Sziget 2008

garthv

Looks like this is going to be my main European festival this year. Anyone else going?

Any tips/advice from anyone whos been there?

ledar

Quickly go to wishlist and fill in 10 bands you want to see play there. My, that's open to abuse, definite favourite would be Joe Dolan for sure. Now to send the link to 1000 other people not going Anyway, yeah, you can vote for the lineup. Presumably they'll have some sort of rational filtering process at the other side or simply ignore the results.

For bands you really want to see, check their tour schedule and only vote for available ones.

Stephen

youcancallmeal

Yeah was thinking of doing this as well this year or maybe benacissim. How much are the flights Garth and are you planning on staying in a hostel in the City? I heard the facilities for the campsite werent very good so everyone stays in the city

I voted for Joe Dolan and Daniel O Donnell by the way. They didnt have either of them on record so I had to put in the link to their official websites

garthv

Flights from Dublin are €115 so youd be mad to not go!
Campsite isnt that good? Thats the first Ive heard anyway...will have to look into that.

Ledar - Most large festivals have a wishlist so its not all that uncommon

garthv

Haha, just reading the thread now :

Like the Hungarian geezer in his seventies with a peaked leather cap, bright red smock, leather boots up to his knees, and a furry pink suitcase, giving it some to a Pendulum tune around 8am on the Friday morning

I dont care what anyone else says, I'm going this year!

Delorian

I don't think any of you should go this year. I've been 3 times including last year by self and it's absolutely terrible. And these comments have nothing to do with the fact that there are too many bloody Irish going there every year.

Reckon I'll go again this year, purely for research purposes. Atrocious festival.


Damn it, I just realised posting this will push this thread to the back of the forum...

lintdrummer

I'm definitely goin to this. Was talkin to some friends of mine that were there last year and they had a great laugh. Cheaper than goin to an Irish festival and twice as long! I voted for Primus and Rage. Man I have to see rage on this tour. Food and all that is supposed to be pretty cheap too.

jenny retro

i went last year and its definitely worth going.

i wish i was gonna be here to go this year but ill be looking for festivals in the new york area this year...!

the camping is greaat, u can camp anywhere you like. we camped about 30 yards from one of the stages/tents last year, under a tree. i had earplugs but my 3 friends all were able to sleep through it!!

theres showers with short enough queues if you go afternooney time, the toilets flush and theres sinks in pretty much every cubicle. free phone charging too at the nokia tent/stand as well as a couple of other places.

the food is cheap and very varied (mexican stand was my favourite, but there was chinese, bavarian, japanese, hungarian, bakeries (mmmm pain au chocolat for breakfast), pizzas... pretty much everything..)

the drink is dirt cheap, beer works out about 1.20, vodkas or JD with a full 500ml bottle of sprite or coke or whatever was about 2.20 or something. if u want to go all out,, go to some of the cocktail bars.. sandcastle type buckets full of alcohol. ok so they were padded out quite a lot with ice but hey, ya dont often get to drink out of a bucket!! over the week the HVG bar became our local (i think its a hungarian magazine.. i didnt question!!)
also the jack daniels bar. good times.

the atmosphere was great. lovely weather too. even when there were thunderstorms it was class. they dumped loads if sand to fill the giant puddles and people just played in the sand.

its also really cheap to get into the city, cant remember how much.. last year their chain link bridge festival was on at the same time.. a festival for a bridge..!! lots of craft stalls and stuff,,

we only saw like 8 bands (the hives friggin rocked!) or something ridiculous like that but we also saw dance, street theatre, performance art (sounds poncey but some was incredible)

the only only only downside is the amount of irish people.

damn i want to go again this year!!

aurel

What about the amount of people? Is the capacity not a bit much?

jenny retro

nope its totally managable. remeber that a lot of people only go for one or two days. its less crowded than the larger of the irish festivals. and the queues are usually pretty short too cos theres a lot of all facilities. basically they care about the people that come!!

RDM_83

was there 2005 and 2006 (Delorian does the number of irish keep increasing?and what is it with the irish abroads love of flags)

"vörösboros kóla" are the words you need to know its red wine and coke because after 3/4 days on the beer you need a change of drinks (the price and quantity vary from tent to tent but is a cheap way to drink that isn't beer- I found that over a week cocktails were way to dear to drink and I think in 2006 they got rid of the rotten cheap spirits i drank the previous year PP think the brand name was)

Make sure you book accomadation for before and after the festival well in advance hostel will be jammed

Bring earplugs, don't make the mistake we did and sleep behind the ambient tent (its not whale noises and stuff but pounding techno) it could be worth booking a night in the middle of the week in a hotel (I know I would have loved to have had that option when i was sleeping on a hill last year to try and get away from the noise)

Go to the baths in the city (went to the ones near hero's square-forget the name) they're very impressive (outdoor swimming pools,classical interiors etc) cheap (about 2500 Florint for the day) and after a few days you something like a 50C steam room to sweat all the crap from your system
on the island itself most showers are very cold most of the time, but at certain times they are warm (so scout around)

Expect random searches when your entering the festival, by random I mean how well they search you and what they take, we got in a gas stove but the people in front had theirs taken off them and other stuff like that, we got in bottles of vodka each year inside our tents but its not really that worth it unless your on a strictish budget (and they often go through your bags)

if you smoke consider bringing some of your own fags as they only sell Pall Mall on the island (you do get stare at the girls in the cig stalls though!-stunning is not the word)

if you need supplies there's a big supermarket near the entrance exit

Bring beers for the queue in on the first day

On the two years I was there things got very sloppy on the last night- I think security get drunk, was started on by one guy who was certainly hammered, and there seems to be a bit of theft (saw a guy on top of van with a pinch bar)
ps my impression only but rest of the time seems very well run

After writing realised desperatly want to go again and going to have to look at flights.

Talk to non-irish people! there's no point travel to central europe to hang around with people from the next county
(ps this advice based of 2005 and 2006)

aurel

Excellent post man.

RDM_83

Oh probably completely useless but if for some reason you want to say stuff like
'May God f*ck you stinking
wrinkled whore mother'

http://www.alternative-dictionaries.net/dictionary/Hungarian/Hungarian.pdf

oh is there a link to the full lineup (as it is now),all i can seem to find on the official website is stuff about Maiden REM and the Pistols

Furious-Red

i think only REM and Iron Maiden have been confirmed

The Bollox

full list here: http://www.sziget.hu/festival_english/programs

I will be wanting to see Maiden, REM, Vitalic, Iced Earth, Apocalyptica & The Sex Pistols. will go see a few other bands for the craic. should be good

Dyr

its been a few years and when i went there was feck all irish at it. bleedin liggin students ruining these events

Try check out the side tents, especially in the early hours. If you wanna grap some sleep go to the outdoor cinema area. There was a cool tea area too that sold some dead nice beverages and had bean bags and stuff. Dont be afraid to try the grub being cooked on spits/barbies, its rustic but awesome in comparison to the burger n pizza muck that you get at irish events.

if you're getting the train back to the city centre walk down the line to the next station, its not far and it's nearly empty. Busses run from the central station till the early hours but they're packed.

fester

I can't wait for this now. I'm going over on Sat to have a look around the city before the festival.

I'm going to take one day out to go to the Hot baths. And i also heard there's somewhere in the city they do deep-breathing meditation sessions... sounds like just the thing.

beartooth

I'm going over sunday. About 20 or so of us going should be epic.