Sziget festival 2018 review: A wonderfully unique few days

Anyone who has been to, say, Reading or Glastonbury can confirm that three-day festivals are a tiring affair. Spare a thought, then, for the punters who have just returned home after spending seven days camped out at Hungary’s Sziget Festival.

Based on an island in the centre of Budapest (Sziget means “island” in Hungarian), this festival has seven consecutive nights of headliners, with this year’s line-up book-ended by two of the biggest artists on the planet right now: Kendrick Lamar and Arctic Monkeys.

Unfortunately, the idea of camping out for seven days in those very (very) dusty field was certainly too daunting for this pampered south Londoner. Instead, four nights of headliners was more than enough – initially five, but a delayed flight meant missing Lana Del Rey – starting with Mumford & Sons and finishing with the aforementioned Sheffield-raised band.

And what a wonderfully unique four days. Sziget prides itself on atmosphere rather than the line-up (even though this year also saw Gorrilaz headline) and every day there are odd theatrical delights to be enjoyed, ranging from magic tricks to interpretive dance. One of the most breath-taking acts was a dance workshop featuring, at one point, two men climbing on each other and singing “The Song Must Go On” acapella. Awful as that may sound, it was really quite captivating.

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Another brilliant find was Famefatal, an LGBTQI theatre troupe featuring members from around the world. Their body morphing dance routines – seeing half-naked men climb polls, suitcases and selfie-sticks – rendered everyone crammed into the tiny Hall of Mirrors tent dumbstruck.

It’s moments like these – when you stumble upon acts you've never heard of – that make festivals special and Sziget is full of them. Traditional Hungarian music plays out of one stage, while Romanian trap blasts from another. Even if you don't like the music, there’s a sandy beach to enjoy and another area dedicated to board games.

The acts, though, are the ticket-sellers. Saturday kick-started with Everything Everything on the second biggest stage, the band having been busily touring their fourth album A Fever Dream over the past year. Drawing heavily from their recent Mercury Prize-nominated release, as well as 2015’s Get To Heaven, the Mancunian quartet blasted through a 90-minute set, eschewing any material from their debut. It was a bold choice that paid off as the band stole the day from Mumford & Sons.

Indeed, Mumford & Sons made for a surprising choice of headliner. Their last album – Wilder Minds – came out three years ago to mixed reviews, the group jettisoning their banjos and upright bass for electric instruments. And with little to prove at Sziget, they leaned heavily on that lesser-known record, as well as a helping of unreleased music from their upcoming release.This lead to a fairly meandering set that peaked far too early with “Little Lion Man”, their surging, banjo-driven anthem from 2009.

Conversely, Dua Lipa – another UK headliner (explaining why this year’s festival was the first time Brits were the majority ticket-buyers apart from Hungarians) – had to justify her booking. Sziget makes for the singer’s first time headlining a major music festival, booked despite having just one album out (the almost 1.4 billion plays of number one single “New Rules” likely secured the slot). Those ubiquitous radio-friendly singles – also including “One Kiss”, “IDGAF” and “Be The One” – made for huge, crowd-uniting moments, but inevitably the set lost stream during her lesser-known tracks. A few more pop-bangers and Dua will no doubt be headlining the bigger festivals in the years to come.

Earlier in the day, Slave proved that they, too, could be future headliners here. This two-piece from Tunbridge Wells are almost three albums down (their next is out today) and have enough thrilling punk tunes and skits to keep everyone giddy. Back-to-back with Wolf Alice, another British rock band, they provided respite from a predominantly pop-focused day.

On the third night, the DJ Kygo made for a poor choice of headliner, his set made up of repetitive tropical house remixes and original compositions ready-made for Love Island. OK in a party tent, but on the main stage, Kygo’s songs just don’t carry. Even with the crowd given glowsticks to throw around in the air and plenty of remixes (including one of Dua Lipa), the 26-year-old Norwegian could not command everyone’s attention.

Luckily, for those craving an unstoppable headlining band, the Arctic Monkeys were on hand to wrap up Sziget. On their quest to appear at every European festival this summer, Alex Turner and co performed with customary vim and showmanship, breathing life into a knackered audience. It was a fitting finale.