- There are plenty of things to love about Unknown. With a 7,000-person capacity, the event has many features you'd find at a small festival: few queues, an idyllic coastal backdrop and a generally hassle-free vibe. The lineup, however, is undeniably massive—Chic, Disclosure, DJ Harvey, Jamie XX and Moderat all played this year. There was only one ingredient missing: some half decent weather. Rain, disappointingly, was a near omnipresent feature this year.
On the face of it, a Croatian festival without sunshine is like a donut without the jam. But the music and the atmosphere at Unknown were so good that few people really cared. Maybe it was the number of Scottish people in attendance—a group as used to grey skies as any—but there seemed to be a determination to have a great time against the odds.
Chic were an Unknown highlight. A list of the "best party songs ever" might include David Bowie's "Let's Dance," Madonna's "Like A Virgin" and Sister Sledge's "Lost In Music," and Nile Rodgers wrote all of these and a whole lot more. This populist appeal makes Chic perfect for a festival and Rodgers delivered hit-after-hit with gusto. In fact, Rodgers has so many big tunes under his belt that he regularly reminds the crowd that Chic are not a covers band. A rare somber moment came half way through when Rodgers dedicated Sister Sledge's "I'm Thinking Of You" to his recently deceased friend and guitar tech Terry Brauer. It's to Rodgers's credit that he was able to convey such a sad message through such joyous music.
The first night also saw a top-notch performance from DJ Harvey. Weaving through dubby disco and sprightly house music, he managed to keep the feel-good afterglow of Chic's set alive. However, midway through the first rain hit. The next morning, things were still looking grim and a thick, soupy fog had enveloped the site. At one point it looked as though the day might be a total wash out. But at around 5:00 PM, fortuitously just before RA's boat party, the sun broke gloriously through the clouds. A second piece of good news came when Michael Mayer, deputizing for a sick DJ Koze, opted to play back-to-back with Optimo. The results were pretty spectacular from the word go, with Optimo dropping curveballs and a succession of nautical-themed records, peaking with Hues Corporation's "Rock The Boat." Mayer, to his credit, kept up the silly, carefree vibe by playing cosmic disco at the wrong speed and busting out anthems like Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" and Robin S's "Show Me Love."
The good weather didn't last long, and by the third day the forecast was still looking dire. In fact, the rain was so bad that the particularly juicy-looking island party with John Talabot and Jamie XX was cancelled. With the fun seemingly on pause, a stir-crazy atmosphere took hold in the festival's bar. Hungover lads played cards, tutting at the continuing deluge outside. But those with a bit more get-up-and-go found things to do. Impromptu apartment parties sprang up, and one dude I met used the downtime to visit the Salvador Dalí exhibition in the local town. Luckily by 4 PM things were back up and running, with Jamie XX and Talbot playing a cosy back-to-back set in the Unknown bar.
Musically there were plenty more highlights. Hunee's blend of rare soul, weird world music and jacking acid house was a rarity in that it got the train-spotters going as hard as the spangled ravers. Ten Walls playing "Walking With Elephants' on the week that it reached number three in the UK charts felt like quite a moment. As did Ryan Elliot's set, which saw the Berghain resident ditch serious house and techno in favour of humungous dance anthems. David Morales' "Needing U," Octave One's "Black Water" and Basement Jaxx's "Fly Life Xtra" all featured in his warm-up for Disclosure—a time, if ever there was one, to go big or go home.
Perhaps the secret to Unknown's success was that so many people I met there refused to take anything too seriously. One of the most talked about stages was Medina, a tiny enclave next to the main stage that played exclusively big hits. On the third night I strolled by to see one of the festival staff, who was notably sporting a tacky Adihash sweat shirt, playing R Kelly's "Vibe" to a rapturous, boozy response. If there was one person who was definitely having a great time it was Jackmaster. The Scottish DJ dressed a gang of Glasgow lads in Croatian football shirts, and spent the whole night after his Tweakaholic boat party in a generally over-excited state. At one point I saw his crew screaming ridiculous terrace chants while high-fiving members of the crowd. (To the tune of Sister Sledge: "We are family! Glasgow, Manchester and Leeds!") To some degree, it's the type of thing a lot of people at Unknown seemed to be doing, and it was exactly this carefree attitude that made the festival a success.