Missing Sziget? Enjoy 10 classic festival shows from rare Bowie to The National

David Bowie – 1997

Unfortunately, David Bowie’s 1997 performance is only available in the form of a sound recording, which, however, is of excellent quality as it was taken from the mixing desk. One of the greatest performances of all Sziget Festivals can be enjoyed as an almost fully-fledged live album on the YouTube channel of the Hungarian National Light Music Archive but avid collectors may already have sniffed out the bootleg released in 1998 by local Taboo Records.

Motörhead – 1997

Lemmy may no longer be with us but the legend of Motörhead lives on after the best part of five decades. Their thrashing guitar and pounding drums rang out several times at Hungarian festivals and venues – this digitalised video of their first appearance in 1997, an uncompromising 77 minutes of furious din, survives. Afterwards, Lemmy was said to have disappeared, somehow finding his way back to the main stage the next morning without his iconic garments, leather boots, hat, jacket… or his passport. He only made the plane thanks to a police escort. RIP.

Enter Shikari – 2010

In 2010, one of the UK’s most popular post-hardcore bands, Enter Shikari, played Sziget for the first time. The band were touring with their second album and gave a performance of such energy, it brings back happy memories of moshpits of yore. Here’s how it was ten years ago.

Paolo Nutini – 2012

Everybody’s favourite Italo-Scot surprised many at Sziget with his heartfelt blue-eyed soul and a selection of songs from his then latest album, Sunny Side Up. Paisley-born Paolo won over the crowd from the first number on – as this clip testifies.

Goran Bregović – 2012

Goran Bregović needs little introduction to anyone in Hungary, the Bosnian musician, bandleader and composer having brought his Wedding and Funeral Band here several times, but one of their most memorable performances took place at Sziget in 2012. In the video below, you can catch the last ten minutes of their Balkan party, and although the quality could be better, it perfectly reflects the vibe of the World Music Stage.

Miles Kane – 2014

Scouser Miles Kane is best known as being one quarter of the Last Shadow Puppets, a joint project with Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, but he has also been making solo records since 2011. His songs fuelled an indie party to remember, a year after he had joined the Arctics for their seminal headline appearance on the Pyramid Stage at Glasto.

Marina and the Diamonds – 2015

Marina and the Diamonds, aka Marina Diamandis, aka Marina, had just released the later global smash Froot when this Greek-Welsh singer/songwriter appeared at Sziget in 2015 at the top of her game. Her self-penned poppy/synthpoppy tunes then comprised the third part of her three-act set that she took on the road across North America, the UK and Europe on her Neon Nature Tour that brought her back to Budapest, and the Akvárium Klub, the following spring.

M83 – 2016

Dreamy, ambient synthpop and electronica are the stock-in-trade of Grammy-nominated M83, a solo project by French multi-instrumentalist Anthony Gonzalez. A long-awaited album, Junk, had just been released and Gonzalez was off presenting it on the festival stages of Europe, tight 90-minute performances whose passion gave audiences goosebumps.

Wolf Alice – 2018

The same year that Wolf Alice’s Visions of a Life beat out the Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen to win the Mercury Prize, this London four-piece alt-rock outfit gave a stunning live show at Sziget. It’s all available for you to see in this video, a snapshot of a band at the height of its powers.

The National – 2019

Cincinnati’s finest went down a storm when they played Sziget last year, on the back of their most recent release, I Am Easy to Find. In-yer-face indie/alt-rock blasted out from Berninger, the Devendorfs and the Dessner twins, who were granted the closing slot on the Saturday night and delivered in spades.