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Yelo, the Parmiggiana

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Everything posted by Yelo, the Parmiggiana

  1. I guess Bicep should belong to the A38 the same way Nina Kraviz did last year
  2. Yep, I guess that is more of an engagement tool rather than an interested survey. It screams "we heard your outrage, we are here to hear you out". The problems with this edition were out in the open from far before the fest started: I know it, you know it, the organization knows it. Yet, anybody I met that was "not festival seasoned" was enthusiastic about the whole setting (poor souls, they just did not know what it used to be). Sziget should and will do something about logistic (i.e. sand), but they will not do a thing about A) prices B) music quality, because: A) Higher prices are needed to keep the festival profitable; B) The people that actually attends the festival, those who pay, was collectively okay with the music selection. Now, some of us might argue that Sziget should care for a better critics judgement and should remain true to its word about inclusivity, etc., but we all know from the beginning that this is an organization for profit, and this formula is the winning one at the time being, so they will stick with it.
  3. Do we have the results somewhere? "Uhm... I guess we can increase the ticket price by another solid 20%... Remove another day... decrease the festival ground by another 40%... you know what, Béla, - just thinking - we could just open a casino, that would mean more revenues, right?"
  4. The first two headliners I saw in my life, at Sziget 2014, were Blink-182 followed by Deadmau5. I will always appreciate Blink because they set the bar so low that a pretty good show by Deadmau5 became a massive life-changing experience in comparison. As of today, they were the worst headliner I witnessed on the main stage, after Rihanna and David Guetta.
  5. Would be surprised if at least 2 of the names mentioned above will not end up being in the lineup... My money are on: - Gorillaz: still indie and sort of guitar driven, and yet have so much appeal for the mainstream crowd - The Weeknd: perfect follow up in the search for the biggest solo pop artist in the market, following Sheeran and Bieber. The EDM name, assuming it will be only one this year (it would be fairplay because they are basically all the same, but Calvin Harris sold so well and they are so thirsty for money that it would be a lost occasion), could be basically anybody - Sziget has its favorite, like Garrix or DV&LM, but just pick anybody from the top 10 of DJ Mag's and we are good.
  6. Bastille are subbing all six nights.
  7. Not a bad analysis on the surface, but there is a bias in this analysis IMO. JB has a show that on its own is less expensive: no gimmick, no weird stuff - just a guy playing playback songs while dancing with his stupid 00 pants, with around some dancers and a band. No fire, no light bracelets, nothing out of the ordinary. The cost of production is relatively low and the cost of the show is high because of Justin Bieber's cachet and agent's royalties, et cetera. Coldplay is the best/worst of both worlds: the band gets a very high cachet, the cost of production of the show was already humungous on its own, before they started their ecology campaign (not relevant if that is a green-washing operation or not). When you compare Coldplay's expense with anybody else in the market at the moment, I find it very hard to find a competition.
  8. If something, Coldplay's announcement proves that they will NOT be at Sziget, sincer their tour leg ends in july. Shoe in for Werchter Boutique, but I doubt they will play festivals: they are just too big. Foals is not headliner material for Sziget (especially after the last album not so well received): weren't in 2020's lineup, will not be in 2023. Jack White as a head is also a little too weak. I'd go with RHCP/Green Day/The Strokes tho (Muse would fit more a Arctic Monkeys magnitude). Agree on Billie Eilish, or Taylor Swift, or Katy Perry. I will also add that they rocked everytime they picked a female headliner, post 2014, except for Ellie Goulding and Rihanna. Also, agree on Harry Styles: if he will tour, he will be in, period. Otherwise, I look towards Shawn Mendes again, was leaked for 2020. DJ-wise, anybody is fine, they are all the same as long as they draw in the top 10 of DJ Mag Rap act would be expectable: the two rock acts this year were the lowest selling (they will address it on the heads, but KoL day was Empty), and hip hop is an heavy tendency that Sziget does not seem to have picked up yet (Wiz, Malone and Kendrick and that's it). Eminem would be the table turner, but it has been so many years he has been hyped by people on forums that I would not believe in it. Kendrick/Travis or some trapper would make sense in my book.
  9. Heard for the first time that many inside my circle of italians attenders got robbed from the tent. Terrible and awful. Also, the morning after the last day, I also heard many people was left out of the island without a chance to get in and gather their stuff. One of them actually got in, eventually, to find the tent collected by god knows who, her stuff trashed around and most of her valuable stolen. It sends the mixed signal that if you are not buying the private camping you are kind of exposing yourself to this kind of event: not cool.
