Announcement: PJ Harvey, alt-J, Rudimental, Steve Aoki @ Sziget 2017 2017 lineup Sziget 2017 sziget festival Sziget News February 22, 2017February 22, 201778 After almost a week of hype surrounding the newly announced names for Sziget 2017 (and a few leaks here and there), here is the official list of artists and performers who will join those already announced on the various stages of the festival’s 25th-anniversary edition. As it was hinted, PJ Harvey is one of the names announed. The list: PJ Harvey alt-J Rudimental live George Ezra The Naked And Famous Steve Aoki White Lies Mando Diao NERVO Anne-Marie ANDY C Watsky The Strypes Nothing But Thieves LÉON Bear’s Den Dubioza kolektiv Chef’Special De Staat Valentino Khan Rone Weval live PJ Harvey is a UK-based singer, songwriter, musician, writer, poet, and composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. She began her career in 1988 and has gone solo in the mid-1990s. During her career, she gathered two Mercury Awards for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000 and Let England Shake (2011), along with eight BRIT Awards nominations, seven Grammy nominations, and two albums on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. alt-J needs no introduction. The band’s Sziget 2017 gig was leaked yesterday. Rudimental was added to the lineup of Sziget 2015 after the unfortunate cancellation of Hegyalja Festival in the same year. This didn’t make the band any less welcome as an addition to the lineup of the 2015 edition, and won’t make them any less valuable as an addition to this year’s festival. The English electronic band consists of Piers Agget, Amir Amor, Kesi Dryden and DJ Locksmith (Leon Rolle), who have all known each other since their early childhood, growing up on the same street and attending the same school. George Ezra also comes from England. Influenced by Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, Ezra plays rock, folk rock, roots rock, and blues on stage. He has a BRIT Awards and a Teen Choice Awards nomination under his belt. The Naked and Famous has chosen the perfect name to reflect today’s popular culture. The New Zealand based indie electronic band has released three studio albums so far, gathering most of 2011’s New Zealand Music Awards with their “Passive Me, Aggressive You” album. Steve Aoki doesn’t need to be introduced to EDM fans either. The Japanese-American DJ has mixed at Sziget 2012. He prepares to release a new “Neon Future” studio album this year, so expect him to show some new materials at Sziget 2017. While Lies will return to Sziget after a great performance in 2011. The London-based post-punk band has released a new album last year, so expect them to play tunes you’ve never heard live this year. Mando Diao is a Swedish pop-rock band with most of its fan base from Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan. They haven’t released any new materials since 2014’s Ælita. NERVO (Miriam and Olivia Nervo) are coming to Sziget from Down Under. The pair only has one studio album but they have participated at festivals all over the world, including Tomorrowland Brasil in 2015 and the Amsterdam Dance Event in 2016. Anne-Marie is an English singer-songwriter best-known for her collaborations with Clean Bandit and Rudimental. In 2016, she was nominated for multiple awards at MTV Music Awards and the MOBO Awards. ANDY C is an English DJ, producer, and record label founder. He is a prominent drum-and-bass DJ, with a Best DJ title in the 2011 Drum and Bass Arena Awards and an Ambassador of Bass Music in the 2013 Bass Music Awards under his belt. Watsky is a poet and hip-hop artist from California, performing slam poetry since the mid-2000s. Since his debut he has released five studio albums, four mixtapes, two live albums, and nine singles, and has played characters like William Shakespeare, Doctor Who, and Edgar Allan Poe in the “Epic Rap Battles of History” series. The Strypes is an Irish rock band formed in 2010. Their 2015 studio album called “Little Victories” has reached the #1 spot in the Irish Charts and #17 in the UK Charts. Nothing But Thieves is an Essex-based alternative rock band with a style similar to The Foals and Civil Twilight. Their songs have been featured in video games like Madden NFL 16 (EA), FIFA 16, NHL 17, and TV series like “The Vampire Diaries”. LÉON is a Swedish indie pop singer and songwriter coming from Stockholm. She made her debut in 2015, with an EP that gained the support of Chris Anokute and Katy Perry. Bear’s Den is a London-based folk rock and alternative rock band active since 2012. During the years, the band released two studio albums. The band has received an Ivor Novello Award nomination for Best Song Musically and Lyrically in 2015. Dubioza kolektiv is a band from Bosnia and Herzegovina known for their unique approach to hip-hop, reggae, dub, rock