In partnership with Sziget Festival
Words: Jordan Bassett and Rhian Daly
Our friends and families back home in the UK might have been busy frying their eyeballs with the solar eclipse, but the vibe at Sziget day two was celestial enough even without a battle to the death for those little glasses to view it through. From Twenty One Pilots’ spectacularly ambitious headline set to Ashnikko’s otherworldly imaginarium on the Revolut Stage, there was a real sense of occasion on the Island of Freedom.
Upon arrival, NME was greeted by a bunch of friendly punters dressed in bodysuits that made it look like they were naked, though they had glammed up with bow ties for the lads and fancy handbags for the women. We also took a stroll through the Travelling Funfair to find a small puppet pig in genial conversation with a couple of Szigetians. Although it’s annual rather than once-in-a-generation, this festival is pretty eye-popping too. (JB)
Twenty One Pilots took Sziget to great heights
If there’s one thing you can count on Twenty One Pilots for, it’s putting on a show. Over the years, the Ohio duo have carved out a reputation as a band that don’t do things by halves, with a penchant for backflips and crowd surfing on drum kits. Their headline set at Sziget 2026 was the latest in a long line of theatrical performances, with fireworks and pyrotechnics glittering across the stage.
The drama reached full force after ‘Tear In My Heart’, when drummer Josh Dun carried a lit torch on stage and, like an Olympian kicking off the opening ceremony, mounted it in pride of place in the middle of the platform. As ‘Jumpsuit’ kicked in, fire burst out across the length of the back of the stage, turning Sziget into a riotous blaze.
When Dun once again emerged from behind his drums, it was clear he was on another mission – this time to get as high as possible. After running along the front barrier of the crowd, the cameras followed him as he deftly scrambled up a tower looming over the audience, where another drum kit awaited him; he settled himself behind it to continue anchoring ‘Drum Show’. Not to be outdone, Joseph joined in the vertical action later, mounting a similar – if smaller – structure in the middle of the crowd for ‘Ride’.
As if that wasn’t enough to mark the set as a spectacular, Twenty One Pilots roped in a famous face to really seal the deal. “I’m Jack White and I give Tyler and Josh permission to do this,” The White Stripes frontman said in a pre-recorded video message that illuminated the big screens. The “this” in question? A field-uniting sing-along of ‘Seven Nation Army’ that proved to be the icing on the band’s show-stopping cake. (RD)
Ashnikko took us through the looking glass
When she graced NME‘s The Cover in 2023, pop provocateur Ashnikko explained: “I feel like my concerts are a safe space for people and that’s the goal, really.” Certainly they drew a massive horde of like-minded fans to Sziget, as the Demidevils flooded the Revolut Stage well ahead of her 11.45pm start time and cheered whenever anything – literally anything – happened on the video screens that flank it. A minor fluctuation in a trippy, lava lamp- style visual? Weyyyyy!
When she did eventually appear, albeit offstage as their vocal was piped into the tent, the 30-year-old cackled at the absurdity of it all. And absurd – in the best way possible – it absolutely was. Ashnikko climbed onto the stage through a tiny door, which she’d apparently accessed via a tiny hole in her purse. The whole thing was very Alice in Wonderland, with the singer apparently undergoing some kind of transformation as a result of their journey through the looking glass. “Oh my God!” they gasped in time-honoured panto tradition. “What is happening to me?”
It never became quite clear what the answer actually was, but when the tunes and stagecraft are as jaw-dropping as this, it really doesn’t matter. From the crunching beats of ‘Microplastics’ to the grungy guitar of ‘Chokehold Cherry Python’, Ashnikko and her two dancers created a wildly immersive spectacle with their risqué choreography. Underlining the night’s all-singing, all-dancing MO, they high-kicked in unison, by which point the already-heaving crowd had visibly swelled. The applause was ear-splitting, the atmosphere as feverish as anything you’ll see at a festival.
She broke character only once. Towards the start of the gig, they announced: “If you don’t know, my name is Ashnikko and I’m gonna put a little performance on for you tonight!” “Performance” was the operative word for this sensational, transportive show, which made Sziget even more of a wonderland than usual. (JB)
The best of the rest
“We are Biffy Fucking Clyroooo!” Simon Neil screamed at several points during the Kilmarnock band’s early evening set on Sziget’s main stage. Who else, though, could put on a performance that rocked this hard while containing so much emotion? Throughout the slot, it felt like the group were constantly walking a tightrope between their two sides, sometimes veering into crunchy, mosh-ready anthems (‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’, ‘Hunting Season’), and at others digging deep into their feels (‘Black Chandelier’, ‘Mountains’, ‘Many Of Horror’). After a summer that’s already seen Biffy Clyro conquer their biggest headline show to date at London’s Finsbury Park, it’s clear that, three decades in, the band’s potency is only continuing to grow. Long may it continue. (RD)
Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands first became aware of Norwegian art-pop powerhouse Aurora when he saw her 2016 Glastonbury performance on telly. Festivals, then, seemed to be in the DNA of their ethereal electro collab, TOMORA. So it proved when the producer worked his magic behind the kit and Aurora and touring singer Amalie Holt Kleive belted out their operatic vocals, battered away at enormous bass drums and danced in formation to the bone-shaking bass. It was an apocalyptic rave-up interspersed with moments of quiet beauty, which peaked when Aurora spun like a ballet dancer so gracefully that it looked like a special effect.
Graceful might not be a word you’d use to describe HEALTH’s pulverising set on The Buzz stage, but the LA industrial rockers did lean into the apocalyptic side of things with their spooky synths and garrotting guitar sound. “It’s better than Zara Larsson,” one metalhead muttered to her mate at the end. (JB)
