Sziget Festival 2024

[gunghoglen]

Gotta say, compared to last year, when they announced Billie and Imagine, this really does underwhelm. I know their main goal is to sell full-festival packages and not day tickets, so fair enough. But this lineup will not put anyone in a rush to buy more passes IMO. In fact, I might wait and see what other festivals in the region put up. Sziget is a great fest, been many times and worth it if there is anyone there interesting, but aside from Fred Again, not really much here. My bet is the second wave will have the bigger names we are all hoping for.

[Aokdub]

I thought maybe this lineup is just a more current lineup and that my music taste just differs from those in the announcement. I would've thought Spotify was a good metric to go off considering its how most people today listen to music (considering all of these acts are current with none being older and remembered for their previous work).

 

Sam Smith - 59.1m monthly (27th in the world)

Fred Again - 14.3m monthly (not listed)

Stormzy - 10m (not listed)

Martin Garrix - 21.6m (282nd in the world)

 

Of those 4 acts, only 2 are in the top 300 on Spotify. And of those 2, one is Sam Smith, who although his monthly listeners command a headline slot, is the least popular headliner here. I know Fred is good but is he a strong enough headliner for Sziget to compensate the others?

 

Compare that to last year:

Billie Eilish - 64.2m (18th in the world)

Imagine Dragons - 57.4m (29th in the world)

Florence & The Machine - 18.6m (not listed, prime wasn't really in the Spotify era though)

Mumford & Sons - 10.6m (not listed, poor booking tbf, before Spotify era also)

Macklemore - 31.9m (121st in the world)

David Guetta - 68.2m (13th in the world)

 

Even of those from last year not listed in the Spotify listener rankings (Florence and M&S), they've at least got some big songs that everybody knows.

 

I know it's only the first wave and Spotify listeners aren't everything, but it's the poorest I've seen in a while.

[lukatej]

Im just afraid that the next big name is Lana which is very underwhelming. The times where focus was on seven days tickets is gone. Anyway I am looking forward to the festival no matter which bands will be announced, lets hope on good undercards and for Strokes+Catfish at least.

[#1SzigetFan]

I really hope they didn't spend too much money on these "headliners". If they would have Taylor Swift + Paramore, then I'd understand why the rest of them look so bad. But they don't have them, so it's just very bad booking.

Edited December 12, 2023 by #1SzigetFan

[Newjem]

Louis Tomlinson is subbing Martin Garrix on Saturday (10/8).

[billybigballs]

1 hour ago, Newjem said:

Louis Tomlinson is subbing Martin Garrix on Saturday (10/8).

Makes sense, all of the kid's parents won't have work the next day so can take them along.

[ReljaGajić]

14 minutes ago, billybigballs said:

Makes sense, all of the kid's parents won't have work the next day so can take them along.

LMAO, good one 🤣

[SweetJesus]

Can’t wait for thursday to see how bad Frequency’s announcement will be 😀

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by SweetJesus

[cringemaster69]

Okay they need to add Skrillex to the mix and I will consider going

[#1SzigetFan]

Hardwick Festival 

Edited December 12, 2023 by #1SzigetFan

[Matt86]

🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮

I understand why @Sziget2024_Leaks is afraid to come back here to read us. He/She is aware of the weakness of this announcement. Instagram comments are violents lol...

Truth is, BANDS are more expensive to book than SOLO artists, whether you like it or not. And since the Americans took control of Sziget, their line-up budget IS smaller year after year, that's a fact.

The example of Lana Del Rey is a proof : every festival who wanted her, HAVE her. Not Sziget. Same for Maneskin. Why that ? Because they have to "negociate" ... it's only a matter of money guys, which Sziget is not willing to give anymore.

And that PISSES ME OFF. Sziget use to be a great, even maybe the greatest festival in Europe. David Bowie, Prince back in the days... or even Rihanna, P!nk, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, they were all the bests of their categorys ! and Undercards were great !

Now it's only new names/solo names, which are cheaper than confirmed names/bands.

[Matt86]

P.S : no wonder why they don't talk about the fact that it is their 30th anniversary.. even THEM know that their line up suck.

[billybigballs]

25 minutes ago, Matt86 said:

🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮

I understand why @Sziget2024_Leaks is afraid to come back here to read us. He/She is aware of the weakness of this announcement. Instagram comments are violents lol...

