OK. I might as well write a long one as well. This was my 7th Sziget in a row so a lot to compare. Luckily all our first timers had time of their lives and so did the rest of us, so if i'm too negative it's just easier to write about bad things. 🙂 I had the most fun out of all 7, but this was clearly because i had such an amazing group of friends this time. All good things come to an end at one point, but I truly hope they'll come to Sziget with me forever. ANYWAY:
Sziget has always been a "mini-Glastonbury" for me, so everything outside of music program plays a huge part in the experience. This includes artsy stuff which they had clearly cut at least 70% compared to past years. It just did not feel like you're entering a wonderland this time. These can be really small changes which make a huge impact, for example some tents that were unique and designed were just plain white now. Program wise i'd say it was OK. I semi-enjoyed circus, dance battle with Les Twins at the new dropyard was my absolute highlight of the weekend, but you could feel they'd cut back with dance and theatre program, especially as the main stage was outside now.
It felt to me that the choice of food was much smaller this time. I really struggled to find anything new and interesting on 4th day. I did not like the fact that at a lot of locations they "standardized" food stalls so instead of each unique stall there was a row of tents with Sziget design. Inside of those tents these were the same catering companies they've had in previous years. I used to really like that some stalls really put an effort into making their place look cool. This helped for the atmosphere as well. Why take it away from them? And prices wise - i checked my pictures from 2019 and same food stalls had their prices up literally 2x. It just doesn't make sense if you compare it to cheap beer prices. People from northern Europe come cause of prices, these customers are someone they do not want to lose.
Dust. Yeah, I know you can't do much about it. If it's that hot, watering just does not help, unless you got unlimited staff and supplies. I did go very close at Arctic Monkeys and I was surprised at lack of dust over there. I guess those plastic surfaces really help? Maybe make their area larger? Cars and scooters driving around all the time does not help as well - are they sure this is controlled enough and not anyone can drive around?
Superstar camping - been there for.. can't even remember how many years. WOW what a shitshow that was. It has really always been worth every penny. The bar had great atmosphere, the pool, the location is amazing and you've really been taken care of if you had glamping options + toilets were always cleaned + included paper. It had nothing but the location now. So - the bar: they had zero seats and tables this time, and they had removed roof of the chilling area. How can you even call it a bar if there's nowhere to be? / the pool: has been discussed here, but haha WOW that bubble party as an alternative.. there was a machine for that...kind of. They did try to make the pool area nice and comfy, but it just was not enough. / glamping options: took a wooden hut. So on the picture it's pretty large, but they only show a picture of a 4-people one. It's 2x smaller for the 2 person one. No blanket or pillow. When we arrived (9th) most of huts were not ready, we did not have power and they put locks on our hut AFTER we arrived. The bed was already broken on the floor, whole room was really dusty as well. As we arrived day earlier, we managed to switch to a better hut which was on asphalt and under a tree - this was a great choice as it did not get hot before like 2PM + no dust. But those who arrived last got those shitty options and I'm so sorry for them. One of the rooms had such a large hole on the wall that you could see inside and put a hand through. Our group got 2 Love Cabins as well, one of them had pillows and the other did not. They only accepted to refund a freaking 12€ (!?!?!?) - but where were they going to get their promised pillows? / toilets and showers: It's an upgraded camping but they were clearly the same ones as free camping had. They were regularly not cleaned. Not something I'd expect at a festival usually, but they had been for the past 6 years and don't forget, it was 200€ per face. They also forgot to put up signage which side is for men and which for ladies. At one point someone wrote it with a marker and a few days later they found official signage from somewhere as well. lol. Oh and they chose "men" for that side which had mirrors for make-up. Go figure.
Bar staff was really slow. I can not explain why, but even here in the forums multiple of us told someone earlier that you don't really wait for drinks at Sziget. I'm sorry - i guess that era is now over. Another thing with staff was lack of English. Look - i know you can't expect people to speak English in other countries but their customers are mainly from outside of Hungary. It has not been that bad in previous years. I couldn't even ask if there was another pizza in the oven getting ready soon, so i would have more choice!? There seemed to be some weird issues with their briefing as well - some bars refused to switch cups or give tokens, but they FORCED you to buy a cup for a drink(no, i'm not talking about the secret cheaper bar with plastic cups). That can't be a real thing right?
VIP tickets - so yeah.. the area at the main stage was great, incl. food options and toilets. Viewing terrace can get full, but I did not watch anything from there anyway as it was too much on a side for me. I'd like to see a "straight line" to the stage. As I did not leave the island a single time I have no idea if separate entrance is worth it, but my friend who arrived on 10th waited for about 2 hours for a wristband, while regular line was 40 mins. VIP experience to the max. VIP garden for Magic Mirror was great with a separate entrance to venue, a DJ Booth and multiple bars. Garden for FreeDome was completely pointless in a sense that you had to go outside and take a pretty long walk there. You could technically see the show from side of the stage, but there was no view at all in reality. As for a nerd like me, you could also see behind the stage other acts being prepared, so stage switches were cool. Not sure how much VIP's would actually like it tho. VIP for Party Arena was kind of boring as well, but at least you could see the audience from there so I imagine most people were happy. Did not end up in Colosseum but my friend spent hours in the VIP there - he said he was mostly the only one and became good friends with security and bar staff. Lol. Yeah VIP prolly does not camp and does not go far away from main stage with their fancy outfits. To sum up: I used VIP to bring drinks to my friends as bars outside had too long queues.
Don't know which night, but I stumbled on the greatest drag party I have ever witnessed @ Magic Mirror We danced until morning that night. Magic Mirror was great in general. That 23.00 show was epic (and overcrowded) + stand-up comedy once again delivered. Elrow party was amazing as well, like always. I can't really stand plain "DJ" parties, but these two events (elrow and drag) went an extra notch which I loved.
Concerts: FKJ!
They are going to have a hard time selling tickets next year. But trust me, even after my poor review, that freaking vibe is still there. Why the fuck is it so much fun?
Edit: To add context, here's a view from the FreeDome VIP during Fontaines D.C.
