More than 152,000 people have visited VOLT Festival over its five days last week in Sopron, Hungary, and around 40,000 guests were on the festival ground when heavy metal icons Iron Maiden headlined the festival on Thursday, selling out VOLT that day.
Festileaks was there and asked over 100 festival goers about their opinion on six categories of the festival experience. We present the average grades in the Festival Report. We will do this at several festivals all over Europe this summer. Want to stay updated? Follow Festileaks on Facebook or Instagram.
This was VOLT Festival 2018 according to the festival’s visitors.
Lineup: 7.7
VOLT Festival had an extremely diverse line up from both international and Hungarian bands, with headlining shows from Depeche Mode, Hurts, Iron Maiden, Steve Aoki and Avenged Sevenfold. There was live music on five stages, and plenty of DJs around the festival ground played their sets all day long, finishing the party at 6am in the morning. Overall, people were satisfied with the music programme, however Réka (26) said: “I would have appreciated more rock disco at the festival”.
Side programme: 6.9
Apart from music events, VOLT offered a lot of other activities during the day. For those who wanted to chill a bit, the Secret Garden was always there with nice vibes and fancy sheep. You could play board games, watch the World Cup, and do some fun activities with VOLT Scouts. The Civil Zone had a lot of tents with informative games and activities, and you could learn more about brand falsification and copyright issues from National Body Against Falsification (Hamisítás Elleni Nemzeti Testület, HENT), about taxation and customs from National Tax and Customs Bureau (NAV), and also about nuclear energy. You could get a lot of gifts after taking part in these interactive games, and at HENT you could also enter a prize draw to win a pass to STRAND Festival. In the evening the Garden Cinema provided chill entertainment, if you wanted to relax a bit before partying all night long.
Atmosphere: 8.0
VOLT Festival has an amazing vibe, people are partying all day long, singing and dancing together until the sun rises in the morning. “VOLT is one of the best festivals in Hungary, extremely safe and well organized, I can only recommend it”, said Dorka (22).
Location & looks: 8.2
The organizers of VOLT really paid attention to make the festival look great: the festival ground is really colourful and well-decorated, creating a unique atmosphere in every corner. The massive rain on Wednesday had a huge impact on some roads, but the organizers tried their best to overcome the issue of mud.
It was easy to get into the centre of Sopron: if you did not want to walk for 20 minutes, you could take shuttle buses or a taxi from the taxi station at the exit of the festival. However, on busy days – like when Iron Maiden was headlining – the shuttle buses were not too reliable. Peti (21) said: “the 10-minute bus ride took more than an hour”.
Food & drinks: 7.9
VOLT had a huge variety of food, from traditional Hungarian dishes to pastas, kebabs and chips. The best Hungarian festival food trucks were present at VOLT this year again, like Zing burger, Kolbice and Digó pizza. Aldi supermarket was also on festival grounds, and they even prepared grilled foods you bought in the shop. For Zsófi (19), “Aldi was the best”. VOLT provided vegetarian, vegan, gluten- and lactose-free options as well.
As for the drinks, there were always enough bars, and at Sopron Stage – Poncichter Wine Festival you could find a huge selection of Hungarian wineries. The re-cup system was a new addition to the festival: you had to buy a reusable stack-cup with your first drink, which they changed for you when you bought your next one. “You can’t exchange your re-cup back, which is not too convenient”, said Csaba (25).
Klaudia (22) summarized how most people felt about food and drinks: “The offers are amazing, I love the variety, but it is a bit too pricey”.
Logistics: 7.2
Generally, visitors were satisfied with the logistics of the festival. Toilets, bars and stages were organized logically. However, there are a few things visitors noted and missed from VOLT. Ádám (23) said: “it would have been better to have an information point in the inside as well, not only at the entrance”. Shower curtains were torn down, and the mobile toilets had no water inside to wash hands.
All facilities were enough for festival visitors, but it was a bit too overwhelming for the logistics when it was full house on Thursday with Iron Maiden headlining. By late afternoon you had to queue up for 20 minutes to go to the toilet, and after the massive rain on Wednesday the festival ground was already extremely muddy. A sold out day with 40,000 guests made the situation even worse.
Next year’s VOLT Festival will take place from 26-29 June 2019 in Lővér-kemping, Sopron. More news about ticket sales and lineup will follow later this year.
