Too Hot to Be a Tourist
June 25-28, 2026
We like the rock and roll band Idles. When they played a concert in Berlin a few years ago, tickets were pretty expensive, so we decided not to go. Upon missing the show, Mazz had immediate regrets. She vowed that the next time the band came through our area, we were going to see them no matter what.
Flash forward to the summer of 2026 and Idles was touring through Europe again, and unlike most other bands we enjoy, they actually booked a gig in Vienna. Unfortunately, they were going to be the opening act for the Foo Fighters, a band that is very popular and we are pretty ambivalent about, which essentially meant a huge price tag for a shorter set from the band we actually wanted to see. We took a look at Idles’ touring schedule and found that they were headlining their own show in Belgrade, Serbia. We’d never been there before, and we had been looking forward to exploring more of the Balkans now that we live so close. It sounded like a great excuse to see someplace new.
What we couldn’t have known planning our trip months in advance is that Europe would be suffering through a historic heatwave during this time. Record temperatures were set all over the continent, with more than 1300 people dying from the heat. Virtually no one has air conditioning in this part of the world, and before taking off on the trip, we were sweltering day and night inside of our top-floor apartment in Vienna. We were thrilled to discover that the flat we rented in Belgrade actually did have air conditioning, and that at least for a few days, we could sleep in comfort.
Our flight was delayed at the airport, and when we were the only people on the bus to the plane, we thought for a moment that we might have the flight all to ourselves. It turns out we were just the last people to board the small propeller craft, which was already filled with passengers roasting on the tarmac. When we landed in Belgrade the airport shuttle into town looked like it was from the 1970s, complete with a grizzled old driver smoking a cigarette at the wheel. After switching over to a city bus closer to town, one of our fellow passengers decided it was perfectly normal and cool to light up a cigarette in that hot metal tube as well. We had most certainly arrived in Eastern Europe.
We booked the trip far enough in advance that we were able to secure a perfectly situated and affordable Airbnb in the hip area of Skadarlija, the bohemian quarter of Belgrade. Here, the cobblestone streets are lined with cute restaurants, and the surrounding neighborhood is filled with modern stores, coffee shops, and bars. We had dinner at a restaurant called Velika Skadarlija, where the outside patio was filled with misting fans to try and keep people cool. A four-piece band played traditional Serbian folk music while we ate bacon-wrapped prunes stuffed with goat cheese, some fantastic stewed beans, and tender lamb chunks slow-cooked on coals. Our first introduction to Serbian cuisine was very encouraging.
The temperature outside didn’t cool down all that much once the sun set, and as we sat outside of Proces Wine Bar with some drinks, Kirb started to drag from the heat and heavy meal. Thankfully, once we moved inside to where it was cooler, both of us started to feel much better, and we bonded with the bartender over a shared love of our favorite bands. There was a big poster in the bar for the Idles show the following night, and he was just as excited for it as we were. Just as we had taken a trip to Prague to see Turnstile in 2025, he had done the same for that tour in Milan. We got glasses of some really tasty Serbian natural wines, and the bartender let us sample several more as he poured for other customers. We had a fantastic night at Proces, making new friends, singing along to our favorite bands, and learning about Serbian wine. It was exactly the sort of night out you hope to have in a new city.
Before coming to Belgrade, Mazz had just finished up a work trip to California, and had every intention of taking the following week off. Unfortunately, hiring a new colleague on a strict timeline ended up needing to take preference, even though we were trying to be on vacation. Normally, this would be annoying, but it was so dang hot outside that neither of us particularly minded staying inside the air-conditioned apartment during the middle of the day. Mazz got some work done in the morning, then we ventured out for some particularly good iced coffees at DRIP and lunch at a Michelin bib gourmand Asian restaurant called Istok, which was good but not great. That simple foray into the heatwave was enough to make the prospect of going back to the Airbnb for a few hours not such a terrible fate. Kirb certainly had plenty of World Cup highlights to watch to keep himself entertained while Mazz toiled away in the name of science.
The concert was in an industrial area east of Skadarlija, and we decided to find something to eat in that zone so we wouldn’t feel rushed getting to the show on time. This was a mistake. The only “restaurant” near the venue that was open was inside of a gym, and they served food that was much more concerned with macros than with flavor. Kirb winced as he watched them cover his burger on the grill with a metal lid and then proceed to leave it cooking inside for a solid ten minutes longer than it needed. When he eventually ate the rubbery puck, he was not entirely sure that it was actually beef and not horse meat. Mazz got a bowl of tofu and vegetables over rice and it did indeed provide calories and sustenance. We ate in front of some stair climber machines and laughed at how dumb we were.
Not a lot of notable bands come all the way out to Serbia. In general, most of them don’t even bother going as far east as Vienna; Berlin or Prague is usually the outer border of the European touring circuit. So, when a band like Idles comes to Belgrade, it’s a big deal, and this show was primed to be one of the bigger events of the summer. For Idles, shows like this are an opportunity to use their platform to speak to audiences that may not regularly hear their point of view, and Idles, for all intents and purposes, is a very “political” band.
