Welcome to Sziget Festival – the Island of Freedom on Óbudai Island, a week long music and cultural festival in the middle of the Danube, right on the edge of the cool and cosmopolitan city of Budapest. The Budapest-based giant fest is in its 21st year and has something for every musical palette from Franz Ferdinand, Blur, Bat For Lashes and Dizzee Rascal to some top drawer dance acts like David Guetta, Sebastian Ingrosso, Nicky Romero, Nero, Gesaffelstein, Erol Alkan, Digweed and Feed Me - just to name a few. And so the epic week of partying began along with some cracking Hungarian gypsy folk dancing.
With barrels of beer and Pálinka (the local fruity moonshine), and restaurants equipped with the best accoutrements to the all-American hot dog stand, festival goers were certainly spoilt for choice.
Best of all (besides the satisfied festival belly) are the bevy of acts, a buzzing atmosphere and the mixture of nationalities to boot. During the day thousands of revellers would soak up the sounds and rays at the main stage followed by some serious R&R, lounging by the banks of the Danube sipping cocktails that not even my Pinterest board has seen.
As night falls, the party crowds flit between the banging party arena and A38 tent, the surreal Cirque du Sziget performances, shisha pipe sessions, insightful chats with a Protestant Pastor, partaking in a Jäger-train and watching scantily clad women flinging themselves off bungee-jumping platforms.
Sziget Festival definitely has the weirdness / quirky factor and way too many activities to digest. So with the riches of a loaded memory bank of festival snaps, let us share with you the live acts, party crowds, the finest festival frocks, random acts of WTF and tanned booty to fuel your summer Euro festival envy...
Photographs by: Jordi Girones & Carine Buncsi [delinquentvalley.com]