Day Two at Sziget Festival 2024 in Budapest, Hungary

It's day two at Sziget Festival and the party's just getting started. Here at Sziget there truly is something for everyone; morning Tai Chi at Sziget beach chill-out zone was a popular choice (for those who were awake at that time), as was Drag Queen brunch at the Magic Mirror stage where drag queens and kings from around the world performed. There is also a range of workshops, a theatre and dance zone, and an art garden. 

I decided to head over to the Light Stage, which is where new up-and-coming bands perform. First onstage are Alex the Judge and the Forbidden Fruits from Italy and they recently won the Upload Sounds competition. The band consists of Alex (vocals), Fabian (guitar) Valentin Taschler (bass) Valentin Gasser (saxophone and keys) and Manuel Pitcher (drums). The crowd enjoyed the mellow vibes and incredible saxophone solos from Valentin Gasser. Alex got the crowd involved in the music and created a chill atmosphere. Musically the band explores several genres including RnB, jazz and hip-hop. It will be interesting to see where this band goes next as they take on Europe. 

Dagny shines in the black and white check outfit of dreams

Norwegian singer, Dagny, burst onto the stage with euphoric energy, and her entrance was well received by the roaring crowd. Music is in Dagny’s blood as her mum, Marit Sandvik, and Dad, Øystein Norvoll, are both jazz musicians in Norway. She asked the crowd how many people were from Norway and was greeted with a huge cheer. 

At the start of the show Dagny played ‘In My Bones’ from her latest 2024 album ‘ELLE’. The tempo then slowed as she played an acoustic version of ‘Pretty’, instructing the audience to look into the eyes of someone they loved in the crowd. Audience interaction was a highlight of Dagny’s set, and as she played ‘Love You Like That’ she joked that the song must have broken a world record for how many ‘I love yous’ there are in the lyrics and challenged the crowd to count them all. ‘Love You Like That’ also became the basis for Katy Perry’s ‘Never Really Over’ in 2019, which Dagny and Katy Perry co-wrote. Dagny started off a call and response to ‘Come Over’ with one side of the crowd singing “You should come over” followed by another side of the crowd singing “Won’t you come over?” and ending in the middle of the crowd shouting “Hey!”. The energy that Dagny brought to the call and response was infectious, even those who did not know the lyrics before sang along. 

The final song of the set ‘Somebody’ won song of the year at P3 Gull in 2020. The song is lyrically beautiful, upbeat and catchy. It is Dagny’s most well-known song and gained a great response from the crowd singing along to the lyrics.  After the last song, Dagny and her band bowed to the crowd: what a way to bring on day two of the Sziget festival!

At the Global Village stage, I went to see Bukahara, a four-piece German Neo-folk band that has played at Sziget several times and was certainly a crowd favourite. Their musical influences include folk, swing and African musical elements. The Global Village stage aims to bring people together from all corners of the globe through the shared love of music. Music can be a force for good, and this is a sentiment that the band shared when violinist Ahmed made a speech about the ongoing genocide in Gaza and how we should unite together against violence. The incredible energy of the band's music radiated through the crowd when everyone linked arms to dance to 'Same Kind of People'. 

Halsey returns to the stage for a night of power, emotion & versatility

The headliner of the evening was Grammy-nominated singer Halsey. It was the first time the singer had performed at Sziget Festival. This was her first performance since January due to health issues, but Halsey graced the stage with confidence and movingly stated how happy she was to be here at Sziget when she thought it would not be possible. At the start of the show, Halsey played 'Queen of the Castle', instructing the crowd to jump in the chorus before moving on to play 'Hurricane'. 

Many of Halsey's songs contain themes of breakups, relationships and her younger self, she stated that she "thought she knew everything at nineteen". Halsey has recently announced her latest album. She played 'The End', a song about her health struggles, existentialism and how she is "lucky to be alive". 

Halsey's lead guitarist Vixen was a highlight and they played an incredible solo during Halsey's version of the 2016 hit with The Chainsmokers 'Closer'. The pyrotechnics during this show added to the power of the performance, and she moved away from her pop tunes and started to play songs from her fourth studio album 'If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power', an album that was produced with members from The Nine Inch Nails and has a darker sound that shows her versatility as an artist. Halsey conducted a poll halfway through the set and asked the crowd if they preferred the pop songs or the rock songs on her albums. The results were fairly equal, prompting Halsey to say: "Well for every Halsey pop song, there's a Halsey rap song". The final song of the set was 'I Am Not A Woman I'm A God', a powerful statement that felt personal considering Halsey's recent health problems that she has overcome. 

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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).