Sziget Israel Next Year, Lower Profits in 2017 Sziget 2017 sziget festival Sziget News July 26, 201793 When the ownership of the Sziget Festival has changed earlier this year, many spoke of the brand’s potential international expansion. Today, the Hungarian press has revealed that the first steps in this direction have already been taken: according to Hungarian online newspaper Népszava citing Sziget KFT manager Kádár Tamás, discussions are already under way about a similar festival to be organized in Israel, maybe as early as next year. The event might take place in a location close to Tel Aviv, at a distance from the capital similar to that of the Óbudai Island is from Budapest. The “Sziget” brand will be included in the name of the event in one form or another. Due to lack of time, the event won’t be happening this year – but the discussions about next year’s event are being held as we speak. The company’s local partner will be Zappa Group, one of Israel’s largest event organizing companies. Over the years of its activity, the company has brought performers like Bobby McFerrin, The Prodigy, The Pet Shop Boys or David Guetta in the country. The company was also involved in the Israeli version of the famous Tomorrowland. At the same time, Kádár has revealed that the profits of this year’s anniversary Sziget Festival will probably be lower than last year’s event’s, even though the prices of the tickets have grown, and so has the price of beer (700 HUF instead of 650 for a Dreher). He has revealed that the most expensive performance of this year will be Pink’s, but he didn’t reveal the amount paid. Last year’s Sziget Festival has broken its own record when it comes to attendance. For this year, Kádár didn’t want to guess a total but he admitted that the number of tickets and passes sold falls behind that of last year. Share on Facebook Share Share on TwitterTweet Share on Pinterest Share Share on LinkedIn Share Share on Digg Share
Kádár has revealed that the profits of this year’s anniversary Sziget Festival will probably be lower than last year’s event’s, even though the prices of the tickets have grown, and so has the price of beer (700 HUF instead of 650 for a Dreher). He has revealed that the most expensive performance of this year will be Pink’s, but he didn’t reveal the amount paid > If you raise the prices, the demand will fall. If you lower the quality, the demand will emigre to substitute offers. It’s basic of microeconomics, even a child could tell. > Most expensive performance. Pink. 5th headliner. I really do hope that all of this shame was because of Gerendai Karoly drunk agenda and the new mgmt knew nothing about this shit. Also, about Sziget Istraeli. Have no clue about the demand down there, but in the first place I would argue that to expand the festival is just making the single fests weaker.
Really hope they will feel this profit loss. And maybe next year they hire a booking team who has music knoweledge, and not just data scanners on youtube and facebook…
Since ID&T only focus on Tomorrowland Belgium (the American partner went bankrupt, so no Brasil or US version in 2017), the quality of the festival grew with miles this year. The other way around, this could mean the quality of Sziget will go down even more, because they have a new festival which will need a lot of attention. For Tomorrowland it was not a problem, they are by far the best EDM festival in the world. But could Sziget survive another step back?
@Patrick Bateman. P!nk is the biggest they could get. All Headliners are in Japan/US or don’t want to play on a Festival. Lowlands in the Netherlands (18th ,19th and 20th August) has the same problem. But I still think it’s going to be a great week!!
@Steven: Lowlands have some names like Mumford and Sons, The xx, Iggy Pop or Moderat. Sziget has a Mumford and Sons tribute band on the Tribute Stage…
That’s not true… Mumford e Sons,XX, Editors, Iggy Pop Moderat… Lowlands lineup is better , Sziget Main Stage organizers are musically ignorant….
Pink is far from the problem. She is headlining a major festival in the UK too, it’s not a weak booking. She has a career spanning nearly 20 years and has been one of the biggest pop stars in the world for much of that, showing no signs of dwindling popularity. The problem is the rest of the headline line up. You could have booked MANY great headlining bands and still have Pink as the most expensive. But there’s such a chasm between her star power and that of Wiz Khalifa, the Chainsmokers and Macklemore (who I enjoy but in reality had only one big era and hasn’t lived up to it in their second). We should be GRATEFUL for Pink, it’ll be one of the best ‘big’ shows of the week. It’s the consistency of the headliners that is poor, and is the reason the tickets aren’t selling. pretty bad to up the cost on more than one front and still predict less profit. Hopefully it’ll make them buck up their ideas for next year as many of my friends want to go, due to no Glastonbury. For what it’s worth, I’m very excited and petty much guarantee I’ll have an amazing week, due to the undercard etc. But I am not surprised based on the headliners they’re not selling out.
