Photo credit /
Dan Kirsic - Lead
Rob Jones - Kraftwerk
Callum Chaplin - Volvox, Skee Mask, Mala, Hessle Audio + Batu,
Chazz Adnitt - Peggy Gou, Fatima, Kuniyuki, Ezra Collective, Craig Richards, Nina Kraviz
Katy Berry - Shy One, Water
Dimensions Festival 2018: Five key performances
- PublishedSep 5, 2018
- Words
- From Kraftwerk to Volvox, here are five standout sets from one of Europe's best festivals.
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- The rain gathered momentum at around 1:30 AM on Monday, glittering against the menacing red light in a moat with towering stone walls. As a fork of lightening shot across the sky, and white spotlights swivelled high above like UFOs, Jlin was busy bending minds with her warped productions. Tracks like "1%" and "The Abyss Of Doubt" felt custom-made for the setting.
The night before, as Paula Temple got ready to play the second of Resident Advisor's two parties in Zerostrasse, a network of tunnels beneath Pula, I noticed a sticker on her mixer that read "WOMEN MAKE MUSIC." From up-and-comers like Imogen and rising stars like Courtesy to heavy-hitters like Helena Hauff—the queue for her set at The Moat defied description, with many giving up and opting to see Avalon Emerson—women reigned supreme at Dimensions this year. A special mention must go to Josey Rebelle, who played at least four times, including warming up for Kraftwerk.
Over the course of five days, I danced on a boat, on the beach, in a Roman amphitheatre, inside a subterranean war tunnel and surrounded by a 19th-century fortress. Fort Punta Christo, where Dimensions has taken place since it began in 2012, is spectacular. This year's edition was subject to a fraction of the upheaval experienced during 2017's electrical storms. The festival team monitored the weather at all times, and the music was due to stop if the storm reached level four. I was impressed by the communication across the site and on social media, and it meant I missed no more than three hours of music because of stage closures.
Dimensions is pretty expensive. On top of the ticket price, you pay extra for the opening concert, boat parties, tunnel parties and even a camping spot. But it was a breathtaking experience, easily one of the best festivals in Europe for electronic music. With a dedicated fan base that return year-after-year, its continued success, as explained by one of the cofounders at Wednesday's opening concert, is based on a simple yet powerful concept: "underground music for the heart."
Here are five key performances from across the five days.
Kraftwerk "Here come the Zimmer frames!" Someone chuckled as Kraftwerk took the stage in the world's best-preserved Roman amphitheatre. As they worked their way through hits like "Numbers," "The Man-Machine," "Radioactivity" and "Tour de France," glowing numbers, musical notes and spaceships floated into the crowd courtesy of 3D glasses distributed on entry. Looking back from the dance floor, it was surreal watching rows of people in identical eyewear, thousands of green squares glued to a screen bright with primary colours and geometric shapes. Though the crowd was transfixed, the dance floor never felt united, perhaps as a result of the glasses making for a somewhat insular experience.
Volvox The rocky ground at Fort Punta Christo can be hard on your feet, and Volvox's set of pummelling techno at The Clearing on Thursday added to the strain. A white triangular stage flanked by two large pylons, The Clearing is en route to the fort from the campsite. The sound was loud and crisp, only slightly marred by the bass audibly bouncing off the sound desk. As the pylons flashed an eerie green, yellow spotlights swivelled overhead and strips of golden LED bulbs lit up above the booth. Volvox played to a strong crowd—though some were lost in the lengthy queue for Nina Kraviz at The Moat. The echoing synths and thumping bass of cuts like Madben's "In Depth" and the abrasive noise of "Routine (Scalameriya Remix)" by Vlaysin had the crowd pounding their feet as she deftly punched the air, her top knot wiggling from side to side.
Skee Mask Following the release of Compro, Skee Mask has become a cult favourite. Both of his performances—Friday's dub set at Subdub Arena and Saturday's in The Stables—were well attended. On Friday, dancers lined the stone steps, snapping pictures of the crowd and writhing to cuts like Bok Bok's "Look (Dub)," "Next To You" by Todd Edwards and the experimental tones of Four Tet's untitled remix of Aphex Twin. The following night, with the red Dimensions sign glowing from the top of the fort, his genre-bending set also shifted drastically in tempo, switching at one point from hard techno to dubstep (RMarney & Captain's "Banshee"). Later, he reached for the hard kick drums of the London label Even The Strong before closing with footwork cuts like "WTF You Here For" by DJ Taye & DJ Manny.
Peggy Gou A far cry from the loose, sun-drenched vibe of her boat party set earlier that day, Peggy Gou's Friday night performance at The Garden was a much heavier affair. "I'm seeing a darker side of Peggy tonight," someone said. Her devout fans forgot their fun-loving chants and put their heads down for some serious dancing. Though The Garden's sound suffered further back, up front it was strong, and the crowd grooved along surrounded by trees illuminated in pinks, greens and blues. Gou swapped breezy melodies for bleeps, squelching synths and driving basslines, choosing tracks like Model 500's "OFI" and Deko!'s "How Do You Like Your Cookies." Later, as Four Tet's remix of Nelly Furtado’s "Afraid" rolled out, someone down the front furiously waved an inflatable alien.
Fatima Dressed in glittery flares, a single white glove and big sunglasses, Fatima was glowing as she hit The Beach stage on Sunday afternoon. The same couldn’t be said for the crowd, who, five days in, were looking dishevelled. The show was perfectly timed, injecting some much needed warmth and energy into the weary punters sprawled on the stone beach and curled up on the grass at the back of the dance floor. The braver among them came to dance barefoot on the sand. Fatima, whose voice sounded even better live than on record, focused on newer material as the sun began to dip, with highlights including "Somebody Else" and recent single "Caught In A Lie." We've compiled YouTube and Spotify playlists with some of our favourite tracks from Dimensions 2018. Check them out here.
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