and Bosnian folklore. With seven studio albums, and a ton of awards under their belt, they will most likely perform at Sziget 2017’s World Music Stage. Chef’Special is a Haarlem-based Dutch indie pop band with two studio albums and three EPs under their belt. Last year, they tourned with Twenty One Pilots on their Emotional Roadshow World Tour as an opening act. De Staat is another Dutch band playing alternative rock. Last year, the band supported Muse on its “Drones World Tour” in Portugal, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Belgium. Valentino Khan is an artist with many talents, making everything from “hip-hop anthems” to “dance music hits”. The artist has multiple collaborations under his belt. Rone is a French producer and EDM artist with numerous albums, EPs, remixes, and collaborations on his CV. He is best-known for his pioneering work in virtual reality music videos. Weval is a collaborative project between two Dutch DJs, Harm Coolen and Merijn Scholte Albers. The two met and teamed up in 2010 after learning they share the same taste in electronic music. The list is still incomplete, of course – there are still enough headliners, undercards, and other types of acts to be announced. Sziget might announce more valuable/popular artists ahead of its next price hike, so keep an eye on our website (or Sziget’s official channels) for updates. Still, the lineup of the festival is starting to take shape. Take Our Poll Share on Facebook Share Share on TwitterTweet Share on Pinterest Share Share on LinkedIn Share Share on Digg Share
Main Stage: PJ Harvey , Alt-J , Rudimental live, George Ezra , White Lies and Dubioza kolektiv A38: The Naked and Famous , Mando Diao , Anne-Marie , Andy C , Watsky , Nothing But Thieves, Léon , Bear’s Den , Chef’Special , De Staat , Valentino Khan , Rone and Weval Arena: Steve Aoki and Nervo
I’m chuffed with this addition. Does not seem like anymore headliners announced. Although in the past white lies and alt j headlined
Wish people would just stop buyxing tickets… any other warning won’t be enough…. This line-up is beyond pathetic
I dont think PJ will headline since they are in the list of all the not headliners… The undercard is good but this line up still is missing real headliners. Or the headliners will be very popular so they think day -1 will sell out in a couple of days. Or they just have nothing…
@Vortix no 🙂 No headliner announced today, I take it as a good thing. Maybe they can’t announce most of them yet (4 remaining, I’d say Mumfords/XX added later, and Eminem in a special announcement, + 1 unknown). PJ Harvey/ Alt-J as sub is really good. PJ co-headlined Primavera last year, and Alt-J headlined Pukkelpop not long ago (and Sziget). White Lies is personal taste but it’s my favorite of this announcement. Good mid-size bands like Naked and Famous, Nothing but Thieves, and George Ezra singing Budapest will be special for sure 🙂 Finally, GREAT electro on A38: RONE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfoJUeyMsOE and Weval (live)(playing Primavera). I don’t care about headliners if they keep on coming with good electro on A38. So far we have Flume, Fritz, Rone, Weval…
yeah put more electro on a38 there aren’t enough venues for electro… They should fill a38 with indie, alternative, punk, hardcore, metal bands, and cheap button pushers
For those who prefer bands with guitars: check out De Staat! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ttGgIQpAUc
@Patrick Bateman: My top 3 concerts all time is M83/ Radiohead/ Arcade Fire. I have an eclectic taste. Are Alt-J and White Lies (which i specifically said was my favorite band of the announcement) could play at B my lake? There’s no place for electro at Sziget? Why did you say that? did you read what I wrote? 😉
Hahaha! No offense taken man, I don’t hide the fact that I love electronic music. My favorite artist atm are Apparat and Moderat. But some people here don’t need you to start something XD
I get your point that the nighttime line-up is important, but regarding the price of those acts and the quality of the main stage this year I wouldn’t say that it’s worth the money (like it did in the last 3 years IMO)
I understand as well. But this announcement contains no headliner, only 2 subs and other acts. My guess: they didn’t announce a headliner to have a one-off announcement for Eminem after he’s announced for R&L (so maybe next week); then, they will add 1-2 more headliners (Mumfords, XX: maybe the more predictables) before the price increase, then the 4th one in june. Yeah or they don’t have anyone 😀
Do you think it’s possible for Sziget to book a headliner that’s not in Europe in August like they did with Kings of Leon
@Rascal I started watching the video you posted, it lasted 30 secs, as it was awful. I don’t need anything with guitars i need good/cult/actual artists.
