Sziget Festival 2017

[amfy]

Have a good journey!

 

we're also setting off tomorrow but flying from Birmingham via Munich. We should be in our digs in Budapest by about 5.30 tomorrow evening. 

Looking forward to music and sunshine and friendly Sziget people again!

Edited August 6, 2017 by amfy
Typo

[Trexau]

Hey guys!

Is anyone in need of a cozy stay? I have a room for two booked in a nice hotel, for the whole week, with pool and breakfast, close to the festival area. Unfortunately I can't make it. It's only 225 Euro per person for 8 nights!

If interested message me matzingerlukas@gmail.com

See you!

[Uncle Liam]

I'm heading off as well. I'm only doing the last day for Alt-J and Interpol. Before then I've got Interpol gigs in Prague, Vienna, Bucharest and Belgrade. 

So on the last day, if you see anyone wearing a Croatian football shirt waving a big EU flag with "INTERPOL" painted on it, that would be me. 

Have fun!

[Nicklord]

16 minutes ago, Uncle Liam said:

I'm heading off as well. I'm only doing the last day for Alt-J and Interpol. Before then I've got Interpol gigs in Prague, Vienna, Bucharest and Belgrade. 

So on the last day, if you see anyone wearing a Croatian football shirt waving a big EU flag with "INTERPOL" painted on it, that would be me. 

Have fun!

Don't wear that football shirt in Belgrade  

[siiiim]

There is a random caravan near Telekom stage with some Gorillaz hints, not sure what to think of it... but one can hope.  

[amfy]

My experience so far is that we were really disappointed with the sound for Pink. We made the mistake of arriving through the main drag and just got in a bottleneck and we're stuck over to the right side. We could barely hear her over people's conversations. It was so frustrating to be able to tell it was a great show and yet actually feel like we weren't even there! I was even more annoyed because I had tried to find our way to enter from the other side but misjudged it! Straight after the show, I found the path I was looking for and will definitely be coming in that way for Kasabian tonight!

Yesterday was better - watched some Hungarian music whilst lying out in the sun before heading acros for Biffy who is not really my thing but I thought was tremendous. Our headliner was The Vaccines in the A38. I have seen them twice at Glastonbury and once at their own gig but I have never seen such a fantastically energetic performance from them and they went down brilliantly from where I was in the crowd. The best I have ever seen them! So so hot in that tent! ......but there was no way we were coming out of there before they finished! It went in a flash!

Last year at my first Sziget, I thought that it was us who took a couple of days to settle into the festival vibe, but now I see that maybe the festival itself is like this. There seemed to be a lot of angsty uptight people about on Wednesday night, but by yesterday everyone was feeling far more chilled. I don't know - maybe people are still a little stress from long journeys on the first day? ......or maybe it is us and I am just reflecting how I felt onto others!

[Deckard]

I was level with the sound desk for Pink and thought the sound was good - not my usual taste but she did put on a great show although I could have done without the acoustic bit. Buffy were fantastic and loved the circle pits. I hope Sziget organizers realise a lot of people like guitar based music. Caught the end of Kensington and then the Vaccines who were v good. Seems like the festival is getting each day. But I am looking forward to the slightly cooler weather promised from Saturday...

 

[thetime]

1 hour ago, amfy said:

My experience so far is that we were really disappointed with the sound for Pink. We made the mistake of arriving through the main drag and just got in a bottleneck and we're stuck over to the right side. We could barely hear her over people's conversations. It was so frustrating to be able to tell it was a great show and yet actually feel like we weren't even there! I was even more annoyed because I had tried to find our way to enter from the other side but misjudged it! Straight after the show, I found the path I was looking for and will definitely be coming in that way for Kasabian tonight!

Yesterday was better - watched some Hungarian music whilst lying out in the sun before heading acros for Biffy who is not really my thing but I thought was tremendous. Our headliner was The Vaccines in the A38. I have seen them twice at Glastonbury and once at their own gig but I have never seen such a fantastically energetic performance from them and they went down brilliantly from where I was in the crowd. The best I have ever seen them! So so hot in that tent! ......but there was no way we were coming out of there before they finished! It went in a flash!

Last year at my first Sziget, I thought that it was us who took a couple of days to settle into the festival vibe, but now I see that maybe the festival itself is like this. There seemed to be a lot of angsty uptight people about on Wednesday night, but by yesterday everyone was feeling far more chilled. I don't know - maybe people are still a little stress from long journeys on the first day? ......or maybe it is us and I am just reflecting how I felt onto others!

I had the issue of getting out from the front after billy talent, I thought this was going to be a tough week if the bottlenecks are like this for the week.

gladly it was totally different last night, very easy getting from biffy to vaccines. Oh and yes that tent was so hot, I thought I was going to keel over. Saw the last bit of Kensington and they sounded brilliant, tom odel was much better than I thought.

Today is all about bears den and pj Harvey, then of up the world stage.

One issue is how close the VIP is to the dance tent, oh my booming until 5am... Should of hoteled it.  

Amazing amazing weather, just Jayne a bit to amazing. 

