Once again, Sziget Festival is back and, as always, it�s another year of novelties in the extensive festival programme. It�s no surprise that this Hungarian festival is the biggest music festival in Europe and one of the biggest in the world in terms of the variety of genres that make it up. The novelties are plenty and the festival days too, that�s why I recommend that you prepare yourself for this week of music in ever-surprising Budapest.

Strictly speaking, the festival lasts for si days, but this year there are other annex activities, such as the Hungarian Song Day, that will take place on the 5th of August, where Hungarian artists, some very popular and other emerging ones, will be performing live. The price to attend just this day is 17€, although quite honestly I don�t think that anyone wants to miss the rest of the days, because the lineup is amazing. On the 6th of August, there�s the Sziget Talent Festival, but it�s on the 7th when the real fun starts for all festival attendants.

The first thing to take into account is that between 28 and 31 bands will be performing every day, a noticeable increase in comparison to other years. On the 7th of August it�s metal day, with bands such as Moonspell, Dimmu Borgir, Hammerfall, Lacuna Coll and Ignite. On the next day, the most outstanding bands are Placebo, Saint Etienne, Ministry and Hurts, among 30 other bands of an excellent level that will definitely take you by surprise, such as the Mexicans Los de Abajo.

The four days that ensue include strong bands such as The Horrors, Molotov, Snoop Dogg, LFMAO, The Killers, Lamb, Goran Bregovic and many more.

For prices, citypasses and other information, visit the attached link and don�t miss Sziget 2012!

For more information visit: http://www.sziget.hu/festival_english/

Luz Obscura

No room for discussion, this is the most important musical event in Europe this summer, Sziget Festival 2012. Rent apartments in Budapest, pack your luggage, travel and enjoy this fun week on Obuda Island.

Contact Me 

Budapest is delightful. There�s never a lack of beautiful people everywhere, above all the proportionate and exotic Hungarian women, who will captivate you by just looking at them. Budapest carries on growing and, as such, it�s turning more and more cosmopolitan as we speak. Sziget Festival is an option to listen to some of the best bands on the planet in beautiful Budapest, for five whole days, as well as getting to know people from around the world, who are always searching for adventure, romance and crazy times.

Among the participants in the festival we can find Interpol, the New York band that along the years has known how to capitalize its image, sound and provenance. A band from New York is, at the end of the day, a band from New York and everyone knows that. Despite that, their last album, titled “Interpol”, leaves that band in a very uncomfortable position. To put it simply, if before they were Joy Division, now they�re just U2. Their best song is still “Turn on the bright lights”, a really amazing night-time album which is post-9/11, which managed to portray in their lyrics the isolation, shadow, frivolity and insecurities of the city that never sleeps.

From Australia we receive Empire of the Sun, a band that with their single “Walking on a Dream” from 2008, hasn�t stopped impressing and delighting live. They have a pop-rock sound which borders romantic and new wave, with a paraphernalia of clothing and cosmic attire.Their videos are clear homages to nature and the cosmos, generally in remote locations, which create a world of fantasy and colour that seduces and invites one to dance. It�s worth seeing their videos and, live, as well as video screens and lasers, the use all sorts of choreography to create a very personal universe.

Amongst the other crowd favourites we can find Pulp, Kate Nash, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Rise Against, British Sea Powder, Triggerfinger and Peter Bjorn and John. The summer festivals in Europe and around the world today, are a huge way of sound trafficking, trying to save the industry which is plummeting. Despite that, you can have a good time if you want to. Checking out this event�s website, you don�t need much to see the way in which the younger bands sell themselves, generally older is better, and it happens in many of the festivals now. Which will be the new sound to appear? Who knows.

It seems like rock sound would have stopped at some point in nostalgia, where few people still listen to it without having much knowledge that things are changing. The media, internet, Twitter and Facebook are responsible that the final product of any musical or artistic experience is the relay of this information. It�s not very important how many times it�s played but to how many people it can reach. Meanwhile, Sziget Festival is a good place to start. For more information and tickets visit this webpage: http://www.sziget.hu/

Alexa Ray

There�s nothing like getting apartments in Budapest and enjoying these five days with the best bands in the world today.

Contact Me 

Translated by: aleixgwilliam
Contact Me