Can any one venture to explain why each band’s place is irrelevant if you care? I can do the same, trying to put music tastes aside.
An announcement containing PJ Harvey is always a good announcement. Also if it’s PJ Harvey * Teletubbies * Bananas in Pyjamas.
Has anyone noticed that no local, Hungarian acts have been announced so far? http://szigetnews.com/sziget-2017-lineup-know-far/
@Bender @Yelo remember Uhrin Benedek’s performance in 2011? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYvyjy5tRNs It was a year with Prince, Kasabian, The Chems, The Prodigy, and many other great names on the Main Stage…
@Sziget News I’m afraid I lost him but I’m totally in love with the video you linked!! Sziget 2011 it’s been a great Sziget <3
@Bender yeah, Billy Talent playing day -1 as well as Kolektiv Dubiosa (on main stage). I guess the headliner will be rock for this day 🙂 Still hoping for RHCP since last year 😀
@Bender his “Rebeka” sounds a lot like “Bananas in Pyjamas” 🙂 @Noeliam as far as I remember, at least some local acts were announced early in the previous years
@Szigetnews yes I’m aware of it, but why do you think they haven’t announced any? PS: Dubioza Kolektiv will play on main stage (they said 09th on their fb page).
Not overly happy with this announcement. However like you guys said, there’s still a lot of headliners to be announced and the colosseum acts are still to be announced, which is where I will be spending a lot of my time haha
Who do you guys want for the Colosseum? I’d personally like to see Maceo Plex, Hannah Wants, Alan Fitzpatrick, Jeff Mills, Laurent Garnier etc.
@Szigetnews yeah! Them + Billy Talent makes me think we have a rock headliner for that day! @Orangejuicer: Maceo Plex, Ben Klock and Dixon. I don’t know about the rest but it doesn’t matter, I had a wonderful time at Nastya last year without knowing her 😀
Billy Talent’s date may be a fake one. On they’re website it’s written that they’ll play at Pukkelpop the 23rd but Pukkelpop is from 16 to 19t of Aug.
@Noeliam could it be that Sziget is trying to focus on audiences outside Hungary? Local talent appeals to local audiences but perhaps it’s less attractive for those living outside the country or even outside Europe. Hungarian bands perhaps attract some attendees from Romania, Slovakia, Austria, and some other neighboring countries but not many from beyond.
