Already, we're down to our last day of a three-day stint at Sziget: to those staying the full five, we salute (and envy) you. British rock group BC,NR are long on interesting tunes and short on crowd banter, with a different member taking the mic for practically every song, a folkier, more scattered energy than the acclaimed records might suggest, but no less absorbing for it.
Loyle Carner chills the hell out after them in the afternoon sun, dedicating songs to his family and friends (his mother somewhere out there in the crowd), and his love for both her and his son radiates off him, as does his loyalty to fried chicken back home in South London. Between songs he doesn't hold back either, a “fuck Farage, free Palestine” landing to a loud response. 'It's important to find the things you love and put all your energy into them,' he says, and for him, that's obviously family: he talks about raising his son without toxic masculinity, beaming with pride recalling the boy's articulation of emotion at five years old, and that relaxed joy pours straight onto the crowd.
Despite being half stand-up himself, Lewis Capaldi's music doesn't share the same sense of humour. Between lunar eclipse commentary and watching bungee jumpers in the distance (“is the music that bad?”), he belts through his collection of sad pop tunes: “from now on it's depression and pain,” he suggests, not entirely joking. Break-up songs like 'Forget Me' are about as upbeat as it gets, but the singalong choruses always land: with the streaming numbers his songs have, the lyrics come easy for a set that feels like a soothing friend, one Lewis has clearly learned to embrace.
Fcukers tear all that apart. The NYC pair (Shanny Wise and Jackson Walker Lewis) rock up to a tent that catches on fast: they dropped one of the best records of the year back in March, and play plenty of it. 'If you wanna party, come over to my house' needs no further explanation, and neither does “fuck Donald Trump, fuck billionaires.” Shanny struts the stage like she owns it, Jackson's bass and synths rattle the tent, and half the time he's more hypeman than musician, jumping around as much as the crowd. If you like throwing yourself around, Fcukers will sort you out: this is exactly what people come to Sziget for. The set feels short, but it packs a hell of a punch. Watch those end-of-year lists.
Florence + The Machine slow the pace down for something a bit more familiar: she's a four-time headliner here, on one hell of a run this summer off the back of last year's Mercury-nominated 'Everybody Scream'. It's the same scripted headline show she's taking across Europe this summer, jokes about a song almost not making the record included (she thought she was too old to be writing about people not texting her back). Welch is an absolute siren on stage, and the new songs slot in seamlessly to a discography that's been part of the cultural fabric for over fifteen years. When the 'ritual' of 'Dog Days Are Over' comes, the whole field is on its feet.
Parcels are the kind of band you'd expect to wind things down with (hits like 'Tieduprightnow' give off a chilled indie vibe), but a lot of the set actually leans more alt-disco, moodier and better suited to the late hour. The tent is packed and jumping again. The Aussie group trade lead vocals throughout, and at one point the band pour wine straight into a fan's mouth, projected up on the big screen for everyone else to enjoy. It's a slick affair.
Night Tapes catch some of that same crowd drifting over to the Buzz stage afterwards, and it's a smart pairing: dancey but mellow, the kind of chilled-out set that asks nothing of a crowd that's already given plenty elsewhere.
Manchester/Bristol's Antony Szmierek charges on stage ready to swing his hips, and the music is convincing enough that you join in without thinking about it. He calls his own performance 'a performance,' a nod to his years as a teacher, and it's hard to argue. For all the danceable energy (and his new record, 'Decoding Birdsong', is built on it), Szmierek is an introspective poet behind the beats, and that particular mix of sadness and bangers just works. 'This is my life, and thanks for sharing it with us,' he tells the crowd, and he means it.
In 2018 he came here to watch Arctic Monkeys debut new material. Now he's the one showing off new songs, and the handful played live for the first time tonight are strong additions: ‘Bookie's Favourite’ among them, a UK garage tune thickened up with heavy guitar, and 'The First Five Minutes of Magnolia' especially one to look out for. Despite implying the set-up is barebones (“all we could fit on the easy jet flight”) and joking that “we're only headlining the second stage because Fcukers have to go to Copenhagen,” the slot suits him perfectly. High energy, heartfelt and joyous dancing to lines like “I never feel lonelier”, beautifully contradictory again, and a smart bit of booking by Sziget.
The only way to burn off whatever energy you've got left at this point (3am Monday morning) is Dom Dolla at the Bolt stage. He's arguably more celebrity than musician at this point, but the well-known DJ earned that status somehow: he's reliably good at manufacturing the kind of constant, poppy peak moments that built his mainstream crossover, and drew the specific kind of fan who follows him for exactly that. The tent is up for it, and it's easy to enjoy a set where every drop comes with its own light show. Fair play.
Throughout Sziget 2026, act after act mentions this is their first time in Hungary, and they seem as grateful to be here as the crowd is to have them. It's superbly organised on a massive scale: not a single hitch stops anyone finding their favourite acts or discovering new ones, across a genuinely huge range of musicians and artists filling the island for a week. There's more to it than the lineup alone, and it makes for a real festival experience in a beautiful location. If you're looking for a new festival to try abroad, this should be on the list.
