Amongst the first names of the Pop-Rock Main Stage you get Pulp, coming back on stage after a long period of silence and already announcing that 2011 will see them playing only a few big festival gigs – including Sziget Festival, of course – in their classic line-up. Dizzee Rascal was chosen as the best male performer at last year’s BRIT Awards, and this time all Sziget-fans will have the chance to see why. Main Stage will also host Chicago-based melodic hardcore act Rise Against, Californian rockers Smash Mouth and folk-punk icons Flogging Molly. Interpol is currently on tour with their new album and without any doubt they are going to be one of the most awaited bands of this year’s Sziget Festival. The delicate, enchanting chamber-pop of The National has already fascinated the audience of the world’s most important festivals, and it was definitely not by accident that they received the album of the year prize from Q magazine. Sziget-fans were crazy about Gogol Bordello, so we are more than happy to announce that they will return this year, while Chemical Brothers also promise a spectacular new show for 2011.
The A38-WAN2 Stage has been offering a wide selection of trendy and cult bands year after year and this process goes on also in 2011. The venue will host Marina and the Diamonds, who is not only a fashion-dictator, but was also nominated for BRIT, BBC Sound and NME music awards, and has even received the prize of the best British/Irish band of the year at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Another great band playing on this stage will be Skunk Anansie, a band hard to label in terms of genre, playing an interesting merge of metal, reggae, electronics and post new-wave. And we should not forget about Hurts, flagship of contemporary British synthpop, awarded as best new band on the 2011 Shockwaves NME Awards.
Sziget Festival has also a lot to offer for the fans of harder styles. This year organizers will make sure that rockers can get out of their well known tent and enjoy some fresh air with the introduction of the Metal Main Stage. The venue will present rock and metal acts in an open-air scenery with two international and two domestic stars playing each day. For this stage the focus is not necessarily on following the latest trends, rather on highlighting brutal guitar-riffs and some of the legends of the scene. The two early names announced suggest that this venue will be one of the most popular stages of the festival this year. Who are they? According to some fresh news, one of the most important metal bands of all times, Judas Priest is going on tour for the last time ever and they will definitely visit Sziget to make sure fans get stiff necks after a crazy night of headbanging. Motörhead will also return to Hungary, playing a thundering, high-speed, friendly and evil gig like they always did throughout the thirty-five years of their career. If you have ever seen them before, you already know that they simply ignore the age factor, so their live shows are as crazy and wild as the ones you get from musicians half of their age. Co-headliners playing at the venue will include Finnish power-metal heroes Sonata Arctica, already crowned with four golden records and surely considered as one of the most striking bands of the scene.Last but not least, another great piece of news: you can buy your Sziget Festival tickets in 2011 for the same price you did last year. Early bird weekly tickets (including camping) are available for 170 Euros till 30 April and if you are not the camper type you can buy a non-camping weekly for 140 Euros. The prices will go up 30 Euros each after the early bird period is over, so it does make sense to think ahead. Daily tickets will be available for 45 Euros.
