- Festivals for people who don't like camping are common these days, but roBOT, which recently had its sixth edition in the beautiful and stylish city of Bologna, has to be one of the best. Like the Italian city itself, roBOT is pure class. The first few hours of each night took place in the glorious, thousand-year-old Palazzo Re Enzo, taking in sound-art installations, performances and film screenings as well as live music. Regular shuttle buses ferried attendees to nearby clubs TPO and Link, where the focus moved to the dance floor. Overall, the festival's bill successfully ran the gamut from challenging high art to big-room house and techno without compromising on quality.
The first day offered a leisurely introduction to the festival—a chance to explore the many rooms of the palazzo and enjoy some music without staying out too late. Tim Hecker's live show was the premier attraction in the spectacular main hall, with string and organ samples, heavy bass and fluttering electronic melodies ebbing and flowing over a crowd mostly reclined on beanbags left over from the film screenings earlier in the evening.
Day two at the palazzo saw the soft furnishings banished and a bill that included oOoOO and the abstract hip-hop of Infinite Livez. Then it was off to TPO, where Will Saul's live show as CLOSE was in full swing. As on his Getting Closer LP, the Scuba collaboration "Beam Me Up" was a major high point in an otherwise unremarkable hour. Jackmaster's unwavering party instincts brought the energy up with plenty of big pop moments such as "Blue Monday," before Berlin veteran Tobi Neumann, a guest at every edition of roBOT so far, closed out the night with a set of pitch-perfect house.
The most unmissable bill of the festival was on the third day at the palazzo. DVA Damas' moody, droning atmospherics and slo-mo samurai film visuals worked wonderfully in the main room, with the unreleased "Theme For Silence" providing a standout moment. Tropic Of Cancer (who featured Taylor Birch of DVA Damas' on guitar) maintained a similar mood, frequently evoking a submerged Chromatics, after which Holy Other's beautiful, Burial-meets-Purity-Ring sound completed a superb 1-2-3.
That night's midnight-to-6 AM segment was the first of two to take place at Link, a barn-like club on the outskirts of the city. We missed much of Mano Le Tough's early DJ set, but caught some of Seth Troxler, who drove the packed floor into a frenzy with The Prodigy's "No Good." Ben Klock's tightly-wound set ranged from stark selections like Radial's "Asiel" to stringier, more atmospheric techno.
The festival's final day offered up the gently oscillating hip-hop of Kelpe, as well as Thundercat's busy funk, after which Link hosted the mouthwatering finale. Pantha du Prince was the first of three heavyweights in the main room, and his live show was as gorgeous as always. Next up was Jon Hopkins' much-talked-about new live show, which included my personal highlight of the whole festival: "Open Eye Signal," which the London artist coaxed out of three Kaoss Pads, a mixer and a laptop. DJ Koze, as reliable a replacement as one could hope for following Apparat's recent motorcycle accident, closed with a long but always compelling set of top-drawer house and techno.
Before going to this festival I wouldn't have expected to be using the word "blissful" to describe it—these things usually involve some element of stress, not to mention creeping party fatigue and a vague longing for one's own bed. roBOT, though, had great music, excellent venues with crystal-clear sound and top-notch organisation, and, crucially, left plenty of time during the day for R&R in a supremely charming little city.