This meant that in the first song out the gate, the band laid out their ideologies plainly, informing everyone in earshot that they stand firmly “against you racist c*nts, against you fascist c*unts” (they’re British, so they’re more comfortable using that word). Over the course of their energetic 18-song set, the band championed support for Palestine, women’s rights, railed against misogyny and racism, and sang a song about how immigrants make nations stronger. These are not particularly pervasive ideologies in Eastern Europe, and certainly not the sort of talking points that most rock and roll bands touring Serbia bring to the stage. But Idles isn’t preachy; instead, they’re punchy, both in their aggressive music and in the fact that they will quite literally punch you in the mouth for being a bigot. It was encouraging to see such a large band use their platform to rail against so many of the -isms that make people’s lives miserable, and for the Serbian crowd to soak it all in and chant along. Shows like this offer little glimmers of hope that the future isn’t quite yet doomed to be dictated by the worst people on Earth.
Mazz finally finished up her work the following morning and we set out to see the town. From Skadarlija we walked to Kalemegdan Fortress, located on a cliff at the junction where the river Sava meets the Danube. We lasted about a half an hour walking around the grounds in the 95-degree heat before we were melting into pools of sweat. Belgrade has a thriving coffee scene, so we walked to a nearby shop called D59B to get some cold drinks. Mazz got an espresso tonic on ice, and when Kirb asked for a glass of ice for his pre-prepared bottle of cold brew, he was informed that “the cold brew isn’t served with ice, only in a chilled glass”. Mazz’s drink was great; Kirb’s “cold brew” didn’t stay cold for more than a minute in the outside heat, and wasn’t even particularly good directly out of the fridge. Mazz had to fish some ice cubes out of her drink with her fingers to put into Kirb’s “cold brew” to cool it down. Normally, Kirb only leaves positive reviews for food and drink establishments, but this place was an exception. We certainly weren’t expecting to find insufferable hipster coffee pretension in Serbia; Belgrade defied several of our pre-conceived notions about modern Eastern Europe.
Staying outside in the heat for the rest of the day wasn’t an option. We entertained the idea of going to the Yugoslavia Museum, but neither of us was particularly interested in spending the afternoon reading about the myriad war crimes Serbia committed in the 1990s. Instead, we decided that what we really wanted was to simply beat the heat in an air-conditioned movie theater. Other than the weird 1970s airport shuttle, all of the public transit in Belgrade is free, which is great. We hopped on a bus that took us to a big, fancy mall and bought tickets to see Supergirl. The best thing we can say about that movie is that it was indeed shown in an air-conditioned room on a 95-degree day. One element that felt especially cringe in that particular setting was that the sex-trafficking, child-killing alien antagonists of the film all had nondescript Slavic accents. Also, introducing sex-trafficking into the film merely as a plot device without offering anything even remotely interesting to say about it - despite the fact that world is still fuming over the fact that literally nothing has been done reprimand the elite perverts who traffic these women and children - was particularly tone-deaf and cowardly. 2/5 stars, only slightly better than standing outside during a heatwave.
After the movie, we hopped on another packed, sweltering bus to the edge of town for dinner at Bela Reka, another Michelin bib gourmand establishment serving traditional Serbian cuisine. This restaurant was enormous and very chic. We ordered black angus spiced beef sausages with mashed potatoes and mustard, ground lamb kebabs with Pirot style potatoes, and a spinach salad with fresh blueberries and goat cheese. The food was fantastic, showcasing how good simple dishes can be when seasoned and executed perfectly. The kebabs in particular were one of the most delicious preparations of lamb we have ever eaten. We were stoked to get a proper taste of what high-quality Balkan cuisine is all about.
When we travel to a new place, we feel a certain sense of obligation to explore the place properly and really get a feel for things. In this regard, we failed miserably as tourists on our maiden visit to Belgrade. We didn’t get to see a fraction of the things we wanted to; in particular, the crazy brutalist architecture and visiting antique and curio shops to find weird Yugoslavian treasure. Regardless, we’ve traveled enough not to let this sense of exploratory obligation get in the way of our general comfort, and just about every aspect of exploring Belgrade during the heatwave was uncomfortable. Most trips we would have lamented the fact that hours of each day needed to be spent doing work inside of our Airbnb. Honestly, on this trip, it was kind of nice to have the excuse to sit in an air-conditioned room.
What we did see of Belgrade, we genuinely enjoyed. The city is a fascinating mix of the past and the modern, with surprisingly good food and wine and the sort of bars that made us feel instantly at home. The concert, which was the whole crux of the trip, was an absolute blast. We hope there’s a good excuse to come back to Serbia in the future. Just preferably not in the middle of a heat wave.