liesbeth visits sziget

In seven days, 441,000 people came to one island: “The Island of Freedom,” better known as the Sziget festival. That island is located in Hungary, specifically Budapest, and I was one of those 441,000 people.

On Thursday morning, I flew to Budapest to head to the festival grounds after a short stop at the hotel. The temperature was a moderately pleasant 39 degrees with a humidity of 3000% (or something) and the sun was shining relentlessly. What I found was a festival where for half a week people had already given all their energy, but were far from done. At the entrance, it’s already a cheerful mess of large groups of friends entering the grounds, laughing and dancing, and once on the grounds, you’re right in the middle of it.

You can rent bikes, you can get married, there’s a kind of Sziget Immigration Service – Sziget can rightly be called a city and completely transcends the label of festival. With a half-liter of beer in my hand, I search for the way to the main stage, where in about an hour The Ting Tings will take the stage. Since I saw them at a festival in London about 4 years ago, I’ve been a fan, and they do not disappoint now either. The main stage is flanked by the VIP area where I can also enter with my press wristband, and with the danger of sounding like a snob: that was really my salvation. So it was almost 40 degrees, and I can tell you, it doesn’t get cooler when you’re dancing with 30,000 people. The VIP area was hidden in a little grove and was therefore lovely to catch my breath, and with a fresh bucket of beer, I head back onto the grounds.

That area is so large that you can never see it all in one day. I spoke to someone who said they had been going to Sziget for three years but still hadn’t seen everything. There are big commercial successes like The Ting Tings, but Ellie Goulding is also booked, Kings of Leon, Avicii, Martin Garrix, Limp Bizkit, Florence + The Machine. Additionally, this year there is also room for other music forms. There was a tent where opera was performed where people could recharge on small bean bags and watch the very accessible and interactive opera concerts, there were reggae tents, acoustic tents, classical music – everything really.

Tired from the heat, the beer, and the insane amount of meters you unknowingly cover, I roll into a taxi around 1:00 AM heading to the hotel. And yes, I slept in a hotel. Tens of thousands of people did not, by the way; they lived for a week in small tents that were spread all over the grounds. Not just on a campsite, so you walked right past them as a visitor.

The next day it was time to explore Budapest because you might not expect it, or at least, I didn’t expect it, but Budapest is really a beautiful city. It reminded me a bit of Paris, in terms of romantic architecture and dozens of nice terraces and squares. The heat was quite overwhelming, so we navigated slowly from terrace to terrace, and eventually to the Széchenyi Baths, a gigantic outdoor swimming pool in the middle of the city. After a swim, a beer, and a nap, it’s time for a shower and a heel in the hotel because that evening we’re dining at a restaurant that has recently been awarded a Michelin star, good stuff, and it was indeed. We finish with a drink at the 360 BAR, with, indeed, a view over the entire city.

The next day we stroll around the city again and head towards the grounds at the end of the day when it’s a bit less hot. And again, we kept walking, looking, discovering, and being amazed. At every piece, you think: “Okay, this is the coolest ever.” But then you turn the corner and come across a 30-meter-long glowing dragon, entirely made of plastic and with 3000 man-hours put into it. “Okay, this is the best ever!” And then, there are smoke machines in the dragon’s mouth with lasers, and that is again the coolest ever. And it just keeps going.

Throughout the grounds, there are water mist sprays to combat the heat, I never stood in line for food, drinks, or the restroom, and the atmosphere was cheerful, exuberant, and friendly. Sunday night was the last night, and it was closed by Martin Garrix, the 19-year-old DJ from Amstelveen who seemingly became a world star overnight. And the show he put on was truly worthy of a world star.

At the main stage, at 9:30 PM, about 70,000 people gathered to bid farewell to Sziget. People are ecstatic, not knowing where to look from fatigue and enthusiasm, and the crowd turns into a jumping, screaming, dancing mass. The lasers, the smoke, the fire machines, and the fireworks create an ending that is so spectacular that your hair stands on end, even though it’s still 38 degrees.

The next morning it was time to go home again. As we had breakfast at the airport, we saw in the distance a small man in a large black hoodie taking a photo with 5 blonde girls, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Martin Garrix. The man, or actually, the boy, who managed to bring 70,000 people to a climax yesterday is now flying home with some of those people on the same KLM plane. We take three seats behind him, and the whole plane is buzzing about the fact that the Martin Garrix is just sitting there! After five minutes in the air, however, most of the plane is in deep sleep. A week is intense, but judging by everyone’s faces, they will all be back next year. And I completely understand that.