Versatile fourth day of Sziget was unprecedentedly good

The fourth day of the great Sziget festival was one with a nice surprise. And not only that; the Sziget Sunday was one to enjoy anyway. A wonderful day on the beautiful Óbuda Island in the Hungarian capital Budapest.

Surprise set by Carson Coma

Less than two days after Hungarian band Carson Coma performed on the Main stage, they were already returning to the festival. They announced via Instagram that they would come and play a short acoustic set with three of the band members. They would not do this on one of the main stages but in the Samsung container. A small group of fans took a seat on the grass and listened intently to their impromptu performance.

Tom Grennan

Meanwhile, the first act on the Main stage began. The English singer was keen on his performance and ran across the stage. With his recognisable, raucous voice, he soon enchanted the audience. As this gig was exactly at the hottest time of the day and the sun was still shining brightly on the lawn, it was not very crowded in front of the stage. In contrast, the places where there was shade to be found, a little further away from the stage, were completely full. People decided to enjoy both the shade and the show.

At one of the songs halfway through his set, Grennan brought out his backing singer. He applauded her voice and together they sang a song. By the time he sang “Lionheart” and “By Your Side”, he really got people dancing. Despite the heat, the atmosphere was spot on. He closed his performance with his hit song “Little Bit of Love”.

AJR

A little later, it was time for AJR. This band, consisting of three brothers from New York, came running onto the stage full of energy. The singer of the three, Jack Metzger, emerged with his recognisable fur hat on his head.

The first few songs of the performance were played to loud cheers. The crowd around the stage grew considerably in a short time. The indie pop that reverberated through the speakers attracted many people. This band also brought a lot of energy to the Main stage. Both two of the three brothers danced to it, with their own unique dance moves. Jack was jumping up and down, with his arms and legs flying in all directions. Ryan stood behind his keyboard and threw his arms in the air. The only one slowing down was brother number three, Adam. He stood playing his guitar with a smile on his face.

For this band, too, it was their first time playing in Hungary. They clearly enjoyed it. Halfway through the set, they played a cover of “All Star” by Smash Mouth. The audience went wild and sang along at the top of their voices.

Before playing their song “Bang!”, the audience was given a demonstration of the process leading up to making an AJR song. Ryan started with a sound to which he kept adding instruments. Slowly, the audience began to recognise the song, after which they launched into the final song. With their hit song “Weak”, their performance came to an end.

Arlo Parks

The next act on the Main stage was Britain’s Arlo Parks. The singer started her set with the song “Bruiseless”. Full of enthusiasm, she walked across the stage, even the entire catwalk. When she turned around and wanted to walk back again, she slipped. She did not walk in that direction again for the rest of her performance.

During the song “Caroline”, she asked the audience to sing along with her every time Caroline was sung in the song. In her own words, this was the biggest stage she has been on in her entire career. This was also a little noticeable. She stood a bit subdued in the middle of the stage, not quite seeming to know her position. After playing for over an hour, she played one last song. “Softly” was a fitting end to her set.

Mumford & Sons

The headliner of the evening was none other than the band Mumford & Sons. Although it has now been five years since the band released an album, that did not matter to the people at Sziget. The field in front of the Main stage was incredibly crowded as everyone waited for the band. Immediately at the start of the first song, “Babel”, fireworks erupted.

After a few songs, the band’s singer Marcus Mumford walked towards the catwalk. This did not stop there. He jumped off the stage and calmly walked down the middle aisle, which split the audience in two. After walking for a bit, he climbed the fence and jumped into the audience. From there, he tried to make his way among the packed audience, back to the stage. This took a while, the audience did not let him go easily. Once back on stage, the band put on the song “The Cave”. A real favourite among fans, so the crowd went wild.

The next song Mumford dedicated to the people of Ukraine. He said he felt it was important to speak out against injustice. During the song “Delta”, there was a whole light and laser show on stage. After playing another song, the band disappeared from the stage. Fortunately, they returned for another encore. They played two more songs before playing their biggest hit. By “I Will Wait”, the noise from the audience was deafening. Even after the band had left the stage, the chorus could be heard several more times, people kept on singing stubbornly.

Nothing But Thieves

At the very same time that Mumford & Sons left the stage, Nothing But Thieves came on stage. The Freedome was crowded and getting fuller and fuller. The crowd stood well outside the tent. The crowd did indicate that this was a popular band. A large group of fans had therefore travelled to Sziget, especially for them.

Although it was Nothing But Thieves’ third time at Sziget, it was only their second time to perform. Singer Conor Mason talked about how they had to cancel their set in 2017 because he got a knife in his eye. He said he was glad that no crazy things had happened this time and they could just play their set. As their last song, they played their hit “Amsterdam”. With Mason’s super-good vocals and the energy of the band, it was a set not soon to be forgotten.

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes

Even before Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes’ first song started, singer Frank Carter ran off stage. He jumped through the middle aisle on top of the fence separating him from the audience and sang the first song there. That was also immediately when the mosh pits started, on both sides of the audience. Although it was already late at night, the energy in the Freedome could not be tamed. Everyone was jumping and pushing.

By the third song, Carter asked for the pit to open again, as big as it could be. Before entering the song, he dedicated the pit to all the women in the audience. He forbade all men to join in and called the pit a safe space. For one song, the pit was for the women.

A few songs later, Carter jumped into the audience again. This time he really went crowd surfing. After a while, he stood upright, on top of the people holding him up. Here he sang almost an entire song. Before heading back towards the stage, he dived into the audience upside down for a while and did a sort of handstand.

The song “Tattoo” was dedicated to a fan in the first row of the audience. Carter recognised her because he had drawn a tattoo for her at a show. With tremendous audience interaction and unprecedented energy, this show was a great end to the evening.

Photo (c) Wyona Latupeirissa