Truth is, BANDS are more expensive to book than SOLO artists, whether you like it or not. And since the Americans took control of Sziget, their line-up budget IS smaller year after year, that's a fact.

The example of Lana Del Rey is a proof : every festival who wanted her, HAVE her. Not Sziget. Same for Maneskin. Why that ? Because they have to "negociate" ... it's only a matter of money guys, which Sziget is not willing to give anymore.

And that PISSES ME OFF. Sziget use to be a great, even maybe the greatest festival in Europe. David Bowie, Prince back in the days... or even Rihanna, P!nk, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, they were all the bests of their categorys ! and Undercards were great !

Now it's only new names/solo names, which are cheaper than confirmed names/bands.

This will be our 4th visit to Sziget since 2019. We come from the UK as a family of 4. We stay in the city. This year, our flights, accommodation and festival tickets have cost us around £2000.

This is not a £2000 line-up.

Regarding who it appeals to, we had four different groups of people waiting on the line-up before deciding to come with us. Their details and responses are:

Couple, aged 48 and 32 - No

Family, aged between 42 and 9 - No

Three of my daughter's friends all aged 19 - No

Couple aged 33 and 29 - No

I really feel they need to get another announcement out as soon as possible because people are going to start choosing other festivals pretty damn quick.

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by billybigballs

[thetime]

With the relatively week werchter and mad cool lineups, the sziget headliners were always going to be weak. 

[#1SzigetFan]

28 minutes ago, Matt86 said:

The example of Lana Del Rey is a proof : every festival who wanted her, HAVE her. Not Sziget. Same for Maneskin. Why that ? Because they have to "negociate" ... it's only a matter of money guys, which Sziget is not willing to give anymore.

And that PISSES ME OFF. Sziget use to be a great, even maybe the greatest festival in Europe. David Bowie, Prince back in the days... or even Rihanna, P!nk, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, they were all the bests of their categorys ! and Undercards were great !

To be honest I wouldn't be so excited having Lana del Rey on the lineup and I guess that's because it still feels like her concert at Sziget was only 2 years ago. That's one of the pandemic effects on myself haha.

Rihanna isn't a great example btw, her show was one of the worsts I have ever seen at Sziget (and I go since 2015). She didn't come with a band and at least 90% of her concert was lip-syncing. I guess a real Rihanna live show was too expensive back then, so she was an example of another very bad booking but I can understand the logic behind it: both parties ignored the quality and both were milking the cash cow.

Edited December 12, 2023 by #1SzigetFan

[Matt86]

5 minutes ago, billybigballs said:

This will be our 4th visit to Sziget since 2019. We come from the UK as a family of 4. We stay in the city. This year, our flights, accommodation and festival tickets have cost us around £2000.

This is not a £2000 line-up.

Regarding who it appeals to, we had four different groups of people waiting on the line-up before deciding to come with us. Their details and responses are:

Couple, aged 48 and 32 - No

Family, aged between 42 and 9 - No

Three of my daughter's friends all aged 19 - No

Couple aged 33 and 29 - No

I really feel they need to get another announcement out as soon as possible because people are going to start choosing other festivals pretty damn quick.

 

Damn, I really feel sorry for you... We all expected way more from Sziget, the disappointment is huge... 😞

5 minutes ago, thetime said:

With the relatively week werchter and mad cool lineups, the sziget headliners were always going to be weak. 

to be honest, it's the undercard that disappoint and annoys me the most. Garrix and Fred Again.., even if we don't like them, they are headline material (but Stormzy is clearly not, I agree).

11 minutes ago, #1SzigetFan said:

To be honest I wouldn't be so excited having Lana del Rey on the lineup and I guess that's because it still feels like her concert at Sziget was only 2 years ago. That's one of the pandemic effects on myself haha.

Rihanna isn't a great example btw, her show was one of the worsts I have ever seen at Sziget (and I go since 2015). She didn't come with a band and at least 90% of her concert was lip-syncing. I guess a real Rihanna live show was too expensive back then, so she was an example of another very bad booking but I can understand the logic behind it: both parties ignored the quality and both were milking the cash cow.

oh trust me lol, I agree with you, I'd hate to see Lana Del Rey again 😅 About Rihanna I can't tell, wasn't there, but at least they TRIED to book a huge, popular (and expensive !) act.

