First, Sziget isn’t just a music festival, it’s a celebration of art in all its forms, with acts from all genres distributed between the main stage and a tent stage, a newcomer stage close by, and two electronic music venues along countless little stages for performances of all kinds. It’s hard to describe what it really is in just a few words, especially with the recent changes – but it has been known as this magical island of freedom that breathes art around every corner and where the focus has never been on money making … typically.

Image above: Role Model

This year sadly brought some drastic changes to the event. Due to the pandemic and two canceled editions, the organizers faced no support from the government and huge budget cuts as a result. While this is understandable, the cuts were sadly handled in the most unfortunate way and killed the vibe that made this place so extraordinary. In the past, most of the island was free to camp wherever you want. The majority of the campgrounds were under the trees close to the beach with country-related paid campsites and VIP camping including a swimming pool, this now got reversed. Only a tiny part of an undesired part of the island remained free while the paid part got extended enormously and changed location to the area that used to be free. With names like `chill` or `relaxed` people expected peace there but quickly learned their campsites were directly situated next to the party venues that were going on until 5 and 6 AM.

The VIP camp, now called ‘Superstar,’ faced similar issues with its unfortunate loud location and swimming pool people paid for but couldn’t use due to a construction issue the organizers only got notice of 4 weeks prior to the festival. All the decorations have disappeared, even the beach which used to be a hippie heaven turned into a commercialized space that felt more like Tulum than Goa.

Image above: Rufus del Sol

Due to a drought that was affecting all of Europe and resulted in 3 months of nearly no rain in Hungary the ground was so incredibly dry that after day 2 the dust was so bad that even with a mask it was more torture than fun to be around the Main Stage. Water shortage didn’t help, even two weeks after the event many festival goers still complained about respiration issues, on the ground everyone was coughing, many tried to get throat spray and eventually lost their voice.

Another very sour taste, figuratively speaking, were the food prices. While inflation is understandable the fact that food prices doubled since 2019 and the same products cost double of what they did in the city just a 20 min train ride away simply couldn’t be ignored. The selection was also a lot smaller with a minimal amount of healthy options available, the supermarket at the festival was very small for the number of people taking part and before midnight there was always a 30 min queue to get in.

Images below: Nova Twins

On the positive side, the drink prices remained very reasonable and the different high-quality artist installations were still present, a big kudos to all the artists working on them!

On the first day, it was still very busy with people moving in, which resulted in crazy long wait lines. Role Model played the tent and the crowd was very excited, fresh, and ready to rock to this energetic show. Later on Rufus du Sol took the MainStage, it took a bit to get everyone going and as usual with DJ acts there wasn’t much crowd interaction but the night was still young. Nova Twins attracted everyone looking for mosh pits and action, they absolutely burnt the place down and nobody left not convinced that they are an act to keep in mind. The highlight for many was headliner Dua Lipa, and she didn’t disappoint. To end the night, Canadians Cleopatrick played the Europe stage with a solid set that attracted a similar crowd as Nova Twins just a few hours prior. Many people continued to the tribute stage, where rock cover bands played until late and a rock disco was on until 5 AM. In previous years this started right after the main act, but sadly this year it was way later and lost quite a few people due to the delay.

Images below: Cleopatrick

Day two was hot, and people were still up relatively early ready to check out all the different areas the island had to offer. The Gaming Hub was a popular area during the day, offering board games and consoles to bring people together, it has been organized by the same family for the past years and they make sure they offer a wide, ever-changing variety.

The World Stage had artists from all over the globe playing traditional music and right next to it was the Tent Without Borders – a safe space for European refugees and this year the focus was on Ukraine. The tent was home to a special exhibition presented by a French museum and everyone working in the space were refugees themselves.

Later in the afternoon, the programming started on the Europe stage with dutch newcomers The Vices who filled the area in seconds (no surprise with hundreds of Dutch visitors) the band is definitely worth keeping an eye on. While the headliner Kings of Leon sadly was a bit disappointing with no drive and a pretty boring set, Bastille were able to make up for it and offered a great show playing all their hits which matched the festival vibe perfectly.

Image above: The Vices; Images below: Bastille

The next day everything started to get dusty, but that didn’t stop people from coming, yet. Loads of day tickets were sold, which led to a very full venue, even though the island is gigantic and people usually spread really well, this year the space reached its maximum capacity.

Like many acts this year, Viagra Boys canceled their show but The Murder Capital stepped in and offered a banging punk set that treated the crowd to rock vibes that were a bit sparse this year. Belgium superstar Stromae attracted a huge crowd that absolutely went wild while he performed a beautiful show with loads of theatrical elements and a detailed theme.