Agreed with you Navytaxi, but you can’t simply compare P!nk to Rihanna, nor Muse, nor even Robbie Williams or KoL. You simply can’t. Even tho, she’s a good one and I agree with you on that (only true headliner along Kasabian and, sadly, Major Lazer).
One more chance for Sziget to bring something better… or maybe not. The news doesn’t affect me as I don’t like any of the two acts.
Oh my. I expect one Hungarian and one international band to replace them. No high hopes for a real improvement anymore 😉
At least its an opportunity to improve the line up. They probably wont be able to but still. The post of sziget shows they are really pissed of. What they should be… I wasnt looking forward to both of these acts
they shouldn’t booked this sh*tshow of artists like these 2 in the firstplace… this is what you get from popcrap
Lol seems like all the pop crap is declining sziget, that’s truly funny because in another dimension that would meant better names and a chance to improve this unruly mess they did, I’m curious to see what they gonna do now
Ok just help them out a bit: – Royal blood – Kaiser chiefs – Paramore – franz Ferdinand – QOTSA – Madness – Editors – war on drugs – Placebo
Good news. Rita Ora is awful to me and Clean Bandit as the sub headlining act were pretty ridiculous. I think they’ll move Crystal Fighters on the main stage, that can be very good as Crystal Fighters always deliver a great show. I don’t expect any major name as substitute.
Franz then placebo would be great:) Or royal blood then qotsa combo Can’t lose with these cancellations. Didn’t rate either of them so it can’t be any worse, quite a high chance of a surprise I think.
Quote Bender – as usual – I can see likely Crystal Fighters + Tancksapda on MS and an Hungarian Band in A38. They haven’t been able to release a good line up in months, why should they be able to do that in 15 days? Even if I like to believe that the new owners fired the two performers to try to find something better (lol sho happening)
I was just searching on this website and saw that there were other last minute replacements in the past as well: 2010: deadmau5 was replaced by on August 5, 2010 & Breakestra were replaced by Die Antwoord late July 2011: Amy Winehouse was replaced by 30 Seconds to Mars in July & Prince was announced on July 22 2013: Azealia Banks was replaced by Les Tambours du Bronx (late July) 2014: London Grammar replaced by Clean Bandit in August Let’s see what happens…
Prince was a surprise event they knew from long time, tho, and Die Antwoord in 2010 weren’t a thing. All in all every switch was disappointing, even tho at least it ain’t an hungarian band. On the other hand, this year they have really few hungarians on the major stages, so… Well, we gonna wait and see
As they said the negotiations are already on the way I suppose they are trying to get one mid-size act from one of their other Festivals (Volt or Balaton). I think they’ll get just one main act and then they’ll move somebody from a38, and gonna replace that A38 spot with some hungarian. Ellie Goulding Fatboy Slim Pendulum Years and Years Enter Shikari Knife Party Sigala The Bloody Beetroots Kygo Played the other two festivals and are in Europe and free on that Saturday
So strange… two artists , same day,same stage,same cancellation… same agency? Why they don’t respect a contract?
@FAB +1 to you: CODA Agency for both Rita Ora and Clean Bandit, and I tell you more, also for Anne-Marie. Let this be the sign that Sziget MGMT will cut the relationship with this sh^t Tier agency
….and yes…it is strange…as if the artists dont want to play ond an empty stage… …perhaps its because of the money? I dont think…that anybody will tell us the truth..
I’ll take a wild guess and suppose that the agency had an agreement with Sziget over the percentage of tickets sold
Rudimental, Lion Babe, Tom Odell, The Vaccines, Flume… also under Coda Agency… The list here : https://www.codaagency.com/roster/artist
Some agencies share acts, so maybe some of the acts that didn’t cancel, but are on CODA’s list, came to Sziget via other agencies.
They didn’t sell so many passes, and apparently day tickets are going even worse… so Rita Ora at 17:30 would sing on an empty main stage for sure. Can’t understand Clean Bandit; they are nothing special, I don’t think they get big slots usually. It would have been dope for them, main stage at 19:30 is usually packed even during the more quiet days 🙂
I checked frequency the only worthy replacement Would be band of horses and at the drive-in. Didnt need to check their touring schedule as we all know sziget doesnt aim for quality. Enter shikari already playing 2 hungarian fests during the summer so would be pointless.
