At a concert in Budapest this week, musicians and thousands of concertgoers voiced criticism of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of nationwide elections. The event, called Rendszerbont Nagykoncert — loosely, the concert for tearing down the system — drew a crowd in Heroes’ Square intent on opposing Orbán, who has been in power for 16 years.
Reporter Rob Schmitz says the atmosphere was deliberately political: the emcee declared, “We’re not tearing down walls nor each other. We’re tearing down the system.” The lineup included several acts whose songs criticize the government and Hungary’s recent political trajectory.
Schmitz interviewed members of Imre Fia Imre, a Hungarian heavy metal band performing at the concert. Frontman Imre Gyorgy led the reporter to the band’s rehearsal space and explained the group’s name — “Imre’s son Imre” — a family name passed down through generations. The band members described the concert as an unprecedented cultural moment in Hungary.
Keyboardist Zsolt Tornai said events like this haven’t happened before in the country and that the uncertainty makes it exciting. Drummer Gergo Barat called the political situation a “power factory” built over recent years, where the pursuit of power begets more power and change won’t happen on its own.
Imre Fia Imre planned to play “Fekete Volga” (“Black Volga”), a song referencing a Soviet-era car associated in local folklore with secret police and death. The song tells a dystopian story of a man taken by agents in a Black Volga who returns to find his life memorialized in a way he detests; imagery includes a church clock ticking backward. Gyorgy said these songs form a protest-music genre echoing the cultural importance pop music held in 1960s America, and some performers and attendees likened the gathering to a Hungarian Woodstock.
Tens of thousands, mostly in their twenties, packed Heroes’ Square and nearby streets. Among them was Virag Kiss, a factory worker from outside Budapest, who told Schmitz she attended because she wants a better future for young Hungarians. Kiss criticized Orbán for controlling the media and making life difficult, and said she plans to vote for Orbán’s opponent, Peter Magyar. Asked what she would do if Orbán wins, she answered she would leave Hungary for a country with a better system.
The concert’s mix of music and political protest highlighted cultural opposition to Orbán ahead of the election, as artists and young voters used a public cultural event to express frustration and demand change.