Edited August 11, 2017 by thetime

[amfy]

Had a tremendous day again today. The Bohemian Betyars were immense again this year and tore up The World Stage.

manged to get right near the front for Kasabian who were possibly the best I have seen them, and they were seriously blown away by the crowd and really I enjoyed themselves.

Also looking forward to some slightly cooler weather coming in,a though I also want to stay good enough for a return visit to the lido on Margisziget - that's as a top day out!

[Btkmariner]

Anyone fancy hanging out tonight? I've had a dreadful day and my friends don't like Interpol 

 

[thetime]

Well that's that then 

Fave sets were Interpol, PJ Harvey, Hurts, pretty reckless, vaccines. Special mention for breaking Benjamin, they put on a astonishing show.

Super weather, maybe to hot. Probably won't be back, a little to long to be away from the wife and kids but would recommend it to anyone. 

Lovely vibe and Hungarian women are just beautiful creatures. 

[amfy]

For the last few years Mr Amfy has become a bit paranoid about going into the middle, or to the front of crowds, which can often leave us on the edge of things. 

For Pink we were too far on the edge of things to begin to enjoy it, so for The Vaccines I convinced him that we would be OK because there are doors out all the way down and we ended up really far forward and had a great time despite it being meltingly hot.

The upshot of this was we went for it and ended up just a couple of people from the front for Kasabian and had an amazing time during their set. 

Sometimes a set of circumstances come together to make something perfect, and that chain of events did that for Kasabian. Weirdly, even the band appeared completely blown away by the crowd - wandered up and down for ages taking the applause and throwing things into the crowd, and I noticed afterwards that they tweeted far more clips from Sziget than any other gig of recent times.

After that I think we had peaked. We enjoyed the Courteeners, and randomly, a Hungarian Johnny Cash tribute act who also covered 'Living on a Prayer', 'Highway to Hell' and 'Doesn't matter if you're black or white' in the style of Johnny Cash.

We decide to take Sunday off and go to Budapest and a beach, but the weather didn't really suit the beach. So we went to the beach on Monday, but our journey there took ages and by the time we got home it wasn't worth heading in. (Our boat stopped and they got the passengers to unload all of the old furniture and bring new furniture on!  Basically - we helped to undertake a refurb of the boat mid trip - these are the crazy moments that make Hungary special though!)

So - back in for the last day and we had a fantastic day, refreshed by a couple of days doing other stuff. We watched Birdy who is excellent but obviously a bit downbeat and then just wandered randomly. We ended the festival with Leningrad who are typical Sziget fun - about 30% of the crowd singing passionately to somethig which sounds quite traditional of their country, and the other 70% just enjoying their passion and joining in with the jumping up and down, clapping, waving hands in the air and bizarre dancing. I think this is the true spirit of Sziget and it always makes me smile to be in these crowds.

We ended at the reggae stage where a young girl was waiting ages to be served at the bar and we repeatedly pointed to her until she got served, then Mr Amfy just put his card on the reader and bought her drink. The barman saw what we did, and as a payback for our random act of kindness, he made out doubles into half a glass! I have a major headache this morning! 

If we come again we will pay more to come once the line up has ticked some boxes for us, not because I hated the line up this year, but because we can't keep doing it every year. We would also definitely return to staying in the city. Staying across the river from the festival didn't really help our journey as we still needed to travel downstream first to get across, and we really missed the buzz of the centre.

Like @thetime I would still recommend this festival to anyone, and be really jealous when they are here and I am not!

Back to the beach on Margit Sziget today for us - I think it may be busy though!

 

[thetime]

Was quite shocked to see charlotte hatherley playing with birdy yesterday.

 

[#1SzigetFan]

Well, I had a lot of fun, as usual, even with a worse line-up than the previous editions. There were some great acts to see & to discover, there were some disappointments as well, but that happens at any festival, after all. The activities were also great. My favourite acts were Biffy Clyro, Kasabian, alt-J, Interpol, Pierce Brothers, Vince Staples, Two Door Cinema Club, Jagwar Ma, PJ Harvey and The Strypes.

[Deckard]

Back from this and my tenth year was still very enjoyable if with some big gaps in the programme when I had nothing to get excited about. I still love the feeling of losing yourself in a seven day festival but would prefer a couple more decent acts next year. I wish they would go back to 5 bands on the main stage and lose the DJs except for the end party but I guess they see this as a successful formula...Highlights were Biffy Clyro, PJ Harvey, Kasabian, DJ Shadow, Lion Babe, Courteeners, The Pretty Reckless, The Naked and Famous, Jagwar Ma, The Kills and Interpol (although the sound could have been better  in the A38). Also a couple of great African bands on the World Music stage.

Seem to be a lot of complaints about food poisoning on Facebook and I'm sure the dust doesn't help - wish they would get rid of the poseurs on scooters who don't seem to do anything except make the dust worse. I always try to stick to food stalls where you see the food prepared in front of you rather than stuff from open vats. Also the tip thing annoys me since some bars did not have the option (like in the A38) which seems unfair...