  10. TL;DR: this post will be too harsh for the common sentiment in this forum, but in the end I love this fest. I know I am regarded in as a moaner, so I'll try to tone it down a notch and provide my experience related to the 3 days I've been to Sziget this year, staying outside the island for the first year since 2014. In the first place I wasn't even looking to come to Sziget, but since loads of people I know would have gone to and there were some bands I actually cared about, I bought a flight and reserved an hotel and went. The first thing I gotta say, is that the infrastructure AROUND the festivals (transportation, cab drivers and all) worked really good, with the only con being that some cab driver would try to charge hellish amount of money for taking you from sziget back home at night. That is not a Sziget problem, since taxi drivers from time to time happen to be loathing people. Now, back to the things that I found more significant to form an opinion about this edition: - Decorations were off. I'm not talking about the K-hìd being without flags (a shame on its own), but mainly about the sculptures and the artistic atmosphere that permeated the island, allowing somebody to have good reference for a tent spot (i.e. "near the plastic dragon" or "near the spikey unicorn"), also flags, umbrellas, lights, etc. - What happened to illumination? The island at night was DARK: outside the Freedome's (the A38, ffs) garden-side, it was so dark I stumbled multiple times on people lying down or sitting quietly. First time getting in I was so disoriented by the light and signal scarcity and the dust, that we ended up at Magic Mirror - The sand. Yes, the drought, of course. How come, though, that the natural reserve part was green as a pea and we got poor man's Burning Man? I see two responsibles for this: Budapest City had two years to bother about redeveloping the green and, apparently, did nothing, Sziget couldn't even care to distribute masks (COVID era, if anybody minded) or wet the soil from time to time. That has been a deal breaker for anybody I heard: nobody was nearly okay with that. - Private camping taking every decent spot. The "free camping area" becoming the "suggested free camping area" says a lot about the direction taken in this matter by the organization. In the last 8 years I orbited around the festival, private camping grew more and more both in number and in space taken - this year they also took arguably the best spots to camp (i.e. the woods near the beach), putting another paywall in an already expensive experience. - Lineup. I will not dwell onto this too much because it has become clear as day that I slipped out of the target's audience: sign of the time, cool and all. BUT the timeslot allocation was pitiful. Having the A38 clear of clash while major headliners were playing made the crowd unbearable at the Main Stage and, although anybody loves a crowded MS, the dust made the situation so unhealthy. Another thing I noticed in this regard is that some nights (i.e. Saturday) had 0 balance between Coliseum-Party Arena and A38, meaning that the north part of the island was not walkable in almost any sense. - Prices. I know that Northern Europeans will be like "what about that? Still costs less than R&L", but the price increase was unfair, period. They were inactive two years, sure, and there is a 6-10% inflation rate, of course, but this does not justify: 1) Ticket increase for a festival that lasts 1 day less, with less entertainment and with no apparent form of major investment in the lineup; 2) food and beverage increase by almost 100%; 3) any paywall present, from private camping to locker increasing their price by a solid 50%. The festival had almost no hungarians left and every Southern European I met was gutted by the expenses. For me, it turned down that doing 3 days without camping costed as much as it costed to do a full week camping in Alternativa in 2015 (not taking hotel cost into account). - Acoustic. Might have been only me, but wasn't the sound of almost any non-electronic A38 concert odd? Also any headliner in the main from the back was meh at best: for JB I did not care that much, but for Tame Impala I was kind of pissed - after switching places three times getting closer and closer, we just bailed on and went taking a spot for Caribou. The concerts per se were okay, I had the chance to cross some very desired names off my bucket list like Tame Impala, Caribou and Jon Hopkins and discovered some very interesting new ones like Sevdaliza or BADBADNOTGOOD, but anyway nothing that justifies a 1000€+ festival experience, sadly. I love Sziget, but I kissed it goodbye after Floating Points live ended. Best way to conclude a 8 years relationship that deeply influenced me as a human being. It surely is a festival that deserves to be experienced at least once, and I will promote it fiercely to anybody who has not been there, but it is no longer the kind of experience you do every year.
