Starting from Thursday, music lovers from all over the world will assemble at this year’s Sziget Festival. Among the stars of the 30th-anniversary cultural event are Imagine Dragons, David Guetta, and Billie Eilish.
The Sziget Festival will last six days, until 15 August, on the Óbuda Island in Budapest. Performers from sixty-two countries will arrive at approximately forty venues, and the audience will come from over a hundred countries.
This year’s festival will feature global stars like Billie Eilish, who will be performing in front of a Hungarian audience for the first time. Additionally, Florence + The Machine, Imagine Dragons, David Guetta, Mumford & Sons, Lorde, and Macklemore will be there. Sam Fender, Foals, Yungblud, Arlo Parks, and Caroline Polachek will also be performing on the main stage. At the second-largest music venue, the FreeDome tent, capable of accommodating more than ten thousand people, artists like Bonobo, Youngr, Moderat, SG Lewis, and the Viagra Boys will give concerts. In the Party Arena, various party brands will present themselves, while the Colosseum, dedicated to underground electronic music, will feature performances by Jeff Mills, Sven Väth, and Dixon.
‘The Sziget Festival is bringing many innovations. The goal is to regain the leading position in the European festival market after the pandemic,’ said Kádár Tamás, the main organiser of the event. This year, several venues received new designs. The popular and unique Art of Freedom has returned, the K-Bridge leading to the Sziget has been adorned, and sixty kilometres of fairy lights, eight thousand decorative bulbs, and forty giant lamps enhance the visual experience of the nighttime festival. This year, the European Stage, which hosts emerging talents, and the Global Village, a world music venue, switched places. Hip-hop and rap artists will perform at the dropYard, retro music will be heard at the Sztereo Stage, the Music Box will feature singer-songwriters, and the Magic Mirror will offer roundtable discussions and stand-up comedy alongside films and music.
For lovers of modern circus, the one-thousand-seat Cirque du Sziget tent will host world-renowned stars.
There will also be street theatres, as well as a theatre and dance area.
As of late Wednesday evening in the third district, measurements conducted so far indicated that the noise level of the Sziget Festival is in compliance with regulations and falls within the permissible limits. Tamás Kádár reported that measurements were carried out in two locations in Óbuda, at Fő Square and Búza Street, in the Kaszásdűlő housing estate, which, he mentioned, based on many years of experience, is the most exposed to the noise from the Sziget Festival. ‘The measurements are conducted by individually activating the festival stages, then activating them all at once, while continuously measuring whether we exceed the limit at any point. Weather factors such as wind direction or rain influence the spread of sound,’ he added.
According to the relevant regulations, the permissible noise level is 65 decibels until 11 p.m., and then it’s reduced to 55 decibels. During the measurements conducted in Óbuda, Mayor László Kiss, as well as the head of the local municipality’s law administrative authority department, were present. In the thirteenth district, a representative of the department of environmental affairs also attended the measurement.
‘The technology of sound reinforcement evolves every year, making it easier for the festival to adhere to the limits. The so-called cardioid subwoofers enable multi-point sound reinforcement, allowing the sound to be directed. This way, the noise level can be concentrated around the stage area,’ he said.
Related articles:
