Balaton Sound

46°53′2.55″N 17°55′31.43″E / 46.8840417°N 17.9253972°E / 46.8840417; 17.9253972

Balaton Sound (also known as Heineken Balaton Sound between 2007 and 2012 and as MasterCard Balaton Sound since 2013^[3] for sponsorship reasons) was one of Europe's largest open air electronic music festivals. Held annually since 2007 on the southern bank of Lake Balaton, Hungary, it featured live acts and DJs from all around the world, from established artists to new names. The event was co-created by the organizers of Sziget Festival.^[4]

The first Balaton Sound festival was held between 12 July and 15 July 2007. The fact that the event was held on the shore of the largest lake in Central Europe in mid-summer, its twenty-hour music schedule and the line-up gained it significant public interest.

The festival was located in the western part of Zamárdi, on a 2.5 kilometre stretch of public beach.^[5]

Inside the festival area, a variety of stages, lounges, and tents were established for performances. The sponsors of the festival created luxurious chill-out facilities with hammocks, bean bags, and easy chairs. Visitors to Balaton Sound could stay at a special campsites with several pubs, cocktail bars and restaurants equipped with accoutrements absent from Hungary's other summer music festivals. The Main Stage area had a capacity of about 50,000.

According to a KPMG study over the four days of the event in 2008, 88,000 attendants visited the festival while the daily average reached 22,000. Over 1.6 billion HUF was spent by visitors in total, 41,000 HUF per person, mostly spent on entrance fees, food and accommodation.^[6] In 2009, the number of festival visitors reached 94,000.^[7] In 2012 it became the second largest music festival in Hungary (after the Sziget Festival), and one of the most populated electronic music festivals in Europe.^[8][9]

The 2012 festival won the European Festivals Award in the category Best Medium-Sized European Festival in early 2013.^[10]

In 2018 the festival headliners included (amongst others) David Guetta, Alesso, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and The Chainsmokers. A statement by the festival producers confirmed that the 2018 festival broke its previous attendance record, with 165,000 attending, 8000 more than the previous record.^[11]

In 2016, 157,000 people visited the festival. 165,000 in 2018 and in 2019, 172,000. All three years broke attendance records.

The festival was postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Following the 2024 event, rumours began to circulate around the future of the festival and that the given year was the final occasion that it would take place. These were later confirmed by the mayor of Zamárdi, Gyula Csákovics, who stated that the town no longer wished to another Balaton Sound in Zamárdi from 2025 onwards,^[12] nor would they host any other major music festival instead.

Pre-sale ticket prices:^{[13][14][15][16]}

The following were the festival line-ups for 2007,^[17] 2008,^[18] 2009,^[19] and 2013.^[20]

2007:

2008:

2009:

2013:

2018

Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, The Chainsmokers, Martin Garrix, NERVO, Timmy Trumpet, W&W, David Guetta, DJ Snake, TY Dolla $ign, Jonas Blue^[21]

• View of the lake by sunset. Tired attendants can relax on the pier built by the main sponsor, Heineken.
• High point of the party inside the Samsung Mobile Arena while David Guetta performs
• Radio1 stage, late afternoon on the third day of the festival

• List of electronic music festivals

• http://www.sziget.hu/balatonsound/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20090412155703/http://globetrekker.hu/balaton-sound-09/
• https://archive.today/20130103062016/http://www.hungarotickets.com/balatonsound/