!

Whilst waiting for the luggage Maxi thought he’d pass the time by doing his core exercises…

…Sudha gave him a hand…

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It was a very rainy day in Prague and the general consensus was to catch up on a few hours sleep…

…after unloading all the luggage…

…whilst Sudha blended seamlessly into the background…

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The band reconvened downstairs at 7 for some dinner and then it was time to head off to the Open Air Festival at Panensky Tynec airfield…

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As soon as they arrived, Maxi and Blissy were whisked straight off to the press tent for an open audience questions and answers session…!!

…and a couple of pictures…

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Then Blissy had to rush back to the dressing rooms so she could chat live, via Skype, to the BBC’s Newsnight programme back in London!

Who laboured the point that they were talking to her from “they’re exclusive backstage luxurious dressing rooms”…!!

…the corner of a cold tent, in the middle of a wet and windy airfield is not by any means luxurious…

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The gig was windy and rainy but fantastic…

Never have such a wet crowd of people been seen expressing themselves like at the Open Air Festival…

A beautiful sea of different brightly coloured raincoats/kagools…!

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Afterwards, a fine rendition of Happy Birthday was sung to Dave Randall…  …for obvious reasons…

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A mixture of exhaustion and excitement filled the air the following morning, as it dawned on the entire 24 person Faithless contingent that there were a full 5 days off to look forward to…!

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Then it was back to the ‘who can stay sane while waiting for a plane’ game…

“I reckon he might crack soon…”

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Jo lost.

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Sziget – (Island)

The flight from Heathrow to Budapest was full of talented musicians. Aside from the rather large Faithless party, the Specials (well, minus Jerry Dammers) were all there, as well as John Lydons P.I.L…(Public Image Limited)

…it was only in Budapest airport that LSK revealed what he’d been thinking for the last two hours…

"what a plane crash that would have been...!"

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Outside, minibuses waited to transport everyone into the center of Budapest…

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Budapest is an amazing place, rich with history and culture and extremely beautiful.

So everyone was glued to the windows as the drive took us along the River Danube…

…the Danube runs through the middle of the city, with Buda to the west and Pest to the East…

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At the hotel a few fans were waiting to get autographs and photos…

One had a photo from Maxi and Blissy’s previous visit, of them playing a DJ set, that he wanted signing…while Maxi pondered what had happened to the hat and jacket he was wearing, Blissy scarpered before anyone noticed she was wearing the same blouse…!

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The next day saw Maxi take a quick wander across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge to the Buda side of the river…

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…and after a swift beer in the 36 degree sun, he headed back to the hotel…

…where he found Dave and Harry waiting outside…

Dave admires Maxi's T-shirt design

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…then the minibus came to transport everyone to the festival site…

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Sziget takes place on Óbudai-sziget (Old-Buda Island), on the Danube… It’s an incredible festival with an indescribable amount of different music and activities to entertain a fantastic mix of people from all over the world…

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The first person Maxi bumped into was John Lydon, who he’d crossed paths with before, through their common love of motor racing.

…Stan couldn’t pass on a picture with John Lydon either…

“My kids have got your Megabugs DVD!”

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Then Maxi, Blissy and Stan went out front to watch PIL…

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Maxi signed the odd pair of shoes…

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…and the occasional vest…

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After a truly brilliant performance from PIL, it was time to head backstage, where Maxi was already late for Press interviews…

…this didn’t, however, get in the way of saying hello to everyone on his way there…!

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Then Press was almost scuppered altogether by Mark Kennedy making the mistake of informing Maxi that there were ‘free’ racing-car arcade machines in the corner…Much to the dismay of Jo…

"I'm not interested in any press business...."

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Jo eventually won…and Maxi made it to ‘Press’…

Then it was time to get ready… but had anyone seen Andy…?

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Blissy found a 9 volt battery and promptly presented it to Maxi…

"...for when yours goes!"

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Finally, the mystery of the disappearing drummer was solved and everyone concernedly listened as tales of abduction and panic unfolded…

Andy had gone to meet a friend at the main entrance and had an over zealous security guard wrestle him to the ground and cut his wristband off…

…he finally managed to get his phone working and got through to Jo…

…who had jogged 2k to find him…

"Thought I wasn't gonna make it back for the gig"

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With the band reunited, the “five minutes everybody” call was heard…

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That left Maxi time for a quick hug with Blissy…

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…a few well placed kicks at some furniture to warm up…

…and 5 minutes to have a drive on the arcade machines…

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What with delaying press interviews, solving the mystery of Andy the missing drummer, Maxi refusing to stop driving until he sees ‘game over’, and the sound of “Jo, where are they, why aren’t they on stage” echoing out of her radio mic…

…Jo felt it necessary to omit a loud scream…

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Faithless did make it on to stage and gave a powerful performance to the craziest crowd yet…

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After a quick freshen up after the gig (and sporting his new ‘Sziget Festival’ T-shirt), Maxi is treated to one of Blissy’s massages…

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Then it was straight back to the hotel, where a few more photos needed signing…

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…and to have one last drink made by the best barman in Hungary… well, at least the only one to date that can recite ‘The League of Gentleman’ back to front!!

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