So Sziget festival just released their second round of announcements for their 2019 festival taking place in Budapest. It included the likes of Post Malone, Sigala, Years & Years and Masego. After this announcement, it basically occurred to us that International festivals are way better than Irish ones, and here are 5 reasons why …
1) The Lineups Are Better
And this isn’t to say that Irish festivals don’t manage to attract world-class talent because they do. With Kendrick at EP last year and Chance The Rapper set to headline Longitude 2019, we can confidently say that the Irish festival circuit is full of globally recognisable acts, the problem is its diversity. As of late, festivals-like Longitude has been met with criticisms for only catering to specific genres of music but once you look at the rest of Europe you see a very different picture. This year at Sziget festival you can see everyone from the likes of Ed Sheeran to Carnage.
It basically means that you and your mate with differing tastes don’t have to fight over what festivals to attend this summer.
2) They’re Bigger
I don’t care what your girlfriend told you but size matters, It matters a lot actually. On average music festivals abroad tend to be bigger than the ones in Ireland with that fact brings with it a number of benefits. Firstly, it means that the acts are usually more diverse based on the size of the audience attending(see point 1) but it also gives you a better chance of really immersing yourself in festival life. It’s a little hard for me to get shamelessly drunk and make a full of myself if I’m scared of running into my Ex.
3) It’s a better adventure
Young people love to do stuff. What kind of stuff you may ask? All sorts of stuff, we’re not entirely sure… but what we’re sure about is that we live to stay active. Sure Ep is a fun experience and maybe you’re head down on a Thursday just to squeeze as much as excitement as you can possibly can out of that weekend but that’s pretty much it. Most of these international festivals take your Thursday preliminary camping and raise you a week/weeks of insane activities. For example, Interrailing Packages.co.uk are currently doing a 3-week interrailing holiday package that stops in Budapest for a week and includes a 7-day pass into Sziget festival as part of the package. Like….what???
4) Good Weather
I feel like I don’t even need to explain this one. I’m sure we all have fonds memories of Knockanstockan, knee-deep in the sesh trenches, fighting for our lives against waves of muck, rain and gale force winds. And I’m sure we all had a collectively great/disgusting time but….It would be nice to go to a festival where its ya know, warm? I’d love if wearing shorts at a music festival didn’t come with the distinct possibility of
5) It’s Just Cheaper
Yes, even if you factor in the flights these things just work out cheaper when you go abroad. Maybe its because mainland Europe is more competitive and therefore have to lower their prices to stay in business. Maybe it’s because God has abandoned us here in Ireland, who knows? What we do know that when it comes to international festivals- The tickets are cheaper/the drink is cheaper and the suppliers are cheaper. For example that Sziget package we mentioned before that included 3 weeks of travel, accommodation and festival tickets only cost 2050 euro
(and apparenly its cheaper if you have an ISIC card *hint* *hint* *wink* *wink*)