  11. They reverted it in "suggested" free camping. Which is good, because it would be TOO much. Yet, with so many private camping who take so much space and the natural reserve, I see 3-4 reasonable spots where to camp: - Behind A38, ex-Alternativa area - Close to the Circus - Nearby the Superstar Camping - Between Colosseum and Chill/Siesta
  12. True that, true that, but you can see a pattern explained here eventually ahah - also, I do not believe that my analysis is so biased, feel free to prove me wrong ofc! Anyway, if that means anything, I was very enthusiast about the 2020 😃
  13. Maybe sell less ticket to avoid overcrowding and security issues? Especially with covid still existing and s*it? I don't know, I was born a pessimist, but this edition smells terribly from here.
  14. If that will be the case, this is the end of Sziget as I knew and loved. Since 2014 not a year has passed without them restricting the boundaries of the actual freedom on the island or putting a price tag on an experience or increasing the price without improving a real improvement of the offer. The first time I came a 7 days ticket was 169 €. I paid more for a 3 days ticket in a 6 day festival this year, I could camp wherever I would (as the private camping were small and actually optional), I could go front to back on a stage without any major infrastructure barrier obstructing my way, I could listen to music of ANY kind (world stage i.e.), etc. etc. etc. The concept seems to have strayed too much from its origin and the jism I get out of it so far is just the one of a Coachella with a touch of eastern Europe extravaganza. I hate Coachella.
  15. George Ezra to substitute Justin Bieber = Budapest metropolitan area burned down to ashes by angry Beliebers Srsly, Ezra is not even Sub material in mainland Europe, nobody even remembers him despite Budapest - he's a Passenger/Jake Bugg dude
  16. Probably they retained the rights on lyrics use on commercials - it may happen
  17. Except that this is the biggest Colosseum's lineup they released in ages, I'd say
  18. So... festival ticket's price has increased, every single utility has seen an increase in price, it is likely to expect food and drink prices to be higher as well... for one day less of festival? Without any decent improvement in term of lineup...? Oh boi, I understand the inflation going up, but this is a 20something% increase in full experience cost against a 5.something% inflation. Sziget, what have you become?
  19. On their side, they can make some profits on short term investments (unlikely) or solve any liquidity issue may arise (more likely), by asking the people to put funds in their app/bracelets in advance. Also, it can be part of the agreements with the financial institution that provide the funding for the festival. On the user side, unless they connect the app with the bracelets (allowing to move funds instantly from the app to the tied bracelet and by this, avoiding to go the ATM or whatever), it is not really interesting.
  20. I saw, I saw, but from Milan it is hardly a bargain... Will see, but I'm really digging the opportunity to travel "normally" - haven't done it in 2 years by now ahahah
  21. Just sent the input to sell my two tickets. It is all good and dandy, but air travel has gone crazy (300 € each from Bologna or Milan to Barcellona for said days) - I mean, sure we moved late, but it is like 6 times the normal fares... Feels bad because this was one edition I was really looking forward to, but spending 1000 € between tickets, accomodation, flights and survival in 3 days is really not my cup of tea. Pity
  22. I think that with this little time ahead before the festival, they will just double somebody on the opposite weekend. Honestly, I have finger crossed for Run the Jewels on WE1 - they are cheaper, everybody will be angry AF and I will be in the frontline getting all the saliva El-P can throw in an hour in the face
  23. The sheer capital distance is not the point to be taken into account: the border is much more of an interesting variable. I don't think that Sziget will have any selling problems, no matter what the situation in Ukraine - as far as the war stays in that country and does not get exported. Another point to consider is that if even the silliest missile lands on the biggest and emptiest field in any of the NATO countries, you can say goodbye to *any* festival faster than you can say palinka. But, I mean, at that point I would not care for festivals anyway.
  24. That depends on the year. The management is not always "tidy": there's been years where the biggest name came last (i.e. Prince) and years where the big shot headliner came before everything else (i.e. Robbie Williams 2015). Sziget usually goes first in first out, so the leftovers name are not held back - they just haven't figured out the right name for that spot. Few examples that come to my mind: Chemical Brothers + Tinie Tempah, 2016, or the National 2019. From the centre it's a breeze to get there - 2 different subways/tram top if I do recall correctly. The experience of living the campus is uncomparable tho.
  25. There is no such thing as a special guest slot at Sziget since 2014 (Tancksapda sub-head for Blink182). Honestly, The Prodigy are still headliner material for a festival such as Sziget (nostalgia power), so no, I think you can rule them out IMO the big guns have been already fired for these days. The take away for the management will be that a day with a pop headliner beats a day with a indie headliner - I mean they have known this for a very long time but this is another confirmation and only pushes in the mainstream direction more and more
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