The Bristol Beats Club’s Sziget Festival Review

After reading the various Sziget festival reviews across the interweb, you’d be forgiven for feeling a little bit befuddled.

As is the way in this blissful era of AI, fake news and polarisation we’ve all lovingly manufactured, if you look for them, you can find Sziget festival reviews slating Sziget. Similarly, you can find Sziget festival reviews glorifying Sziget. Which perspective, one wonders, is the one that holds weight?

We couldn’t work it out ourselves, either. Even from talking to people who’d been. As we mentioned in this Sziget preview, depending on who you talk to, it’s possible to find people who describe Sziget as a living heaven and people who describe Sziget as an unpredictable endurance event. Often, people talk of both in the very same breath. And so, naturally, there was only one thing for it!

Knowing full well what someone like you would wanna know about Sziget, we headed over to the festival ourselves to check it out first hand. This resulting review, Blair-Witch-style, details what we found.

At first, we presumed we’d end up in Romania.

Sziget, by the way, is in Hungary. And while we’re no strangers to an overseas festival, Hungarian is a language the Bristol Beats Club do not speak. So, while Sziget talks of a direct bus from Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport to Sziget’s gates, ahead of the fact, you just never really know if that’s gonna be the case.

But we’re pleased to report our fears were entirely unfounded! In fact, over the last few decades, the people behind Sziget have deliberately cultivated an international community. That is to say, people fly, or drive, or even sail, to Hungary from all over for Sziget. Which means getting to Sziget is mad easy. The easiest option UK dwellers have is that aforementioned magic bus, although the Bristol Beats Club’s untimely landing left us a little in the lurch. We could wait around for 45 minutes for the festival bus. Or we could try to make our own way using public transport. We opted for the latter, knowing full well the risks and, one bus, one tram, one train and – and this is the important part – just 50 minutes later, we were exchanging our tickets for our wristbands alongside other likeminded Szitizens. We’d not put one foot wrong! Would it all go this swimmingly?

Admittedly, accessing the locker we’d booked was more problematic. 

Sziget lease lockers for valuables for about £25 for 6 days. Each comes with a plug socket to charge electronics. And we had our laptops and recording kit. So getting one of these things, we figured, was gonna be wise.

We made our way over to the lockers and to our next conundrum. How the hell did we get the key for ours?

The sensible thing to do, of course, would be to ask any of the various Szitizens opening and closing any of the other lockers nearby how they went about getting their keys. And that’s what we did. But not before we’d cavorted around the festival for 30 minutes seeking guidance, in a haze, wishing we’d only had the one Spar-beer at arrivals.

Beats Clubbers: do not repeat our mistake. To get a locker at Sziget, you need to speak to the inconspicuous woman reading the book by the cart-thing on the right.

This is info other Sziget festival reviews simply do not hand out.

That night, L’entourloop stole the show.

Sadly, we never made it to Sziget day one. You can blame logistics. Or, because they deserve more blame than anyone could ever possibly give them for anything, the entirety of the Conservative political party. We hear, however, that Kylie rocked Sziget day 1 in the same way the tories did the UK economy.

When we entered the picture for day 2, the big surprise for us was a late-night L’entourloop set. 

Actually, that’s a lie. The big surprise was probably that the world-renowned headliners that you bought your ticket for were in fact upstaged by bands that, before exploring the line up, you’d never heard of. Sziget, it must be said, is really bloody massive. 50 stages in total, all of varying sizes. And that means that, yeah, the main stage is gonna meet your expectations. Halsey, headlining Sziget day 2, went down particularly well. But just as good in their own way were the acts on smaller stages.

The aforementioned L’entourloop’s chaotic set had the dropYard stage bouncing, and Meute’s orchestral madness gave onlookers tinnitus.

The clear takeaway for us, on our first day, was that Sziget was going to be about a lot more than the big bands.

That made day 3 all the more exciting.