Well, guys, as positive as I always am, I can’t pretend I’m not disappointed. I respect the fact that we have actual quality names in this announcement no matter what some people say under this thread. However, let’s be realistic – majority of people who go to festivals prefer to see the artists they like or know at least, not the artists that they don’t really like or listen to even though they’re quality ones. Just to shed some light here, I’m really thankful they brought Alt-J, The Naked And Famous and White Lies. Also, I appreciate the fact that some of you are really high on PJ Harvey, Rudimental and Andy C for example. In addition, I understand that some other artists who I don’t know may be good too. It brings me to some extensive conclusion and certainly I don’t point to any of you guys here. This edition has interesting names, let’s just agree on that. If we review this line-up without any dependencies on location, price and today’s date it’s more or less ok. It’s not good, it’s not overly bad, it’s just ok. Now let’s bring these dependencies into the game. Firstly, location. It’s Sziget, it’s 25th edition and it’s in August. We all know that there’re not too many acts around in August that can be booked for Sziget. But let’s answer once simple question: does this line-up looks good in comparison with other European festivals this august? I will say subjectively (all of us have different tastes) – no, it doesn’t! Secondly, price. From what I see, Sziget is the most expensive European festival in August. Yes, it’s 7 days, local prices are good, it has atmosphere, etc. I’ll return to the price factor a little bit later. For now let’s answer another simple question: does this line-up looks good given the current price tag of 300 euros? No, it doesn’t! Honestly, I can’t understand anybody who will say opposite. Thirdly, today’s date. It’s only my point of view, but I’d be more than ok with all these names if they were released as a first single announcement. I can count only 10 acts from the current list which I could give my attention to during a festival (and we already have 54 artists!). Maybe they can add 10 more that I can recognize as the ones I’d like to see, and it will give me only 3 gigs per day at average. Well, that’s not acceptable by any means. So one last simple question: does this line-up looks good given the fact that Sziget’17 beginning is closer than Sziget’16 end? No, it doesn’t. Especially, if we don’t expect anything new for another 4 weeks. All in all, I’m pretty upset and discouraged. Yes, I bought Szitizen Prime and I understand that it comes with some disadvantages. You may say that Sziget is preserving some big names for a later announcement, I will say that Sziget management can be more respectful of people who paid a lot of money without knowing a single name by giving these people more solid and bold announcements. I don’t care about their so called marketing plans, they can apply them along with a better attitude to loyal customers. Now, as I’m a big fan of various calculations, here’s almost senseless, but still interesting data. I checked some festivals, their current ticket prices (camping included, even though I don’t use it), average net income for given countries to get the relation between average price of festival day and average net income per day. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage Hungary (Sziget): average price for a festival day is 195% of average day salary Poland (Open’er): average price for a festival day is 157% of average day salary Portugal (NOS Alive): average price for a festival day is 148% of average day salary Belgium (Rock Werchter): average price for a festival day is 95% of average day salary Netherlands (Lowlands): average price for a festival day is 82% of average day salary Of course, it’s all relative and partially shows that some countries are wealthier than others, plus Sziget only correlates with Lowlands in terms of dates and artists, but still, it’s quite representative. That’s a good indication of why people from Hungary are so critical of what’s going on with Sziget – it becomes more expensive but lacks solid/quality names. If I was an outsider looking in I’d picked Rock Werchter and NOS Alive as best choices from this list in terms of price/quality and that’s it. But I already have Sziget tickets so I suppose I have some right to complain. The saddest part now is I plan to turn these tickets into RW and NOS Alive combo to get the most out of this musical summer in Europe. Once it’ll happen I’d be very happy to visit this wonderful community on a constant basis though no complaint will be made then. And even after that I still won’t understand how this year’s Sziget line-up worth 300 euros.
@Yauhen I understand and respect your point of view. Finally a constructive critic that gives us the real point of view of someone who goes to Sziget from Hungary and that is not just a “this is sh*t, where are At The Drives In”.
@Bender Thanks! I’m from Belarus actually 🙂 If i was from Hungary, I’d went to Sziget still. But when you need to get visa, then find inexpensive tickets for a flight, etc., then you consider a line-up more carefully.
@Bender you are pathetic, and if you quote me at least write down the band name right. @Yauhen you basically told all the problems this festival has. SPOT ON.
@SzigetNews: Astonishing lol About the names, it’s not really what I was looking for, but yet it’s not bad. Still we need the “reason why”, which is not really a need to me, but I guess people is also seeking for this. My uber names so far are Kasabian, Flume and The Naked and Famous (what a blast, totally what Im looking for!), and I usually need 6 to 10 names to call it a good lineup, so I’m yet waiting for a change. I said yesterday about my impressions about the sneak peak we had: + : PJ Harvey, Alt J, Rudimental, The Naked and Famous, Andy C = : George Ezra, Steve Aoki, Nervo, – : White Lies (if they gonna be subbing), Anne-Marie, The Strypes -Mando Diao is a good band, will probably clash with MS headliner, but it’s not bad at all, maybe I will give ’em a chance 🙂 -Watsky is weird, he got a great technics and he’s also a slam poet and that’s great, cause I enjoy both, but I dont know if it’s just a show off of skill or something more deeper -Nothing But Thieves is a band I was expecting since the last year: underrated but yet radio friendly, good compromise, good live, good on studio! -Léon is the kind of pop music I would love to see at sziget, not Icona Pop and other commercial soulles product. Hardly my cup of tea, but she’s a good performer and artist -Bear’s Den. This folk is not of my kind, same reason why I didnt appreciated The Lumineers last year. -Dubioza Kolektiv are great, that gipsy grove was missing last year outside of World Stage BUT Main Stage? And Leningrad and/or Goran Bregovic on World Stage? kay.. -Chef’Special, De Staat are just pop rock bands -Valentino Khan is shit, period -RONE AND WEVAL ARE F*CKIN MINDBLOWING (but why not Daphni?) @Yahuen, your analysis is brilliant and put in numbers what the part of this site who has a brain thinks: Sziget is doing good for a medium fesival, but it’s not a medium festival, most of the undercards announced are the shaded versions of bands announced in other festivals.
