Of course, these three names were not the only ones worth remembering from this year’s Sziget. Performers included Kylie Minogue, Liam Gallagher, Stormzy, Halsey, Sam Smith and Martin Garrix. In addition to them, as usual, a dozen smaller artists appeared in front of the audience on various stages, so we could also visit Aurora, MØ and D-LOW’s party.
Compared to the closing day, we would be lying if we said we had no expectations, because we are still talking about the sixth day of the 30th Island. The DJ party promised some energy, but this is always decided on the spot, so in front of the main stage, listening to some intro reggae music, we waited for Skrillex, one of the most well-known names in dubstep, to take the stage.
In recent years, the American musician could not be heard so much until last year, when he released another album after a long hiatus. From then on, he just poured out music, several of which produced quite good listening tracks. Various collaborations were never far from the artist either,
thus, on several of his recent songs, he worked together with Frad Again.. and Four Tet, also from Sziget.
In his new music, even though the dubstep that made his hits famous, such as the Bangarang they exploded, other styles also appeared with him, so you could expect him to shine in several genres of electronic music at the concert. We were prepared for everything except what happened.
This year it was not the Airport that was spinning, but the…
Bikini. Yes, the well-known Hungarian band. With a Hungarian hit, the band Bikini In nearby places Skrillex’s show started with his song, five minutes before the scheduled start. We would never have thought that one day we would see a party explode as an old Hungarian work was played on the DJ desk, but now it has happened.
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Gallery: Skrillex concert on the Island Gallery: Skrillex concert on the Island (Photo: Tamás Kaszás / Index)
But the evening started with such momentum that in less than a minute a huge crowd gathered in front of the main stage. The dust, which had been flying thickly up until then, had stirred up even more, and it had a somewhat nauseating effect – in fact, there was no need for a smoke machine, as it almost had the effect of fog.
At the beginning of Skrillex’s performance, the more relaxed, more modern soundscape prevailed, and quite a few of his newer songs were also played. For roughly thirty minutes, we watched the audience flow in and out simultaneously, which began to stabilize when the set was followed by classic dubstep music. From then on, everyone could decide whether they were interested in the party or not, and those who remained,
sparing no energy, they rampaged, danced, and shot each other with paper airplanes and water pistols.
Island flags and national flags appeared, from the coat of arms of Wales to the colors of Estonia, and more and more extreme clothes and hairstyles appeared in the crowd. It added to the party that wandering giant puppets also arrived, so we suddenly noticed that three multi-meter skeleton birds burst into the crowd in the middle of the concert.
There were no complaints about the party atmosphere in the audience, but the scene on stage confirmed this only after the sun went down. Although they didn’t skimp on pyrotechnics and smoke cannons from the beginning, the lights couldn’t be effective during the sunset, and the giant LED projectors remained dark for a long time. All you could see was the Skrillex logo on the back and it was about fifty minutes after they started playing with the visuals. Sometimes the DJ was introduced from the back, but only sporadically. From the end of the concert, we got several close-ups of him, then he played on it too, sometimes he even shaped a heart into the camera for the audience.
Then it seemed that the American performer was also having a great time. Sometimes he spoke out to the crowd as a sound check, but the real departure came when he decided to stand on the table next to the DJ desk and jump there. Apart from one or two slower stages until the end of the party, Skrillex mainly went for the energy. The music suffered from this during a few mixes, and it seemed that they took away a little of the audience’s momentum,
but in the end he managed to spin the crowd non-stop.
He played many cooperation songs, including the Make It Burn Them with Damian Marley – that’s when reggae intro music made sense – as well as a few covers, including Flo Rida’s well-known mega-hit, Good Feeling. We expected it, but it was still a powerful closing, as the last two songs are Bangarang and the failure they spoke, and then the performance ended with a small firework display.
Sound equipment arsenal
However, there was not much time to rest, because after a short break, Skrillex’s frequent collaborator Fred again.. arrived on the scene, assisted by his fellow musician Tony Friend. In recent years, the British DJ and his colleague came on stage with a completely different technique: all the electric keyboards, midi-pads, synths and manually adjustable effects in the world (well, not so many) were at their disposal to play out everything live, in real time. voice from everything, as long as they are not ashamed.
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Gallery: Fred Again’s concert Photo: Bence Tövissi / Index
The party started delicately, with a piece of piano, the melody of which, willy-nilly, is My Chemical Romance Welcome To The Black Parade he quoted the intro of his song, but this feeling soon disappeared. Combining downtempo, house, techno and hardstyle styles, the performer alternated between slow and fast songs, so almost all of his best-known songs appeared, be it I adore him or the the sea about the songs. At one point, the stage was also rearranged, and leaving Tony the bigger part, Fred again.. entered the platform set up in the middle of the crowd, and continued the party there.
The British DJ was not afraid to break up the concert if he felt like it.
He spoke a lot and meaningfully to his audience, sometimes even instructing them, so of course he couldn’t miss the usual squatting and jumping, phone flash, and singing, which was helped by projected lyrics – some lines were even translated into Hungarian for the sake of comprehensibility.
Although the overall effect was a bit fragmented due to the stops, the audience clearly enjoyed it, although based on the experience of the past years, we expected a slightly bigger closing act. The performer demonstrated a high level of technical professionalism (both as a DJ, producer and keyboard player) and held his own on the main stage, but on the sixth day of the thirtieth island, one imagined a huge bang, which ultimately failed.
Fred again.. regardless of all that, he did a great job, he tried to put together the biggest party possible, in which the audience was also a partner. During his performance, they were already actively playing with the projectors, LED walls and strips, so the visuals were in line with the production.
In the end, he closed the set with the piano in the same way, thus giving his performance a kind of framework, and the awaited fireworks were not missed.
After the concert, the audience dispersed relatively quickly, but many went straight to the Revolut Stage, where Four Tet was already preparing to take over the DJ baton from the performers on the main stage. We also watched the disc jockey’s concert, because the timing was somewhat suspicious to us. Because Four Tet, Skrillex and Fred again.. have given a joint concert more than once, so we didn’t think it was a coincidence that all three of them are performing in Budapest today.
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Gallery: Four Tet on the IslandPhoto: Bence Tövissi / Index
They already performed a joint set at the 2023 Coachella Festival and Time Square, so we hoped that this tradition would continue at the Sziget Festival. In the end, we were able to return home with a positive feeling. Four Tet DJed by himself for about half an hour, then suddenly Skrillex appeared. After that, we were almost certain that Fred would appear again.. in time, but unfortunately this did not happen during the 1.5 hour set. Regardless, the two disc jockeys pushed a hard party together,
and the multi-thousand-capacity auditorium of the Revolut Stage was nicely filled, with crowds even standing next to the tent.
With this DJ team, the main performers of the 2024 Sziget Festival said goodbye, however, the night was continued by many smaller bands and performers, so the party didn’t stop until the morning. The thirtieth Sziget will probably remain a great experience for many, and the versatility of the festival, where theater, dance, circus, visual arts and music can be found side by side, attracts its returning audience again.
(Cover photo: Fred Again concert on Sziget on August 12, 2024. Photo: Bence Tövissi / Index)
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