It’s always a bitch waking up hungover at a festival, ennit?

You’re in a shelter made of canvas, in closer quarters than you’d like with a topless dude, desperate for a piss, and wondering if anyone would spot you were naked if, rather than brazenly walk to the toilet, you opted instead to commando crawl.

At Sziget, however, the blow is very much cushioned. You might still wake up with a sense of existential dread. But, Beats Clubbers, you’ll wake up to sun.

Sun.

At a festival, sunshine makes a hell of a difference. Thanks to the sun on day 3 – and indeed throughout Sziget, we always roused early. Heading to the toilet was a case of pulling on shorts and flip flops. The ordeal was very much assuaged. And that meant, on day 3, we made it to an early-morning yoga session.

Loyal Beats Club readers will likely remember our ‘voga’ fiasco at Boardmasters. Determined to avoid the same mistake, on day 3, we headed to ‘Break Yoga’ relatively early back over at the dropYard. And sure, we only managed 20-or-so minutes of the allotted 60-minute session, but, out in the sun, alongside a load of other Szitizens, on day 3, dropYard’s Break Yoga really eased our hangovers. As did what was probably our greatest Sziget festival find…

At Sziget festival, you can chill at the beach.

This is so often the barrier to a festival abroad.

Ultimately, a festival abroad is a holiday. And, on holiday, you want to go to the beach. So whaddya do? Head to the festival? Or Santorini?

At Sziget festival, there’s no need to choose.

Tucked away in one of Sziget’s more blissful corners, Sziget staff have cordoned off a little bank of the river on which Sziget is based. Unicorn beach, from memory, is what they’ve named it. They’ve even laid out a few sunbeds for Szitizens. They’re always taken, and you’ll be much better off simply taking your own chair, but still, we can tell you, a festival with a beach is the kind of festival you wanna go to.

We spent a good few hours at the beach on the third day of Sziget, snoozing, recuperating and sweating out a few of our toxins, before heading to some music later in the day.

Sziget’s music kicks off late. 

UK punters will most likely be used to festival music beginning at – what – 11.30am? At Sziget festival, though, everything’s shifted back to avoid the midday sun.

That left the Beats Club with a good while to chill on day 3 before more raving ensued – in the form of, for us, a jumping Stormzy set and an introduction to Future Static. Liam Gallagher headlined Sziget’s main stage, putting in nostalgic performance that far outstripped his recent instalments.

Needless to say, post-Liam, much partying ensued, culminating in a some kind of intimate breakdancing-esque workshop that we think took place on the theatre and dance stage – but couldn’t possibly say for certain.

Another wondrous, spontaneous experience – which is just what Sziget’s about.

You don’t necessarily need to camp at Sziget.

Plenty of people do. But Sziget festival takes place on an island just outside of central Budapest. And that means you can book some accommodation proper in Budapest if you fancy access to a fridge, air-con and a front door for a bit.

And on day 4 of the festival, that’s exactly what the Bristol Beats Club did: headed into Budapest to check into brick-and-mortar dwellings. 

We’d booked a place last minute on AirBnB. It’d cost us £30 a night per person. And we were expecting it to be a shithole. But, on arrival, we found that simply wasn’t the case.

Yep, our place was big, clean, and completely free from the expected stench of festering dead rats. It turns out that, as we wrote over here, accommodation in Budapest is just inexpensive.

So if you’re heading to Sziget, you might want to grab a flat for a night or two. You don’t need to: camping at Sziget is actually lovely. We appreciated the mix though – a few days in a tent, a few not.

If we’re honest, Sziget’s day 4 big-names weren’t our cup of pálinka. 

Look, you’re reading this. You know what we cover. Indie. Electro. Indietronica. What the Beats Club just isn’t about, of course, is pop.