Image above: Stromae; Image below: The Murder Capital

The main reason, however, for so many guests here today for just the one day was of course Justin Bieber, and loads of young girls already fainted in the heat before the show even started. He played all his hits, and the fans were happy, even though he didn’t seem to enjoy it that much and there wasn’t a ton of crowd engagement.

There was another highlight though and that took place every evening at PM in the Magic Mirror – a venue dedicated to the LGBTQIA+ community. During the day they offered talks on a range of topics, screened movies, and hosted creative performances, the evening programming led to huge queues outside the tent, and rightfully so! Put together by an Australian group a very thoughtful but still frisky burlesque, acrobatic and dance show was performed in the most tasteful way possible. This one stage very possibly would have been worth the price of the ticket.

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Continue your Sziget adventure in the next post: Sziget Festival part two: In the dust we live and dance

The post Sziget Festival part one: The vibe and the energetic start appeared first on Quip Magazine.

Right next to the circus area was the vintage fun fair where every year you can try many different games and enjoy a display of other historic attractions. The musical lineup started with the female-led Black Honey who played in the tent offering people an escape from the scorching sun.

Image above: Black Honey; image below: Kensington

Shortly after Holland’s sensation, Kensington made everyone move over to the main stage, a very fitting performance for the vibe of the festival with confetti and many Dutch fans in the crowd. Headliner Lewis Capaldi continued with an already warmed-up crowd with his fun show and touching lyrics. On one of the small side stages, Vampire Diaries star Michael Malarkey performed an intimate acoustic set with maybe 20 people in the audience. The vibe would have been perfect and he deserved a way bigger crowd, but the neighboring electronic music venue was sadly way too loud and disturbed both the musician and the audience.

The dry heat continued as the dust was rising off the scorched ground. The desperate attempt to moisturize the ground didn’t really work and so the dust issues reached their peak on Day 5 making it hard to breathe and difficult to enjoy the festival. But the show must go on. The dance and theatre field had ongoing entertainment with a mix of performances from different countries and improvisations by various dancers creating a space for everyone to sit back and take a break.

Image above: Baits; image below: Palaye Royale followed by Sigrid

A newcomer Austrian band Baits won one of the early slots in a radio competition and absolutely deserved the spotlight. Canadian-American rockers Palaye Royale were able to gather all the emo kids in the tent and allowed everyone to bring their last bit of energy into countless mosh pits. The band had a strong crowd connection and gorgeous outfits – always a welcome bonus. Norwegian pop sensation Sigrid was the fresh wind everyone needed and her happy, simple and down-to-earth performance was a nice change from all the high-production shows.

The lineup continued with more pop by the English singer Anne-Marie who, accompanied by two huge blue teddy bears, let everyone feel the pain of their past heartbreaks. The last highlight on this day were Australia’s Tame Impala, their psychedelic show intro fit the whole vibe perfectly and understandably the smell of weed was floating all around the main stage.

Image above: Anne-Marie; image below: Tame Impala

Sadly many new names and talents to watch played extremely late between 1 and 3 AM which because of the dust issue resulted in people missing the sets they wanted to see, after hours of daytime dancing these late dusty hours were unbearable.

On the last day, the Vietnamese National Puppetry Theatre returned with a must-see performance. This particular puppet theatre is well known for its attention to detail and unique approach to the craft, foreign to many Western visitors.

The tent lineup was a win as well and the Danish punk rocker Ice Age did a great job firing up the crowd for the Irland’s Inhalers who continued a bit slower but that was to be expected. Even though it was a very alternative day in this venue, Princess Nokia changed this up a bit with a rather confusing show – the first two songs she didn’t even come out on stage for, and then Nokia was simply playing with a water gun until she finally took the mic to say she has asthma and has to take it slow in the dust which ended in most songs being on playback.

Image above: Inhalers; image below: Princess Nokia

The last headliner of the day were the Arctic Monkeys and they seemed to learn their lesson from the 2018 set when they had the exact same slot and people began to leave the show early because the band was playing mostly just new tracks. This setlist focused on all the old hits and everyone born in the 90s went crazy. It was obvious though that many members of the younger crowd didn’t know them since their last great album came out nearly 10 years ago when many of them were maybe around 10 years old. Like all of their recent shows, this set felt rather uninspired, not even like a promo for their upcoming album but a way to pay the bills.

To finish the week off, Fontaines DC delivered a great show with a beautiful background and a set that got more energetic with each song, wrapping up with huge balloons released over the crowd – a memorable high note for a rather rough festival week (image below).

Needless to say, Sziget 2022 was rough, but they swim on a legendary legacy that we all hope to see in full colour next year. Cheers for now.

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Missed part one of the coverage? See it here: Sziget Festival part one: The vibe and the energetic start

The post Sziget Festival part two: In the dust we live and dance appeared first on Quip Magazine.