@Miguel, in England they are a big thing, tho, not subs but still a main event. I don’t think you gonna find anybody at FM4 who’s willing to start the tour before scheduled just because of Sziget. This gonna be a though time for the organization. Can we scream out loud that this one was the worse edition in 25 years or there are even worse record somebody remembers?
Headliners-wise and organization/comunication-wise for sure the worst of modern sziget. But I have to admit that I’m pretty pumped for that week, partly because of this low expectations
Will just kill my mood when they announce something awful. I still feel sorry for them tho, getting someone to play 1 week prior is a headache. Not expecting anything as I have given up my hope. Still excited as I can put time into partying and drinking at the festival instead of running around stages making sure i see everything. Whatever.
From the Hungarian press, it seems that Clean Bandit & Rita Ora cancelled because they wanted to do something else in that period (they’ll play somewhere else, maybe?!), despite that they had a contract with Sziget. A problem for Sziget is that they’ll receive the money back, but the acts don’t have to pay any claims.
Prodigy still can save the day! 🙂 Well I dont think anyone will miss R.O. a bit . Moving some one up from a small stage is an option for replacement.
Jamiroquai has a gig on 12th at Boardmasters Festival. Alt-J and TDCC are also there on friday an sunday… When they can switsch the headliner-dates…they can get Jamiroquai….and I would be happy 🙂
Index thinks: -Editors -Cypress Hill -Enter Shikari -The Bloody Beetroots -Parov Stelar http://index.hu/kultur/zene/2017/08/01/sziget_2017_fellepok_rita_ora_clean_bandit_nagyszinpad/ I hope they will manage to book something.
Move Crystal Fighters as 2nd Slot, Cypress Hill as subs and The Bloody Beetroots as A38 headliner is the best case scenario.
Mackelmore also cancelled? http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2017/08/macklemore-survives-car-crash-drunk-driver/
so they book an a popcrap artist who is not on tour within less than two weeks of the fest, but cannot make a quality programm for the 25th anniversary in advance… sziget logic…
Well right now they have to assure that the goers (pop fans) won’t be djsappointed. It makes sense tho
@fab: that article says he had an accident last week. The posts on his pages during this last days don’t mention any problem or cancellation. I can’t see why he should cancel. It would be a disaster for Sziget on that day ahah
Did not care for Rita Ora and I do not care for Iggy, but this is a decent replace, basically same size same genre acts. We did not get a random Hungarian band, so good job Sziget I guess. Now all I can do is wish that Clean Bandit will get replaced with something we in this forum appreciate.. 🙂
I searched for Iggy Azalea on spotify, and Rita Ora was suggested in the “similar artists” section . Maybe the sziget booking staff really uses social networks and trends to assemble the lineup ahaha. If it is so I predict something like Gorgon City, Lost Frequencies, Sigala, Sigma, etc
I too am quite impressed, not that I particularly like Iggy. But I assumed at this late stage we would get a small Hungarian act. To replace Rita with someone of a similar stature (she might have faded but she was VERY popular not long back) is quite good. Especially if they are planning a bigger act as Clean Bandit replacement!
Honoustly my first reaction was bad. For replacement of Rita it doesnt matter since i was not interested in rita anyway. Iggy is not a too bad replacement. They have put her on the second spot what shows they are almost done with the negotiations for de sub of the day. I think they know even now they cant do the trick like TDCC again.
