Sziget 2020

[#1SzigetFan]

I'm curious how much Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen would ask for a show, compared to Stevie Nicks, if they really want to play the "legends" card.  I would be more interested in them instead of Fleetwood Mac, to be honest.

[thetime]

1 minute ago, #1SzigetFan said:

I'm curious how much Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen would ask for a show, compared to Stevie Nicks, if they really want to play the "legends" card.  I would be more interested in them instead of Fleetwood Mac, to be honest.

Dylan 👍

[#1SzigetFan]

Another idea would be Paul Simon, but he is semi-retired. He was at Outside Lands Festival in the US last year and he donated all the net proceeds from his performance to local environmental non-profit organizations.

Edited January 17, 2020 by #1SzigetFan

[swelsbyuk]

4 hours ago, So Sad Simon said:

Stevie Nicks is one of the three in shortlist for last place

I'm going to call BS on this. You seem like a genuine guy who's trying to help us all out but there are a couple of things with your leaks that just don't add up.

1. Selena Gomez seems too 'out there' an option. As previously pointed out, she isn't someone who appears to enjoy playing live and for her to suddenly present herself to tens of thousands of people at a festival thousands of miles away from home just doesn't ring true. Plus, she's not been announced for Bottlerock, Governor's Ball or Bonnaroo.

2. Stevie Nicks - sadly, Sziget has no real history of booking heritage/legend acts. For them to suddenly do so in a kneejerk way also seems very 'out there'. Plus, if they were to suddenly do this then surely Paul McCartney or Springsteen would make more sense.

I hope I'm wrong as I'd love to see Stevie Nicks there. I'm sure you're a sound bloke and I'm confident you're posting in good faith but I really think your friend is winding you up.

No offence meant. 

[#1SzigetFan]

10 minutes ago, swelsbyuk said:

sadly, Sziget has no real history of booking heritage/legend acts

You're right regarding recent years, but they had Prince in 2011, R.E.M. in 2008, even David Bowie in 1997.  I think anything can happen at Sziget!

[swelsbyuk]

1 hour ago, #1SzigetFan said:

You're right regarding recent years, but they had Prince in 2011, R.E.M. in 2008, even David Bowie in 1997.  I think anything can happen at Sziget!

Sorry, yes you're right. Even as I typed it I was thinking of Prince so should have stated 'recent history'. I hope I'm wrong, I really do, as I love a heritage act or two!

[Davidoff]

Hi, I just mentioned Steve Nicks in response to the Governed festival and a mention that 6 will be coming. Personally I think she would be great and would she be so much different to Pink a few years ago or florence?. I take on board that she may be too expensive and there are loads of so called nostalgia acts I would like to see like.

So sad Simon your info sounds more like guess work from your pal than inside info. Tame not coming, is what I said and that just working out the dates from his USA tour. Also i think they will announce something in the next few weeks one way or another as they need to do something soon.

I think we can guess or pick from most of the acts floating about Europe at that time that appeal to the target audience. LG, C Harris, Rapper, Foals,Biffy,tones, Lewis, Mable, disclosure.   I am just wondering if they pull a rabbit out the hat. 

If RHCP they may not do the last day as it was only a few years ago they had a dance act on the last night. 

One thing is for sure they will do what they want and we can all guess all night long . 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Davidoff

[thetime]

1 hour ago, Davidoff said:

Hi, I just mentioned Steve Nicks in response to the Governed festival and a mention that 6 will be coming. Personally I think she would be great and would she be so much different to Pink a few years ago or florence?

Pink and florence are a world away from Stevie Nick's. Pink and florence are very popular with young fans, which is the festival's main core audience.

Edited January 17, 2020 by thetime

[Musiclover2011]

What is with Demi Lovato, Jessie J, Little Mix, Rita Ora, OneRepublic, Lady Gaga or Kelly Clarkson? Is this a option? 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Musiclover2011

[pete76]

4 minutes ago, Musiclover2011 said:

What is with Demi Lovato, Jessie J, Little Mix, Lady Gaga or Kelly Clarkson? 

First three are terrible and the last two aren't touring 

[#1SzigetFan]

Billie Eilish announced an Asian tour between the 23rd of August and the 5th of September. I think that now there are less chances to see her at Sziget.

[swelsbyuk]

3 hours ago, #1SzigetFan said:

Billie Eilish announced an Asian tour between the 23rd of August and the 5th of September. I think that now there are less chances to see her at Sziget.

Who are we actually left with as a possibility of headlining?

Ignoring predictions of Selena Gomez, there seems to be a real lack of potential headliners around. Even RHCP are looking unlikely now.

I guess they're going to have to pay big bucks to bring a couple of big names back to Europe, be that Taylor Swift or The Killers or Tame Impala.

If Sziget is also waiting on a 'big' name announcing a tour (as is rumoured), who could that be?

 

 

[Karlos12345]

I‘m losing track on the RHCP rumors. There were strong rumors about Sziget and R/L and now they are unlikely again? Because of the tweet I posted one page before or are there other reasons?

[Newjem]

Well, there was a conference at Eurosonic a few days ago where Tamás Kádár (Sziget CEO) was one of the speakers. He said that August 2020 is really weak in terms of 'big' names and all major festivals in August are struggling to get solid headliners. The line-up is reportedly still not done, especially when it comes to bands at the top of the poster.

