Every August, the
Sziget Festival turns the party and transforms Budapest into the ultimate music destination. What started out as a relatively low-profile student event became one of the largest music festivals in Europe. Possible even in the entire world! Rivaling the likes of Tomorrowland and Ultra Europe, the Sziget Festival is a must-see for music fans in this part of the world. Not only does it invite countless big artists to perform on its main stage, but it's also a great place to discover new and emerging acts on the scene.
Humble Beginnings
Considering how big it is, it's easy to think that Sziget Festival started out as a popular event. But its origins are far from it! The festival actually started out as a low-profile student-led concert called 'Diáksziget' (which means 'Student Island') in 1993. Around that time, the Communist Era had just fallen and government funding for these types of large-scale events was pretty scarce. To help bring back the enthusiasm in
Budapest's festival scene, a group of college-aged rock fans and music enthusiasts organized the first edition of the Sziget Festival. It garnered lots of attention and, in 1994, its second edition features some of the original acts from the iconic Woodstock music festival of 1969.
Biggest Rock Festival in Europe
From 1994 onwards, Hungary's Sziget Festival became one of the largest music festivals in Europe. Not to mention one of the biggest rock festivals in the world too. Its early editions were notably dominated by rock bands and other artists in the same genre. The likes of Iggy Pop, The Sex Pistols, Iron Maiden, Thirty Second to Mars, and more have all performed on the festival's main stage. This primary focus on rock music helped the festival stand out against other events of its kind, which were usually focused on the most popular artists at the time or EDM (like
Tomorrowland in Belgium).
Source: Wikimedia Commons/ Gergely Csatari
Featured The World's Best Artists
Eventually, however, Sziget Festival invited artists from other genres to also perform on its main stage. While the event still mostly focused on rock music, giving the spotlight to grunge and punk bands, other acts such as pop singers, girl/boy groups, rappers, and DJs started getting featured here as well. Eventually, the Sziget Festival lineups became just as star-studded as those in
Coachella and Glastonbury. Over its decades-long run, the event has featured the likes of David Bowie, Prince, The Foo Fighters, Alanis Morisette, Ed Sheeran, Lily Allen, Major Lazer, David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Dua Lipa, and more.
Largest Annual International Event in Budapest
It's also worth noting that the Sziget Festival is among the very few international events held in Budapest year after year. Though it's a capital city, Budapest doesn't exactly host as many global events as other European capitals like
Paris,
Rome,
London, and more. Additionally, as mentioned previously, while the event may have had its humble origins, it eventually grew to be one of the latest music festivals in Europe. It was only in 1997, four years after its original edition, that the audience at the Sziget Festival surpassed the 250,000 mark. And in 2019, it broke its own record by having drawn an estimated 565,000 visitors.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Art and Music Collide
To say that the Sziget Festival has changed over the years really is an understatement. What started out as a student-led rock concert eventually became one of the world's biggest music festivals that actually goes beyond music. Though its star-studded lineup is always the main draw, the festival has become known for its other features too. Not the least of which is the fascinating art installations they always set up year after year. With all the global attention that the Sziget Festival receives every year, local artists have used it as the perfect platform to showcase their latest works. They're often some of the main highlights of the festival too.
Cruisin' Boat Parties
Another unique thing about the Sziget Festival is that it's one of the very few events of its kind that also hosts boat parties. Since the event is held at Óbudai-sziget ('Old Buda Island'), located in the middle of the Danube River, it makes sense that the organizers eventually included the famous river as one of its many attractions. The Sziget Festival cruise parties started in the mid-2010s and proved to be so popular, they became mainstays of the music festival. Here, some of the world's best DJs play their sets as the festival-goers cruise through the Danube River.
An Environment-Friendly Event
Fairly recently, the Sziget Festival went green as well. Since global warming and other environmental problems became the biggest social and political issues of this generation, the event recognized its own contribution to these problems. So as an answer, they started Green Sziget, their new initiative that centers on environmental consciousness and sustainable development. One of their main projects is setting up the Sziget Forest, a tree-planting movement where they transform an open valley northeast of Budapest into a lush forest. It's among the biggest environmental undertakings that a music festival has started in recent years.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Discover what the Sziget Festival, one of the largest music festivals in Europe, is all about. It's among the most exciting events of its kind and definitely one of the biggest international festivals in Budapest.