Just saw that QOTSA canceled their 10 August gig in the US… they have no other concerts until 6 September… Damn, if I would be Sziget’s booking manager, I would pay huge money to bring them at Sziget next week for a one-off show, even if they don’t have a tour in Europe. It would be brilliant, but I’m gonna stop dreaming. The last time when they did something similar was in 2015, when they announced Kings of Leon, but that was way earlier & it was a way different situation…
Is this the first time the festival starts without a name on mainstage? I can remember some last-minute cancellation (Chris Cornell,Carl Cox,Mika…) but nothing like this…
It happened exactly what I said 3 days ago: they just took a look at the “similar artists” section on Spotify, lol
@Fsfsf Peanut butter jelly. Even you are going to sing along when you’re drunk. If you’re going to Sziget…
Lineup is not terrible. It represents quite a few genres of music well. To mention. A few quality acts, pj Harvey, alt j, metronomy, white lies, Interpol, courteeners,
Stop that, lineup is terrible, you can’t say that they did a sufficient job because there are 5 names in the lineup when 60% of it is a wrong pick, subsitute a better name or belong to the same equal genre or even worse don’t belong to the spot it’s assigned to (Galantis in a normal festival would be a random name in the Party Arena division, because that’s where they belong). I’m kinda happy I’m gonna avoid this year, because I’m really running out of money, but I’m destroyed by the fact that this or something similar to this could be the Sziget Standard to years to come.
Liking this years lineup is like paying a fortune for a guy taking a shit on your face and then being glad that it’s at least not liquid
I know a few people who would pay for that fetish game. Joking aside, headliners are shite and lineup is weak but every time I buy ticket without knowing the lineup so I take every good act as an extra. Anyway I’ve got a good number of undercard and other interesting acts I’m excited about, as Festival for me is the occasion to see the artists which I’d never pay and travel for a full show (nothing but thieves, bad religion, bears den, oh wonder, crystal fighters, flume, alma, tycho, motorpsycho, birdy, pink, George Ezra, fritz kalkbrenner, matador, hvob, robe, Paul van dyk, etc…) so I’m kinda pumped. I’m sorry to see that a lot or “regulars” are not coming beacause of the bad lineup, but for the others… see u there motherf*ckers
My acts list, by day: Day -1: Bazzokas, Dubioza Kolektiv, Billy Talent, P!nk, Pierce Brothers Day 0: Romano Nervoso, Jamie Cullum, Biffy Clyro, Wiz Khalifa (some minutes), The Vaccines, Alex Clare Day 1: Mando Diao, Rudimental, PJ Harvey, Danny Brown (maybe), Kasabian, Lovely Quinces, NERVO (maybe) Day 2: Pinguini Tattici Nucleari, Gli Sportivi, LION BABE, The Strypes, The Courteneers, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (some minutes), Bad Religion, Crystal Fighters, GusGus Day 3: Moseek, Metronomy, White Lies, Hurts, Allah-Las, Chico Trujillo, The Pretty Reckless, The Naked and Famous, Tycho Day 4: Kytes, George Ezra, LÉON, Glass Animals, Jagwar Ma, Two Door Cinema Club, Mac DeMarco, Vince Staples, Flume Day 5: The Kills, Alex Vargas, Birdy, Nothing But Thieves, alt-J, De Staat, Leningrad, Breaking Benjamin, Interpol So, I actually have some interesting acts to see at Sziget, despite that it’s a very poor line-up…
Compared with higher ticker prices, higher prices for booze and less real headliners its not good. I will make my last Sziget worth it. Or i’ll die trying 😉 See you there. Is there a meeting point of this forum at sziget?
my timetable during sziget: 08.08. No Trigger @Triebwerk, Wiener Neustadt 08.11. The Dillinger Escape Plan/The Number Twelve Looks Like You @A38, Budapest 08.16 Less Than Jake @A38, Budapest pretty good srt of shows coming for less a day ticket combined. Long live club shows over festivals.
If I had time and money I would probably have comed this year aswell but all in all I would feel kinda disappointed by the final outcome, so the thrill would be half the one it usually is. Still sad to see all my friends posting happy pictures on social networks, knowing I won’t be there, but I actually hope that the next year gonna bring more cash and time (ofc) and a wiser head for the festival, because it really needs it.
@yelo…thats a tragedy….that you wont come to sziget…but I can understand you of course…. Perhaps next year Sziget/Home/InMusic Festival??? I try to do my very best to have fun the next 7 days and nights….and I think I will have…..cu in the forum next time…good luck
This is an year of transation so I can’t tell what the next year will be, perhaps my festival’s age is over (would be kind of silly, cause I’m pretty young for the festival standards lol), but sure Sziget has a special spot in my memories and I’d be very sad if it ends up with this year being the benchmark… Of course I wish to anybody here a good festival, we spent almost an year talking only about Sziget so I can see the edition as a completition of a project or some s*it like that 🙂
