Upcoming music festivals in Hungary: Summer 2012 UPDATED

(Source: http://www.festivals2go.com/en/galleries/galleries-detail/images/3/sziget-festival-2010/-/1/ )

You might know the saying "Every man kindles fire below his own pot." (in Hungarian: "Minden szentnek maga fele hajlik a keze"). I admit that this was exactly the case with this post and me now. I was preparing my Friday breakfast and thinking what I should write and then I had the idea to check the upcoming festivals in Hungary, since I wanted to check some anyways.

For example Sziget Festival will have its 20th anniversary this year and it would be nice to check it at least for couple of nights, also because it was chosen for the best music festival in Europe and I have not been there since 2007. But I like VOLT Festival as well, which is in West-Hungary in a camping area in the Lővérek mountains in Sopron

I was interested in 5 festivals: SZIGET, VOLT, EFOTT (the homepage is in Hungarian, but you can translate it with Google page translator), Heineken Balaton Sound and Ozora.

1. Sziget Festival

Time: 6-13 August

Location: Budapest, Hajógyári-island

Price: with camping until 30th April 195 EUR, after May 1st 225 EUR for the whole week, without camping 165 and 195 EUR; daily ticket until 30th April 40 EUR, after 1st of May 45 EUR. If looking at the prices it has to be mentioned that it is a festival which is really organized with professional care and experience. They have good infrastructure for bath, toilets, eating places, emergency aid, luggage lockers etc. Above this they have lots of stages, cultural events and the music is going on until the morning each day. 

Webpage: http://www.sziget.hu/festival_english/?language=en#.T2LbpBHxqM4

Artists I am interested in: Bebel Gilberto, Korn, Mando Diao, Magnetic Man, Placebo, Beatsteaks, Axwell


2. Fishing on Orfű


Time: 21-23 June
Location: Orfű, Hungary (near Pécs, Southern-Hungary)


Price:  if you buy the tickets until May 16th it is 30 EUR, between May 17th and June 20 th it is 32 EUR. Ticket for the tent costs approx 1,8 EUR, Daily ticket prices coming soon


Webpage:  http://fishingonorfu.hu/2012/foo.php?site=jegyinfo you can use Google Translate to translate it
Artists playing at the festival: good Hungarian bands http://fishingonorfu.hu/2012/foo.php?site=program

3. VOLT Festival

Time: 27-30 June

Location: Sopron, Lővérek Camping

Price: Festival Pass until 15th April 75 EUR, 15th April-15th June 90 EUR, after 15th June 100 EUR, daily ticket 32 EUR, 35 EUR, 39 EUR for the same dates

Webpage: http://www.sziget.hu/volt_english/?language=en

Artists I am interested in: Katy B, Lostprophets, Iggy and the Stooges (Iggy=Iggy Pop), Snow Patrol, Skrillex

4. EFOTT

Time: 3-8 July

Location: Velence-lake (close to Budapest)

Price: http://efott.hu/jegyek/jegyarak (in Hungarian, use Google page translate or ask here).14.500 HUF-19.000 HUF (50-65 EUR) for the festival depending on when you buy the tickets. Daily ticket price around 10 EUR.

Webpage: http://efott.hu/

Artists I am interested in: EFOTT is called officially"National Touristic Gathering of University and Applied Sciences Students". It is positioned as a festival which represents the most famous Hungarian artists from each music style. My brother and his friends go here each year and they like it quite much. The location varies from year to year.


5. Veszprém Street Music Festival


Time : 4-7 July


Artists and programs: This festival is a very unique one. Every one can attend as musician who dares to stand in front of the public with her or his music. It is not an amateur even though, because the city of Veszprém is offering stages and other logistical background in order to offer a great show for the visitors.


They also offer prices, the winner of the band and the winner of the solo musician category both win a price of 1700 EUR. The judges deciding are both the professional judges and the public.


Webpage: http://www.utcazene.hu/
Tickets: almost all of the programs are for FREE

6. Balaton Sound

Time: 12-15 July

Location: Zamárdi, Balaton

Price: Festival pass until 15th April 110 EUR, 15th April-30th June 125 EUR, from 1th July til on the site 135 EUR, daily tickets 45/50/55 EUR. You can even buy VIP-tickets..

Webpage: http://www.sziget.hu/balatonsound_english

Artists I am interested in: Björk, Dubfire, Carl Cox, Example, Steve Angello

7. Ozora

May be this is the most "subcultural" festival from all, so it is worth to watch some videos, cause you might love it or you might say that nouuu it is not my style at all.

Time: 7-12 August

Location: Ozora

Price: from 12th March until sold out (limited) 80 EUR+ service charge (1-10 EUR), March 12th-15th July: 100 EUR+service charge (1-10 EUR), from 15th July-at gate 120 EUR

Webpage: http://ozorafestival.eu/ 

Artists I am interested in: I do not know these artist so much, but if I would go here it would be because I am interested in the decoration and the atmosphere, plus I like to dance. 

You can search the above mentioned festival also on Facebook, because they have their own pages.

An other interesting sounding festival (not music, but food) was the Budai Gourmet Festival , it is between 3-5th June. The 3rd of June is a Sunday this year, so you can catch the festival even if you only make a short weekend-trip to Budapest.

I have a detailed Budapest travel plan on this blog, just type "Budapest" to the Search option if you want to have a look at it.

You can also pay with OTP SZÉP-card for the festival tickets.