Image credit: Sziget press

Sziget Festival returns again this year to Budapest and to Óbuda Island, which is transformed into the ‘Island of Freedom’. This year the line up includes international talent including Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Shawn Mendes, Anyma and Kid Cudi among many other artists and over 50 stages with art workshops, panel discussions and circus demonstrations. The first day of the festival kicked off to a great start with a huge range of artists.

Alessi Rose

Alessi Rose recently blossomed into the pop music scene, and her opening set at Sziget drew in huge crowds. She accompanied Dua Lipa on her recent Radical Optimism tour, and since then, she has played a set at Glastonbury and released her third EP, Voyeur. At the age of 22, she has already become a rising star and shows no signs of slowing down. Several of her songs explore themes of navigating relationships in your early twenties, including

‘The Pit’, which is about dealing with relationship problems. Alessi Rose’s heartfelt lyrics about her experiences with OCD and relationships in ‘Eat Me Alive’ created a strong connection with the audience. A highlight of Alessi Rose’s set was her high-energy and unique cover of Gwen Stefani’s ‘What You Waiting For?’, whom Rose dubbed the “greatest pop singer of all time”.

Little Simz

Little Simz exudes a carefully crafted coolness that no other artist could hope to match, she is a British rapper, and her album Lotus was released in early June this year. Her set was the second set on the main stage before Charli XCX, and there was already a sea of lime green awaiting her arrival. This meant that Little Simz had the difficult task of warming up the crowd, but as soon as she played ‘Venom’, the crowd started dancing along to her tracks. ‘Mood Swings’ was when Little Simz truly ramped up the crowd, she said: “Imagine I’m your London friend and I’m in Budapest for one night only, so you take me to a bar downtown and we have a good time.” Whilst the crowd at the start of her set were initially reluctant, Simz literally shifted the crowd’s mood with ‘Mood Swings’ as her infectious energy got everyone dancing. The most poignant moment of her set was ‘Free’, a song that originated as a poem, with lines such as “If I don’t love what I’m doing then I’m hardly engaged” and “We fear the answers so we don’t ask the questions,” which captivated the audience.

Image credit: Sziget press

Charli XCX

The moment that the crowd had been waiting for was Charli XCX. With the release of Brat last summer, this was Brat Summer 2.0 and Charli XCX showed that Brat is certainly not dead and it continues to be redefined. As Charli XCX strutted onto the stage with flashing white lights, 365 started to play and it felt as if Sziget was transformed into a club.

The crowd was electric, and the energy of her set never dipped. ‘Apple’ was played next followed by the longstanding tradition of picking a member from the crowd to do the viral Apple dance. ‘Party 4 U’ was another stand out moment, a song from Charli’s back catalogue that was rediscovered and made popular again via social media. Charli XCX’s chart-topping hit with Billie Eilish ‘Guess’ was played, and she asked the audience if anyone was planning on seeing The Dare, who produced the track, for his set later that evening. Whilst her set had a heavy Brat focus, Charli XCX still played fan favourites including ‘Vroom Vroom’ and she closed her set with the high-energy ‘I Love It’.

Empire of the Sun

Australian electronic duo Empire of the Sun brought huge swathes of people to the Revolut tent for their performance. From their theatrical entrance, it was clear that the duo’s aesthetic leaned heavily into psychedelic visuals and stage costumes to accompany their cinematic music. Their electronic sound blends influences from Daft Punk and David Bowie, with some tracks feeling heavily 80s synth-pop inspired. Although I didn’t get to see much of their set, the energy and theatrics they brought to the stage transfixed the crowd with the Revolut tent overflowing with swathes of people gathering to watch their set. ‘Walking on a Dream’ and ‘We are the People’ were crowd favourites and the energy rippled through the crowd.

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Heather Gosling is a university student currently studying English Literature at York. She is passionate about journalism, creative writing and music. She has written for many online and print publications and is working on a music magazine (@circulationzine).

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