Next year's Sziget Festival will be five days, plus a "zero day" opener, two days shorter than this year's event, said the festival's press chief Viktória Vető. The lower costs will allow the organisers to keep ticket prices unchanged, in spite of inflation, and leave them with more money to draw big international acts. The great variety of music and entertainment the Sziget Festival has traditionally offered will remain unchanged, she said.
Vető attributed part of the reason for the decision to complaints about noise by residents near the island. She said the festival organisers would again make special efforts to ensure those who aren't enjoying the festival enjoy a peaceful night's sleep with the construction of noise barriers and an 11:00pm closing time for the Metal Stage and the Main Stage.
The festival organisers said earlier that District IV Mayor József Tóth had issued a plea to Budapest Mayor Gábor Demszky to prohibit noisy events between10pm and 6:00am. He urged the mayor not to issue a permit for the festival unless steps were taken to reduce the noise. The local council of District III, located on the other side of the Danube from District IV, also complained about the noise on the island.
A special committee of the Budapest City Council will decide in mid-January whether to issue a permit for the festival which has been a local tradition for the past 15 years.