[sandorbeni]

Tbh looking back at it the 20th and 25th anniversary lineups were not much bigger than those of the years before or after them. So it's always just been a marketing tool.

[billybigballs]

14 minutes ago, Matt86 said:

Damn, I really feel sorry for you... We all expected way more from Sziget, the disappointment is huge... 😞

to be honest, it's the undercard that disappoint and annoys me the most. Garrix and Fred Again.., even if we don't like them, they are headline material (but Stormzy is clearly not, I agree).

oh trust me lol, I agree with you, I'd hate to see Lana Del Rey again 😅 About Rihanna I can't tell, wasn't there, but at least they TRIED to book a huge, popular (and expensive !) act.

I'm with you on the undercard. I really don't want to be disrespectful but it's like the bookers realised on 1 December they needed to have some acts ready for the announcement and just booked anyone! 

Edited December 12, 2023 by billybigballs

[SkaPanda]

Looks like I'm the only one who is happy with this announcement. For me Fred Again.., Four Tet, Big Thief, Fontaines D.C., L'Imperatrice, Overmono, Nia Archives, Yard Act, Warhaus, Nova Twins, Wednesday and Blondshell are all very good acts, but I understand if someone wants bigger names especially on the 30th anniversary. I highly recommend Wednesday if you like indie rock, Rat Saw God is one of the best albums this year IMO.

[davidoffescassi]

1 hour ago, SkaPanda said:

Looks like I'm the only one who is happy with this announcement. For me Fred Again.., Four Tet, Big Thief, Fontaines D.C., L'Imperatrice, Overmono, Nia Archives, Yard Act, Warhaus, Nova Twins, Wednesday and Blondshell are all very good acts, but I understand if someone wants bigger names especially on the 30th anniversary. I highly recommend Wednesday if you like indie rock, Rat Saw God is one of the best albums this year IMO.

I'm totally with you. I like all the acts you said, + Aurora, Blondshell, Dagny, Grandson, Meute and Artbat. I'd say I want to see almost the full line up except Sam, Stormzy, Becky Hill, and Tomlinson and a few names I don't know (yet). I was expecting a worse line-up due Leaks bets. 

[thetime]

2 hours ago, sandorbeni said:

Tbh looking back at it the 20th and 25th anniversary lineups were not much bigger than those of the years before or after them. So it's always just been a marketing tool.

It's the same at every festival. 

[pxtrik]

2 hours ago, Matt86 said:

Fred Again.., even if we don't like them, they are headline material

I’ll have to disagree on this one, a headliner should be someone who can not only put on a great show but also is mainstream and has numbers. Someone like Billie, Imagine Dragons, Macklemore, David Guetta, Arctic Monkeys, Dua Lipa, Calvin Harris, Justin Bieber, etc. from the past two years alone are all people who I can bet if i come to anyone no matter their age will know them and recognize at least a couple of their songs which can’t be said about Fred again… and that’s obviously even more true about Stormzy who shouldn’t be headlining anything outside of the UK lol 

Edited December 13, 2023 by pxtrik

[SweetJesus]

8 hours ago, Matt86 said:

🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮

I understand why @Sziget2024_Leaks is afraid to come back here to read us. He/She is aware of the weakness of this announcement. Instagram comments are violents lol…

Don’t think he is afraid of comments on forum. He confirmed on monday that lineup is definitively worse than last year.

[IBCanon]

Line-up getting worst and worst...

[ketomika22]

guys, you have to be somewhat realistic, there arent any huge names around, Sziget cannot do anything with that.

i agree, Stormzy is weak, Maneskin and Lana should have been booked for sure. QOTSA aswell, but its understandable they chose to stay in Scandinavia and have three gigs instead of coming to f**king Eastern Europe and do one.

on the other hand, undercards are good, could be better, but its good. i really miss The Smile tho 😞

 

Covid really f**ked Sziget, 2018-2019 were so amazing years, the festival really hit it to be a top5 european festival, the 2020 lineup could also have been legendary, and then sh*t hit the fan.

 

Sziget will probably need a few years to recover, i hope both the investors and the management is on the same board. this year (2023) the organisation was great, they really did what they could to put on an amazing festival. the lack of money still lingers, the lineup was obviously not on a 2018/19/20 level.

ofc they should do better for 2024, probably in the sub-headliner department, but realistically, they wont be able to book a HUGE headliner.