I think we'll have to wait a little longer for the announcement (February?) and I'm not really expecting 'amazing line-up'.

[#1SzigetFan]

37 minutes ago, Newjem said:

Well, there was a conference at Eurosonic a few days ago where Tamás Kádár (Sziget CEO) was one of the speakers. He said that August 2020 is really weak in terms of 'big' names and all major festivals in August are struggling to get solid headliners. The line-up is reportedly still not done, especially when it comes to bands at the top of the poster.

I think we'll have to wait a little longer for the announcement (February?) and I'm not really expecting 'amazing line-up'.

Yeah, I found that on Festileaks. It's pretty readable with Google Translate (they didn't post the article on their English page). In that case we might get a lineup as Reading & Leeds had in 2018 with Fall Out Boy, Kendrick Lamar, Kings of Leon, Travis Scott, Panic! at the Disco & Courteeners as their main acts... R&L announced most of the acts on the 13th of February back then.

Edited January 20, 2020 by #1SzigetFan

[swelsbyuk]

1 hour ago, #1SzigetFan said:

Yeah, I found that on Festileaks. It's

I'd really like to read the transcript of that interview but that doesn't appear to be the correct link.

If he's saying that they're struggling to fill the top spots that sounds like they are at least two or three headliners short of a full line-up.

Festivals nowadays live or die by their headliners but how do you solve such a problem? I assume you only have three options:

1. Give a good, smaller act the opportunity to headline their first festival (ala Dua Lipa in 2018) and use the money saved to strengthen the undercard
2. Book a headliner that you don't really want but has some recognisability factor (probably loads of options here but I'm thinking of Kings of Leon as prime culprit!)
3. Throw money at a couple of big, decent headliners and take a financial hit for having not sorted all of this out months ago!

Problem with options 1 and 2 is if you choose these it may affect ticket sales - and they are already affected because of the delay in announcing anything!

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by swelsbyuk

[#1SzigetFan]

28 minutes ago, swelsbyuk said:

I'd really like to read the transcript of that interview but that doesn't appear to be the correct link.

Yes, sorry!!! This is the correct link.  Sadly I can't edit my previous comment anymore. It's not exactly a transcript, but it's more like a summary of what they discussed there. The part we are most interested in is this one (translated with Google Translate):

Quote

 

Lesson 6: We have to wait a little longer for the Sziget 2020 line-up

If you look at the 2019 line-up , Sziget seems to have little trouble fishing in world class players. Sziget boss Tamás Kádár also confirms that, but also says directly: before 2020 it will not work out that way. The festival is still a long way off with the program, especially at the top of the poster. According to Tamás, they are not the only ones at Sziget: according to him, August 2020 is not a very fertile period for large touring acts. Again, increased competition is mentioned as an important cause. "We're competing with all the major festivals in Europe, not just our surroundings." And, as he himself says, that competition is almost killing every weekend in August. “If [an artist] has to pick a festival in that time period, they might pick Sziget. "

 

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by #1SzigetFan

[billybigballs]

10 minutes ago, #1SzigetFan said:

Yes, sorry!!! This is the correct link.  Sadly I can't edit my previous comment anymore. It's not exactly a transcript, but it's more like a summary of what they discussed there. The part we are most interested in is this one (translated with Google Translate):

 

The worrying thing about all this is it appears we are not waiting for a big act to announce a tour. Rather, Sziget is just struggling to book decent headliners. At least they are honest about it. I couldn't imagine Melvin Benn at Reading and Leeds being so candid about their inability to attract the big names.

I'd love to know who is on the shortlist though!

[Karlos12345]

So Sad Simon was fooling us?

[ReljaGajić]

Sziget was nominated for the best festival in the world 🥳

[#1SzigetFan]

What is interesting is that other festivals also announce the lineup kind of late... let's take Primavera Sound for example. The festival takes place between the 3rd and 7th of June, but they posted the whole names only few days ago.

Some American festivals also have a similar strategy... Coachella for example is in April, but we knew the lineup officialy only on the 3rd of January.

What I'm trying to say is that Sziget might struggle with the headliners, but might want to apply the above PR strategy too. At the previous edition, after the second announcement (the first being Ed Sheeran only), we already knew 6 out of 7 headliners + most acts. Let's see what happens.

[Dales]

2 hours ago, #1SzigetFan said:

Yes, sorry!!! This is the correct link.  Sadly I can't edit my previous comment anymore. It's not exactly a transcript, but it's more like a summary of what they discussed there. The part we are most interested in is this one (translated with Google Translate):

 

Thanks for sharing this, its very interesting.

[billybigballs]

1 hour ago, Karlos12345 said:

So Sad Simon was fooling us?

Or, to give him the benefit of the doubt, his friend was fooling him.

[billybigballs]

In light of that statement by Sziget staffer I wonder when we will get first announcement now then? 

If I was a betting man I would say we aren't going to hear anything for another month or so. 

If they haven't managed to book seven headliners in the five months since the 2019 festival finished then it's unlikely it's a problem that will be solved in the next few days!

[Bury420]

1 hour ago, #1SzigetFan said:

What I'm trying to say is that Sziget might struggle with the headliners, but might want to apply the above PR strategy too.

Don't think that's the case because they are in competition with the other August festivals and the Sziget crowd is not local so their 'customers' might travel somewhere else or in case of BeNeLux or English people just go to their own local August festivals.