Anyway I think we may have all the 17,45-19,00 slots on Main Stage taken, right now: Billy Talent, Tom Odell, Clean Bandit, Metronomy, Rudimental, White Lies, The Kills. Am I right?
I think Billy Talent will sub day-1. Im most excited for White Lies and Metronomy, and might watch The Kills. Dont think i fancy the others.
Also (sorry for triple posting lol), we have most of the A38 announced by now, I see only 6 acts left in the daylight, 2 headliners (Crystal Fighters, Bad Religion, Flume and Interpol), 3 acts left in the nightlight (GusGus, DJ Shadow, GTA, Fritz Kalkbrenner, Andy C, Cashmere Cat, Valentino Kahn, Weval, Rone). Am I right? If so, looking at the stage in his entirity, I can only say that A38 this year is a wasted chance. Sure they can still change the game, but there are too many names missing, important names, not just names I like. A few list following: Moderat, Daphni, At the Drive In, Glass Animals, London Grammar, Future Islands, Sohn, Radical Face, Mura Masa, Rise Against, Dope DOD, Aphex Twin, Joe Goddard and Jon Hopkins. Especially the night time is odd: Fritz Kalkbrenner could have played at Colosseum (like Tale of Us did last year: takin place in Party Arena), Valentino Kahn and GTA in the Party Arena. Sziget is trying to put a clear distinction between the secondary stages (Colosseum is techno, Party Arena is trash, Irish is folk-blues, World is gipsy-world, A38 daytime is minor pop and indie), but the A38’s night time seems like a Cauldron in which they put every electro act small enough for the Main Stage, different from the Colosseum’s trend and somehow not related to Party Arena). I think they should re-asset this thing. Also the Yauhen’s opinion can be even better shared after this consideration: Sziget should not forget that marketing may increase the selling of tickets, but you need to create customer’s value before profits if you want to make this marketing’s worth something. And maybe Im wrong, but any long term customer of the festival I’ve met is more close to “ours” (even ffsf’s) taste more than the monkey business brought by the Party Arena djs and Dillon Francis and Carnage etcetera.
