In partnership with Sziget Festival
Words: Jordan Bassett and Rhian Daly
Not for nothing is Sziget Festival held on a stretch of land dubbed ‘The Island of Freedom’. This is truly a place in which to get lost. Punters access the island via a bridge adorned with colourful bird sculptures, only to be greeted by a marching band clad in suits decorated with flashing LED lights, before working their way through a wonderland that features, among many other attractions, its own fairground. We’re not in Kansas – or indeed Budapest – any more.
Even before you get to the world-class acts (as it celebrates its 33rd birthday, the festival has attracted the likes of Florence + the Machine, Lewis Capaldi, Sombr and Twenty One Pilots), there’s plenty to stumble upon here. Punishing darkwave? An elderly man crooning away at a piano in the woods? Sziget has you covered. As we pick up the pieces of our tiny minds, here’s the lowdown on day one. JB
Sombr celebrated a career milestone
How do you headline a festival with just one 37-minute album and a handful of loosies? If you’re Sombr, you show no fear in roping in superstar mates and running up your tracks more than once. New Yorker Shane Boose ticked off both last night as he topped a European festival bill for the first time – a performance that also marked his first time playing a fest on the continent. His lightning-fast ascent to the top of the lineup reflects just how quickly his music has connected with audiences around the world, and the Sziget crowd turned up in droves to witness his debut performance in Hungary.
Those who made it down to the set early were treated to an immediate special guest appearance from Zara Larsson, who had performed on the same stage just before Sombr. She and some of her dancers joined the star in the back of a people carrier, exiting the vehicle one by one, until just Larsson and Sombr were left. In keeping with the celebratory mood of the occasion, the pair toasted with two bright red cocktails before strutting towards the stage for Sombr to kick off his set in earnest.
And earnest was the tone of the show, with Boose delivering his heartfelt thanks to the Hungarian people and offering comfort and solidarity to his audience as we all try to navigate the conflict and confusion of our current world. Before ‘My Body Isn’t Ready’, he reached out to those struggling with body image issues, encouraging them to “push through” their battles, while he later told us: “In Sombrland, you will always be accepted.”
Sombr closed out his first European festival headline slot with his two biggest hits to date, sending the crowd to ecstatic heights with an elongated version of ‘Back To Friends’ before dropping ‘12 To 12’ not once but twice. The audience’s enthusiasm for the track only grew the second time around, Boose amplifying their excitement by declaring: “I’m not fucking done!” On paper, playing the same song on repeat might seem like a cop-out, but in reality, Sombr proved that it can be an effective little trick. Besides, next time he’s back here – and he promised to come back “every year until I die” – he’ll have plenty more up his sleeve. RD
Dijon rocked out
“We’re a rock’n’roll band,” smirked alt-R&B innovator Dijon midway through his late-night set on the Revolut Stage, which had already seen him meld heartfelt acoustic crooning, hangar-sized ‘80s balladry, frenetic rap and warped haunted house synths.
He and his troupe of frankly unfairly talented musicians, who clustered tightly together on the stage, as if in rehearsal, even threw in a buoyant funk workout at one point. A rock’n’roll band? Not literally, perhaps – but Dijon certainly follows in the time-honoured tradition of ripping up the rulebook and doing things your own way.
His music is by turns prickly and emotional, insular and expansive. The 34-year-old seems to write nailed-on R&B hits and then wilfully dismantle them, squeezing in new hooks and disrupting others. It’s perversely brilliant; music from a restless mind. He doesn’t make things easy for himself: in conversation with NME back in 2021, Dijon cited Jai Paul’s ‘Jasmine’ as a key influence in his love of fucking up his own sound. Asked if that’s a barrier to commercial success, he shrugged: “I’m trying to figure out how to undo the barrier and to not acknowledge it at all, to the point where you feign ignorance.”
That restlessness was certainly evident onstage at Sziget, as he alternately crouched down with the mic in his hand, belting out emotional lyrics in his trademark rasp, before taking refuge behind his guitar and rejoining the unity of the group. It was a charmingly unstarry performance – the main man appeared dressed down in black, with a T-shirt bearing the word “JESUS” – as the music’s emotional intensity spoke for itself.
True to his “rock’n’roll band” claim, the group’s cavernous sound was significantly beefed-up compared to his records. The result so was invigorating that a guy stood near NME was moved to do press-ups at the end of the set! JB
The best of the rest
Deep on the Island of Freedom lies the Yettel Colosseum, an open-air, circular space with lights shooting from its boundary into the sky. As Irish singer-songwriter and DJ Jazzy took over in the booth from Syreeta, friends huddled in groups preparing for a big night ahead and shuffled their way to a spot in front of the speakers to make the most of the beats. An inflatable giraffe towered above ravers, bopping to the house mix Jazzy expertly curated, which delivered many peaks – not least the moment she served up an instrumental reworking of Los Del Río’s ‘Macarena’, which saw crowds flood onto the ice-blue-lit dancefloor to get their groove on. RD
If Dijon dismantled the concept of genre, Tasmanian metal maniac Kim Dracula took the remaining shards and blasted them into hyperspace. The suited-and-booted band flanked the military uniformed Kim as they bobbed and weaved through punishing deathcore, free jazz (no shit), gospel and pop-rap before returning to bone-rattling riffs and that terrifying growl.
Needless to say, the crowd didn’t really need to be told to “bang your fucking heads!”, but Kim delivered the considered instruction anyway. There was even a brief interlude where Kim disappeared from the stage to drape themselves in a hooded cloak; in their absence, the rest of the group started up the James Bond theme.
Sziget’s headbangers’ ball continued at the Buzz Stage, as Perturbator – the son of former NME scribe Nick Kent, no less – moshed behind a synthesizer and swung his luscious locks as he pumped out punishing darkwave. Talk about a licence to thrill. JB
