criticism

Long before this year’s Sziget, one could expect that one of the biggest bangs of the festival would come on Monday, the closing day. All three members of the most emblematic trio of contemporary EDM, Skrillex, Fred Again and Four Tet, also performed on this day. The three producer-DJs are a big deal in their own right, especially on one day, but the really big thing would have been if they would have played a joint set, as they did last year At Coachellaa Madison Square Gardenben or just the Times Square-in.

The project, which also goes by the name Pangbourne House Mafia, was not advertised before Sziget, you could only hope for a joint set. Fred Again finally on Monday announced On Discord, so that no one expects a joint party, because they were tired from the many trips and performances, and they couldn’t find a suitable time slot and stage on the Island to get together properly. It wasn’t until a little after midnight that it turned out to be Fred Again folk tales with twists and turns, in the end he told the truth, and he didn’t.

It’s like a new episode of Mad Max was filmed

Anyone who didn’t spend the first half of the 2010s under a rock must have heard Skrillex’s songs. Skrillex, who made dubstep, which is considered an underground electronic genre, a multi-million dollar business and almost another genre, brostep, came, saw and won, and then relatively quickly disappeared from the forefront of the mainstream in the classical sense. Then came the albums Quest For Fire and Don’t Get Too Close in 2023, with which Skrillex drew attention again, including collaborations with the other two main actors of last night.

Photo: János Bődey / Telex

Nothing proved this better than the fact that the auditorium of the Sziget’s main stage was nicely filled for the relatively early start at a quarter to eight. The combined effect of the arena shrouded in a cloud of dust, the masked people and the dark stage lit with red lights and flames gave one the feeling that they had fallen into the filming of the latest episode of Mad Max.

Skrillex kept the decibel and intensity level of his set at maximum from the first moment to the last. Even the sand island of Göd probably trembled in the bone-shaking bass, and Skrillex actually did what he wanted, mixing everything with everything. Sometimes Samurai Jack raves from Mad Max to his episode flew, then back to 2012, when all dance floors a From Bangarang it was loud.

It was a kind of mixture of old and new Skrillex, with techno and brostep, where old classics (remixes of his remixes) and new hits like the one with Fred Again and Flowdan fit together Rumble. But he spoke Harlem Shake it’s Flo Rida Good Feelingje and of course another drop came every third second. Skrillex didn’t interact much with the audience, but a brief David Guetta evocative shared a line of thought about how Eastern Europeans are the hardest partiers and that we should be happy that we are in such an exceptional situation that we can be here together. Then MLG returned memes for its soundtrack.

The production was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that there were practically no visuals on stage, only red lights and Skrillex’s logo in front of a large, black background. However, this large audience didn’t care at all, because during Skrillex’s set, a real, capitalized festival atmosphere prevailed: Hoka-shoe-wearers, bridle-wearing hippies and fan-wearing pensioners partied shoulder to shoulder.

Romance with a family atmosphere on the main stage

Only three quarters of an hour after Skrillex’s set, the crowd gathered for Fred Again’s concert in a completely different mood. Under the perfect crescent moon above the main stage, after a long, noisy intro, Fred Again emerged, surrounded by synthesizers and launchpads, to drown out another intro, this time playing piano and singing.

Photo: János Bődey / Telex

Even after that, Fred started a bit lukewarm, and the main stage was noticeably quieter under him than under Skrillex. The crowd, however, was much larger, which absolutely corrected the order of performances that seemed strange at first. For a long time, it seemed that Fred would break into the big stage despite the great interest, because despite the fact that, as usual, he mixed a lot of things live and communicated with the audience much more than Skrillex, his set was much less elemental than of his fellow musician.

However, the audience quickly picked up the thread, which also had a good effect on Fred, whose distinctly emotional, almost romantic EDM songs, often laced with live piano playing and vocals, resulted in an extremely human set. Fred, as much as he felt like an outsider on the big stage at first, he used it to his advantage in a few songs. The stage image was not exaggerated here either, but the display of the samplers in a huge TikTok feed in the middle of the stage was good fun. Anderson .Paak also came to the concert.

The more intimate Fred Again’s set was, the more often the party sat down, because Fred talked a little with the audience between each song, and even threw in the classic squatting game during one of the numbers. However, he suddenly appeared on a raised platform in the middle of the crowd with a launchpad, where he suppressed the Jungle his song, and of course Rumble as well, only he mixed it live, and these show elements made the concert very good. Fred Again threw a rocking party, which, after Skrillex’s planing, sometimes felt like a mediocre slice, and sometimes felt like a party with a nice, family atmosphere. It is certain, however, that it is a pleasure to see this epochal genius create.

The chess teacher who goes on a water excursion with her high school class

After Fred said goodbye to the 2024 Sziget main stage, Four Tet could come in the Revolut tent. As much as this venue didn’t suit bands like Yard Act or Big Thief before, it perfectly suited Four Tet’s set, the dark, closed space created a very good atmosphere for the techno-based party.

Photo: János Bődey / Telex

One thing is certain, Four Tet is not an extravagant figure. In his green t-shirt, he not only looked like a grammar school teacher who is about to go on a visit with his high school class, but his non-existent stage presence was nothing more than two tables pushed together and two IKEA lamps. Four Tet is on his album this year Daydream Repeat started with the song titled, but perhaps no one expected that after that he played the most conventional DJ set of the evening. As the ethereal harps of the first song floated out, the slicing began immediately.

Then, when the audience had been stomping for quarter of an hour, Four Tet conspicuously started waving to the back half of the stage, only to be joined at one point by Skrillex. This in itself caused cathartic screams from many, but nothing actually changed, the techno train continued to rumble, only two people were walking behind the table.

The chemistry between the two came through even in spite of the slow set, it was easy for them to rewind a missed drop at a sold-out concert, or for Skrillex to dance on the table with one of the mentioned lamps above his head. It’s a shame, however, that Four Tet was pretty much in the background, more than once he just wandered half-heartedly on stage while Skrillex warmed up the audience. Instead of the songs of the slightly weird producer with a peculiar atmosphere, we mostly just got a mini-Skrillex set, much less creative than the four hours before, but at least in a much, much warmer environment.

What’s even more unfortunate is that Fred Again really didn’t appear on stage, so the Avengers of electronic music really didn’t come together in full. I don’t know how Fred Again could have helped the situation, after listening to Skrillex and Four Tet’s joint set. But at least they suppressed Rumble together, which could be listened to three times in one night.