[ourkid1984]

Just a quick question.

I went in 2015 and had a brilliant time. We stayed in a basic caravan in the VIP area and are thinking about going again next year I just can't remember when the glamping type stuff sells out. It doesn't have to be a caravan but if anyone has a good idea when the accommodation is likely to sell out by that would be good as we are hoping to buy in February or March time.

Thanks

[Amyk160]

On 7/25/2017 at 10:05 AM, Amyk160 said:

Personally I'd camp. Last year I headed towards the chill out area and had no problems at all, camped under the fairy lights and had plenty of shade too! 

 

On 7/26/2017 at 8:51 PM, Bonaneas said:

Cheers!  After doing first half of Beni camping before finding a hotel to save my dying ass, Theres no way I'm camping abroad again, nevermind dragging tent etc across Europe. Getting too old to do that ever again 

Well I ended up setting up my tent in thunderstorms and pitch black. I expect you made the right choice!!  

[Capzilla]

I queued for three hours in the thunderstorms and when we finally got near the ticket scanners... they told us they had broken down because of the rain and if we could stand in another queue. We said to ourselves "no, we're done with this" and went to the city for a steak and last-minute hotel room. Best decision ever.

Sziget itself was good as always, despite the lacking lineup and me havng to return to Holland for two days in the middle due to a family emergency. But I'll be back next year for my tenth Sziget.

[manxboba]

Hi, quick question please.
I'm looking at going to this with a few friends in 2018 as the G alternative

Ive done loads of UK festivals but never one abroad, so:

Can any vets recommend the best/easiest airline to go with,

also, I'm looking at booking the flights and accommodation soon as these will probably go up once the tickets go on sale, so I assume that tickets don't usually sell out straight away. Is this correct?

 

TIA

 

[thetime]

1 hour ago, manxboba said:

Hi, quick question please.
I'm looking at going to this with a few friends in 2018 as the G alternative

Ive done loads of UK festivals but never one abroad, so:

Can any vets recommend the best/easiest airline to go with,

also, I'm looking at booking the flights and accommodation soon as these will probably go up once the tickets go on sale, so I assume that tickets don't usually sell out straight away. Is this correct?

 

TIA

 

I went with British Airways from heathrow, seems to be the cheapest as well when I got tickets.

NO tickets wont sell out, certainly not until very late on anyway.

I can highly recommend the festival, if you are not totally bothered about top stellar named lineups.

[manxboba]

On ‎04‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 2:54 PM, thetime said:

I went with British Airways from heathrow, seems to be the cheapest as well when I got tickets.

NO tickets wont sell out, certainly not until very late on anyway.

I can highly recommend the festival, if you are not totally bothered about top stellar named lineups.

Thanks not really fussed about the line up, happy exploring and finding new things.

Booked our flights with BA, now on to the accommodation.

Looking for an apartment for 4/5 people if anyone has any recommendations?

 

[amfy]

On 9 October 2017 at 1:43 PM, manxboba said:

Thanks not really fussed about the line up, happy exploring and finding new things.

Booked our flights with BA, now on to the accommodation.

Looking for an apartment for 4/5 people if anyone has any recommendations?

 

Last year (2016) we stayed at Central Studios and apartments at Regi Posta near the middle of Budapest. The flats are really spacious and basically but adequately equipped. The owners were really helpful with our arrangements. We got it off Booking.com at a really good price (about £300 for 10 days although I guess it'd be a bit more now). The flat we were in would have slept 4-5 or even 6 comfortably.

This year we had an air bnb which was right across the river from the festival, but it turned out to be just as long to get there!

overall - we preferred our first location. It is great to be in the middle of Budapest and experience that as well as the festival on a daily basis. You can get the boat up the river which is a spectacular way to get to the festival. You may need to get a taxi at least part of the way back but we usually managed to weave our way back by some combination of public transport and walking. (Although as a tip, the best way to get a taxi is to get the train from Filatorigat at the festival for just one stop back towards the city and then pick up a cab - it saves the crazy queues at the festival itself)

The area around central studios and apartments has some great bars, restaurants, an aldi & tescos to pick up provisions, and it is right by the river. You can pick up trains and trams as well as the boat. The train is actually really quick even though you have a couple of changes on route. On our first day we were under prepared for some (unusual) bad weather and decided we needed to actually go back and change - it actually took less time than nipping back to our tent at Glastonbury!

you will love this festival - it takes a day or so to click into its groove, especially with being off site, but once you and it gets going, it's got a tremendous vibe and loads to see and do. 

[manxboba]

Thanks Amfy, booked an apartment in the city centre from airbnb now.

I think I recall tickets go on sale December 31st, is that correct?

[thetime]

34 minutes ago, manxboba said:

Thanks Amfy, booked an apartment in the city centre from airbnb now.

I think I recall tickets go on sale December 31st, is that correct?

Way before that, its the early birds that are available until 31 dec.

[manxboba]

7 hours ago, thetime said:

Way before that, its the early birds that are available until 31 dec.

Thanks, signed up to the newsletter and will keep a look out