@Yelo the problem is that we “old” customers who love rock more than electro are all around 30, so in the long term we are the ones who’ll quit first due to normal life reasons. I won’t (lol) and when I’ll have children I’ll try family camping, but the majority of people of my age (I’m 29, turning 30 this year) are starting to choose different kinds of vacations, not different kinds of festivals. It’s sad to say but we are not the target anymore. Anyway for White Lies subbing, I’m sure they’ll play 17:30. On the program page they are under names like Clean Bandit, Tom Odell, Charli XCX, The Kills, The Naked and Famous, names that surely won’t sub. And one thing more: nobody know the slot Kasabian and Major Lazer will get. It can be both 19:30 or 21:30 (I hope ML 19:30 and Kasabian 21:30). Imho once again we are trying to analyze the festival too early. It’s February. How many headliners were announced after June 1st? In my memories a lot. Let’s wait a bit more 🙂
But it’s not about rock that Im talking about… I honestly find most of the classic rock performers boring, as long as I cant sing along all of their songs I just lay there like a stupid dont knowing what exactly I should do, that was how I felt during Noel Gallagher or Editors last year (and I actually enjoy listening to them on record!). What Im talking about is techno, IDM, Alternative, and by alternative I dont mean NOFX or Amon Amarth, I mean stuff like Rudimental, Royal Blood, Alt J, Ska P, Slaves et cetera et cetera et cetera: things that are good live, stimulate the listener’s attention and are objectively alternative, and we are far far away from Tom Odell, De Staat, Chef’Special and Charli XCX: there is no real value added to the product, no one goes to a festival straight for De Staat, we all know that; no one goes to a festival for Slave either, but yet the difference is that the first is the fifth of his kind announced on A38-MS (White Lies, Mando Diao, Chef’Special, Kensington and De Staat), meanwhile we dont have a proper punk rock band, it’s not only an issue of variety, it is a cultural issue! About the timetable and looking at the site disposition of names: Maybe Jamie Cullum actually can sub headline? Seems crazy to me… Havent been confirmed by Sz. Italy that Kasabian were headliner (21.30)? I agree that we are analyzing too much an incomplete machine, but that is also the purpose of the site: speculations, as long as we know that we are playing on “what if”s situations and we dont get mad at ideas I see no evil action 🙂
@Noeliam Where did you write that? Because if it is true we can wait a wonderful line up. “No headliner announced today, I take it as a good thing. Maybe they can’t announce most of them yet (4 remaining, I’d say Mumfords/XX added later, and Eminem in a special announcement, + 1 unknown). PJ Harvey/ Alt-J as sub is really good. PJ co-headlined Primavera last year, and Alt-J headlined Pukkelpop not long ago (and Sziget). White Lies is personal taste but it’s my favorite of this announcement. Good mid-size bands like Naked and Famous, Nothing but Thieves, and George Ezra singing Budapest will be special for sure ???? Finally, GREAT electro on A38: RONE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfoJUeyMsOE and Weval (live)(playing Primavera). I don’t care about headliners if they keep on coming with good electro on A38. So far we have Flume, Fritz, Rone, Weval…”
@Bender Just checked what we had at this point last year: – Bastille – Bloc Party – Sum 41 – Muse – The Last Shadow Puppets – David Guetta – Years & Years – Noel Gallagher – Sia and many more of course Not saying that they’re better live but at glance these names seem “bigger” than the ones we have now. Also, they announced Rihanna in March, so i tend to give Sziget one last chance to convince me.
@Bender: Kasabian and Major Lazer are the 2 first pictures on the program. The End Show is the 3rd. They are surely headliners. PJ Harvey could be headliner, but I hope she won’t headline, as she is between Flume and alt-J on the program! But if I remember well, Manu Chao was also between some subheadliner on the program, but he headlined a festival day, so you never know with Sziget!
@Yauhen Last year Sia and Noel Gallagher were announced in the announcement of March, so we have to take them away from that list. Anyway bigger doesn’t mean better. I think this year’s lineup, for my music taste, has better performers up to this date: PJ Harvey, Interpol, Alt-J, Kasabian, Flume, The Kills, Metronomy, Bad Religion, DJ Shadow, Mac Demarco, Vince Staples, Two Door Cinema Club, Rudimental, Billy Talent, Crystal Fighters, Fritz Kalkbrenner, Cashmere Cat, Jagwar Ma, Nothing But Thieves, Dubioza Kolektiv, GusGus, White Lies, Rone, Weval. To me all those names make Sziget lineup pretty solid, also considering that we have a lot of announcements to come and we all know Sziget has a history of late announcements.
