Hungary for more?
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Sziget Festival - one of the largest festivals in Europe - is under way in Budapest. Nearly 400,000 festivalgoers are piling onto the island in the middle of the Hungarian capital along with over 400 bands from 32 countries. Euranet's Network Europe went to soak up the party atmosphere on Day One.
Sziget Festival (literally Island Festival in Hungarian) first started as a low-key student festival to brighten up post-Communist Budapest in 1993. Since then it has grown exponentially to become one of the biggest and most exciting summer events in Europe.
This year the list of headliners includes The Hives, Nina Hagen, Iron Maiden, Muse, Madness and Faithless to name but a few, with hundreds more less well-known acts covering the entire musical spectrum - from heavy metal to Hungarian folk.
But many visitors also cite the magical atmosphere on the island as one of the big attractions. There is a lot more on offer than just music. Theme park amusement rides, theatre tents and NGO stalls are dotted all over the place inbetween the stages. A walk around the massive site can take on a distincly surreal feeling as you bump into giants, stiltwalkers and puppeteers.
For the next few days Network Europe is a series of special programmes from the festival, featuring interviews with the best of Sziget’s bands, news from round the site, music, gossip, and much, much more… Find out more at the Euranet@Sziget blog.
