- The Garden Festival is a pretty enticing proposition. Located on Croatia's Dalmatian coast, it is one of the most picturesque festivals in Europe. The main site sits on a perfectly calm bay that rolls into green hills and lavender-scented grounds. It would be a lovely place to visit anytime of the year, but when you combine it with some top-notch parties, you can see why so many punters return again and again.
The days at Garden are particularly well-pitched. You can dip your toes in the sea and grab yourself a Prosecco cocktail, the Garden drink of choice, while listening to DJs like Mudd or Mark Seven. In contrast to almost every British festival I've attended, the vibe is strikingly aggro-free. Most people are more concerned with sunbathing than they are with rushing around to catch certain DJs. You hardly ever have to queue for a drink or to use the bathroom. You could easily treat the festival as a properly relaxing holiday.
Not that many people do. By evening, and with most people overly refreshed from all-day boozing, the site takes on a boisterous quality as the music switches to more full-on house and disco. The most obvious example was the stage invasion during Crazy P's excellent live show that was led by a gaggle of shirtless, glitter-strewn lads. Brawther and Tristan da Cunha's '90s-inspired beachside slot also seemed to send the crowd a bit loco, causing a response that could have broken the record for most fist pumps in an hour. Maurice Fulton was another standout. A master class in how to blend old and new music, his flow was so complete that he managed to kill the sound and eject some over-enthusiastic dancers without missing a beat. (Apparently he was unhappy with those standing on the speaker stacks.)
As the week headed into its second half, fatigue set in for many during the evening sessions. Metro Area's live set sounded excellent from where I was standing, but the crowd response was muted. Fortunately, Eats Everything followed with just the jump-up anthems to kick things up a notch. "Higher State Of Consciousness," an edit of Azzido Da Bass's "Dooms Night" and some old-school rave-breaks offered a gear change from the tasteful electronic music that largely soundtracks Garden. It's to Eats Everything's credit that he can pull of silly anthems without sounding corny. Needless to say, the crowd loved it.
Photo credit: Tim Ertl
An ace up the sleeve of the Garden Festival is the offsite afterparty venue, Barbarellas. A stunning open-air club that runs till 6 AM, it offers a rare opportunity to dance under the stars, and then as dawn breaks, the early morning sun. Acts like Soul Clap, Wolf + Lamb, Eric Duncan and Chez Damier all played during the week. The standout for me was Floating Points' genre-hopping performance. By skillfully working the EQs, he managed to inject another level of excitement into vocal tracks and propel dusty jazz funk to a point where it sounded totally modern. There was rare groove from Mighty Ryeders, wonky techno from Theo Parrish and even hard-knocking New York hip-hop—much to the chagrin of some local Croatians, who didn't seem to appreciate the drop in tempo or absence of a 4/4 stomp.
Bicep's set at Tief's afterparty was another talking point. Although the start was filled with their trademark retro house, the mood quickly changed as the music switched to rolling, bass-heavy techno. As the sun rose, party classics from Prince, D-Train and even Fela Kuti were aired. Anyone who thinks Bicep are just about derivative house music is clearly not listening closely enough.
Saying all that, the moments that seem to cause the most excitement at Garden are the boat parties. These are perhaps the only element of the festival that can become a little tense. Tickets, which come at an additional cost to the standard festival pass, sell out in minutes and are in high demand on site. One dude even wore a pan handling sign around his neck outside the dock for The Wolf Music boat. These are also the only places at Garden where you're likely to feel cramped as, unlike the rest of the festival, space can be at a premium.
Photo credit: Tim Ertl
Not that this takes away from the fun. Once on board, you're treated to a four-hour sail around a stunning Croatian coastline that cuts through azure blue water and past lush island outcrops. Musically, among the best boat parties was the RA cruise—Krystal Klear and Floating Points' mix of pop, salsa, rap, house and techno was hard not to love. Weirdly, the biggest cheer of the day came when Krystal Klear dropped Amerie's "1 Thing," a moment that you probably just had to see to understand. In terms of pure excitement, the Wolf Music boat took the biscuit. Literally every track from start to finish was met with loved-up screaming. A woman was even proposed to while at sea. Climaxing with yacht rock from the likes of Hall & Oates, it was the moment that really summed up why the boat parties are so adored at Garden.
All in all it was a fantastic week. The Garden festival is in a fortunate position as all it needs to do to keep everyone happy is not to change a thing.