If they don’t book Moderat and London Grammar for A38 I think I’m gonna cry my heart out. It would be a shame
@Miguel yes London Grammar would be a great addiction, but most of all Moderat have to be in. It would be a huge disappointment if they don’t come because actually they are around. They’ll play the 12th in Slovakia and the 15th in Austria with no dates in the middle. Budapest fits perfectly. Fortunately I already have them in my program as I’m also going to Sónar, but the atmosphere of Sziget is something special that gives an extra point to concerts. Anyway talking about Moderat I have to say that last year I saw them at Primavera Sound playing on the Main Stage and it was perfect. Just perfect. So imho they’d also be a perfect Main Stage closer, maybe after a headlining band like Kasabian 😛
Only PJ Harvey on my Whislist.. Jamiroquai,Pixies,Eminem,Aphex Twin,Moderat,Royksopp,XX,At The Drive In,Cypress Hill,Iggy pop,Editors,Parov Stelar still avalaible but this seem became an EDM festival 🙁 … Steve Aoki is a shame…
Not thrilled with the lineup at all. But to call this an EDM festival? Seriously? No one in this announcement aside from Aoki and Nervo can be classed as EDM. And there’s been a very small amount of EDM announced so far compared to last year and the year before. Even at that, EDM is a growing trend. I don’t agree with it, and I like my electronic music more intelligent and musically-driven than most EDM, but it’s a fact. Not everything that utilizes electronic elements is EDM, and it seems like no one here aside from Noeliam, Yelo, Miguel, and a few others are aware of that. Electronic music is not “EDM”. Get it right before you falsely accuse a festival of being an EDM festival, a festival who has been announcing mostly indie, rock, and pop acts. It honestly makes you look ignorant. The lineup isn’t great, agreed, but if you want anyone to take you seriously that’s not the correct approach.
I just want to say that saying that it’s an EDM festival is dumb, because only Aoki and Nervo have been announced and they will play the party arena, but: if Sziget hasn’t got Moderat, there’s no excuse! it will be a shame!
keep calm guys,just a provocation… but this festival is more e more similar to a Tomorrowland instead a Glastonbury, It’s a fact….
“EDM festival” is clearly provocative, that’s a definition that fitted better for the 2016’s edition (since A38 was so fullfilled of shatty trap), this year seems a not-yet-good-enough compromise between the 2015’s edition (pure gold) and the 2016’s edition (pure shat). The fact, as I told before, is that the A38’s night schedule tip the balance between a good equilibrium and a bad equilibrium, since we have 2 out of 5 major stages (let’s include Europe’s in) totally dedicated to electronic music presented by djs: to have a strong presence of electronic music made by real instruments or a IDM-artist quota in a38 is vital for the variety of the genre in the festival – and that’s why the lack of bands like Caribou and Hot Chip in latest years have been a hole real huge who has been only partially filled by acts like SBTRKT in 2015. Probably this year has gone with the 2016’s line of thinking: I see, so far, a similar pattern in the way they make announcements, give importance to the stages and their scheduling – which I find honestly sub-optimal, because it rewards only a slice of the consumers, which is probably the target right now, but I guess – I HOPE – it’s not the majority of the goers or at least the ones you can count on to fidelize. My hopes are for the following years, because of the acquisition that happened, even if I cant be sure I will attend the festival in the future… Sure my arguments are qualitative and not quantitative ’cause I don’t really know where to look at to find some reliable datas, but if someone have something to share about it, I would be really thankful
2 out of 6, forgot about the World stage… Also, I dont know if “fidelize” is even a word in english, I just let the english flow through my hands (and the results is usually poor lol), by that word I meant to improve customer loyalty, in any case 🙂
How do we know PJ Harvey isn’t a headliner? She headlined Primavera last year, and is so f*cking good live. Seems like a headliner to me. Certainly better than most of last year’s Sziget headliners…
@JeffK she’s places under Flume in the list of names on the official program page (and Flume is headlining A38 Stage).
I start to feel lucky that I live pretty close to Budapest (about 4-5 hours by coach and 3-4 by car) and that I bought tickets to Depeche Mode and Green Day. Now I have to buy for the Foos too. Last year I also bought tickets for RHCP and The Cure. I hope that Sziget won’t disappoint, at least last year we had MUSE, but even if they book Mumford & Sons now, I guess that MUSE are way better than booking a M&S + Kasabian combo. Of course I would like M&S to headline a day, but I think that they and Kasabian wouldn’t be proper rock headliners, so they have to come with a better choice. In 2015 we had Kings of Leon and I even K&L are more rock than a M&S + Kasabian combo for 2 different days…