So Louis Tomlinson’s inclusion in Sziget’s line up didn’t so much arouse us as it did leave us feeling emotionally bereft, and Bebe Rexha offered little consolation. Day 4 main-stage headliner Martin Garrix could perhaps be filed under ‘light relief’ although, even when paired with impressive pyrotechnics, the DJ’s commercially acclaimed dance-pop failed to excite.

Much more impressive, however, were the captivating singer-songwriter set from local singer-songwriter Boebeck and the massive wandering man we found bobbing around between Sziget stages.

Meanwhile, Brincadeira’s tight, thunderous and nomadic drum set was a festival highlight, and the lack musical obligations allowed the Beats Club to end our evening at a workshop on slam poetry.

Admittedly, the workshop was very odd. But it did mean we got to sit down on a comfy sofa for a bit.

Sziget’s day 5 musical line up was up there with the best.

Neo-soul from Joesef. Riotous indie-dance from the Editors on the Revolut. Unabated and unashamedly raw rock – and new music – from fellow stage performers Fontaines DC. And a headline set from Sam Smith that drew the most sizeable crowd of Sziget festival so far.

Truth be told, all the excitement got the better of the Beats Club on day 5. We were hoping to head over to a Luude set after Sam Smith, but became distracted by pretty much every other happening, shindig or spectacle we passed.

The Jukebox stage reeled us in while passing, triggering an unspecified period of the Beats Club communally screaming along to 80’s hits. The Jagermeister bar-cum-stage also swept us up, which was to be expected. After all, it was at that stage that you could get hold of ice-cold Jager.

There was a period at the Tanquery gin bar and another in an unattributable open-air arena, in which a DJ high above the crowd played banger after banger.

We report all this not so you can emulate the Beats Club, of course, but to give you an idea of what goes down at Sziget, and why it’s referred to as ‘The Island of Freedom’. At Sziget, sometimes, you just have to go with it.

Still though… it woulda been nice to see Luude.

On Sziget’s closing day, things got pretty busy.

It’s worth mentioning once again that Sziget’s a big festival, with a total attendance of 400,000 people.

Happily, though, that’s 400,000 over six days – ie, 65,000 people per day.

And that means that at no point does Sziget ever feel too busy. Those of you who’ve been to Glastonbury will know what we mean by too busy: forever standing in massive queues. Being unable to get through crowds. Spending twenty minutes post sets in mass pedestrian traffic jams. 

At Sziget, at no point did we experience any of the above.

Still, compared to the rest of the fest, Sziget day 6 did feel hectic. And the reason was obvious: on day 6, the Sziget line up was mega. 

Post Sziget’s ceremonial flag-waving procession – a nice touch in which thousands of Szitzens took part in 15 minutes of orchestrated flag-waving to celebrate liberty – we managed to catch a fresh instalment of Yard Act’s irreverent punk and a high-energy Skrillex set that laid the evening’s tone.

Big Thief’s set was interesting. We’d been looking forward to it. And, as is the way with Big Thief, they delivered a unique set that they’ll never replicate. Still, it’d be fair to say there was more new music to the set than many Szitizens might have hoped.

The band opened with a song penned just the day prior. Seen through one lens, that’s a treat. Through another, it’s gathering to watch a band rehearse. The balance probably just tipped in favour of the former… but when you’ve got such a strong back catalogue, it’s a shame to conceal it.

The festival’s big closer – Fred Again.. – delivered a characteristically humble performance to a crowd that, as is often the case today, at points, chose to record the thing rather than actually watch it. And the likes of Four Tet and Nia Archives ensured the party continued long into the night.

Bottom line? You absolutely must experience Sziget.

We adored Sziget, and found no cause for disparagement throughout our time at the fest.

Instead, what we did find, was day after day of excitement, adventure, exuberance and endorphins.

“How was the festival, boys?” a mate asked on our return.

We’ll end this piece with our unedited response.

If you do one thing before you die, go to Sziget.

Safe travels Beats Clubbers. We’ll see you there!

Bristol Beats Xx