God help the artist who has to follow Chappell Roan. The organisers of Sziget – the six-day pop music festival held on an island along Budapest’s river Danube – understood this at least. The smartest decision the festival made was to save Roan for the final night. She is the sort of luminous performer that fans would fly all the way to Hungary to see: many did, as it turns out.
By the time I arrive, Sziget has already hosted headline slots by Shawn Mendes, Kid Cudi and Charli xcx. Saturday’s bill is topped by American DJ, Anyma, who lays down a set of theatrical and playful electronic music. The day’s highlight comes a few hours earlier: British singer-songwriter FKA twigs. Pulling mostly from her recent iridescent record Eusexua, twigs is utterly beguiling onstage, a tour de force of slick, punchy choreography. She’s flanked by writhing, near-nude backing dancers and a stage structure that vaguely calls to mind “Cell Block Tango” from Chicago. The crowd is thin and a little anaemic at first; by the end, she has thoroughly won them over.
