Balaton Sound Festival returns TODAY with a star parade

After a two-year break, Europe’s most prestigious waterfront electronic music festival, Balaton Sound, is set to return with a line-up of international stars. The fourteenth edition of the festival will open its doors today, on 29 June, at the usual venue in Zamárdi, with a record number of star performers.

Balaton Sound has become a trademark for featuring ‘A-list’ stars across various electronic music genres, including massive world stars from the mainstream electronic dance music realm – Martin Garrix, silver medallist in Dj Mag’s Top 100 list of the world’s best DJs, and the 4th in the Top 100 list. Alok, the top of the wishlists, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, the global star behind the mask, Marshmello, Swedish house genre phenomenon Alesso, German house hit makers DJ Robin Schulz and Paul van Dyk , Israeli psytrance duo Vini Vici and one of the Sound’s biggest crowd favourites Timmy Trumpet. “Balaton Sound is one of my favourite festivals in the world because Hungarians really know how to party. The people were as crazy as I was and I love it,” said Timmy.

Fans of techno, tech-house, minimal and house will not be disappointed with this year’s programme. The biggest underground electronic music festival in Hungary, B my Lake 2022 will take place at Balaton Sound, with two music stages and more than 50 international DJs of the genre.

The line-up of the Viper B Stage and the stage of the world-famous Spanish party series, Elrow, will feature iconic names such as techno DJ Paul Kalkbrenner, considered one of the genre’s greatest classics, three-time dj award winner Richie Hawtin, Sven Vath, Fisher, Deborah de Luca, Danny Tenaglia, Jamie Jones, Joseph Capriati, Monolink, Ben Böhmer and even some of the genre’s biggest stars such as Hernan Cattaneo and Nick Warren.

VIP experiences

Balaton Sound offers an incredible VIP experience that few festivals can match. Since 2019, those who buy a VIP day ticket or VIP season ticket have unique access to 4 themed VIP venues.

Opposite the main stage, the world of Las Vegas casinos is reborn and is the largest VIP venue at the festival. Spread over almost 2,000 m2, the ‘casino’ features a large grandstand terrace, boxes, comfortable sofas, red carpet, roulette tables, restaurants, bars and exclusive parties at night.

For those who like to gamble and put all their eggs in one basket, Las Vegas Casino Events VIP is a guaranteed winner. The theme of this year’s Balaton Sound Grand Stage VIP venue brings the colourful and vibrant atmosphere of casinos into every moment of the festival. The team of Las Vegas Casinos Budapest, Vegas.hu and Vipcasino.hu, will do their best to make the evenings unforgettable and bring the real casino experience closer to the visitors.

Every day between 6 p.m. and 4 a.m. anyone can try their luck at the America Roulette and Blackjack tables or on the slot machines in the form of a “fun game”, i.e. without any real money movement, and each player will receive a 10,000 HUF voucher to use in the casinos in Budapest. And if you fancy testing your fortune during the day, you can win a variety of prizes every day at the Las Vegas Casino Events Play Lounge on the beach.

The VIP Shore, a 1,000 m2 plaza on the waters of Lake Balaton, offers festival-goers canopies, sun loungers, snow-white sofas and a huge outdoor pool. A cocktail bar and a beach party with local DJs will be open from early afternoon until midnight.

The two venues’ shared VIP area will be built between the two iconic B my Lake stages, Viper B Stage and Elrow at CocaCola Stage. VIP guests will be able to enjoy both stages’ programmes from a prominent terrace. Between the two stages, a ‘Safari Lodge’ will be built on more than 1000 m2, with trees, vines, lush vegetation, exotic animal decorations, unique furnishings and cocktail bars.

Unique location: waterfront, beach, holiday

Zamárdi’s open beach offers a stunning and unique festival location, seen from anywhere in the world. The almost 1 km long waterfront allows the audience to enjoy the performances while cooling off in the waters of Lake Balaton. Everyone can enjoy the panoramic view of the northern coast and also capture the beautiful sunsets.

Most of the campsites are also located directly on the waterfront, and the festival also welcomes people arriving by sailboat, who can arrive and check in using water taxi.

Safety First: Sound is the safest way to enjoy a festival also this year

In 2018, the festival organisers launched the Safety First initiative to prevent risks and increase safety in entertainment venues and festivals, and this year, after two missed festival seasons, they have strengthened the initiative involving even more volunteers and digital solutions.

One of the main elements of the programme is education, offering preventive solutions with the participation and help of experts such as mental health expert psychologist dr. Krisztina Hevesi and toxicologist dr. Gábor Zacher.

Safety First volunteers, mainly students of medicine, national defence and psychology, will support the work of health and security staff during the event by providing assistance to festival-goers by patrolling or being on-call at various Safety First points.

In addition to education, the organisers of Balaton Sound are placing an even greater focus on digital development this year.

During the festival, the Safety First function will be available within the Balaton Sound app, which will serve the safety of festival-goers by allowing them to request help directly from the Safety First team, either by calling or sending a message, and the exact location of the person requesting help can be tracked.

Fashion, street theatre, performances

Over the last few years, artistic productions, theatre performances and artistes have become increasingly popular at Balaton Sound. This year again, the festival programme will be enriched by renowned street theatres from all over Europe, who will dazzle the audience with their impressive performances. The Mascotte Kite team will be returning from previous years, with their giant floating octopuses, and the crowd-favourite mirrored stilt waliking jugglers, the Serbian Mirror Crew. They will be joined by new festivalcomers Brincadeira, a dazzling marching band with LED lit drums, and the Italian Bubble on Circus.

Following the great success of the 2019 Kerényi Virág fashion show, the Balaton Sound fashion concept will be expanded this year, with the collaboration of two Hungarian and one Belgian designer, as well as the art direction of Márk Lakatos. Hungarian fashion will be represented by Borbála Ferencz and Márk Kiss, who will bring their hottest collections to the Balaton Sound waterfront catwalk, and Belgian designer Sander Bos will travel to Zamárdi as part of a collaboration with the Fashionclash fashion-themed festival to showcase the latest Benelux trends.

In the Dréher Arena, an impressive performance by acrobats will once again complement the music during the headlining DJs’ performances – silkies and hoop artists will practice their skills hanging from the roof of the grandiose Arena tent to add colour to sets by Nervo, Yellow Claw or even Paul van Dyk.

Stars requested

Balaton Sound is a favourite venue for big international stars, who often want to continue the party… Last festival, Martin Garrix, played a pop-up show in the dressing room area, inviting fans there for pizza. We don’t know what he’s up to now, but he requested a set of bluetooth speakers in the dressing room… whatever happens, we’re here for it!