Rocktogon

Rocktogon. A true place for rockers; in fact, this is the only place among those I visited that actually contains the word ROCK in its name. I thought that a place so openly advertising itself being a rock tavern must be a good choice to visit. I had high hopes for the pub, and it managed to live up to those expectations. To tell the truth, I have planned to visit Rocktogon for a while now, but never felt the right time has arrived for visiting it. With the concert of Holiday Crüe, the time has finally come.

As the name of the rock tavern suggests, it can be found near Oktogon. Any kind of public transportation device can get you there; bus, tram, but even the metro. From Oktogon station you will have to walk five minutes at most to get to Mozsár Street 9. Just like the previously visited Underworld, Rocktogon is a basement pub. The place has a really nice feeling to it; the crappy walls, posters of metal bands hanging all over the place, and the indispensable cigarette fog you have to cut yourself through, are the things that constitute a real rock tavern.

Upon arrival I immediately took my way to the bar in order to take a look at the prices. When I tried to order an alcohol free beer the bartender told me they already ran out of it, but I shouldn’t worry, he will give me normal beer. I resisted by citing my ideological reasons for not drinking alcohol, but he didn’t care that I was straight edge. I thought I could fend him off with medical reason instead, but it turned out that the bartender is diabetic just like me; and he tried to convince me that strong water is good against high blood glucose level. After 3-4 minutes of persuasion he finally gave up and gave me cola light (which does not contain any sugar). 2dl was 200 HUF, a perfectly fine price.

Now that I had something to drink I headed over to the concert hall. Before the Holiday Crüe concert a guest band appeared on stage: the Royal Flash. After them, the main event started without any delay. Holiday Crüe is a Hungarian tribute band to the world famous American Mötley Crüe. The members of the band are all famous Hungarian musicians, the drummer is none else than Endi from Hooligans. As the tribute band of the famous Mötley Crüe, Holiday Crüe plays glam rock as well. The singer of the band, Sidd, possesses an unbelievable voice, almost too similar to, or one might argue that he has an even better one than Vince Neil, the singer of MC. The audience loved the band, and showing how much they appreciate the support, diverged from the original setlist, playing songs that the audience demanded. Dr. Feelgood, Wild side, Shout at the devil, She goes down, Too fast for love, Rattle snake shake, Ten seconds to love, Primal Screem; these were few of the good old MC songs that we heard that night.

Rocktogon is a nice little rock tavern that I am definitely going to revisit in the future. It can be easily found, Oktogon station is a traffic junction where you can go by any form of public transportation. The club itself is an authentic rock pub that easily winds its way into rocker’s hearts. Prices are reasonable, although diabetics should watch out for the bartender; he can talk people’s head off and if someone is not careful enough he will talk her/him into drinking alcohol. The pub has always some bands doing a concert, and no matter what genre you like, you can find bands that suit your taste. It is important to highlight that every Tuesday is hardcore night. Let’s meet there sometime!