- Who would have guessed on Friday afternoon, as the first tentative Disco 3000 festival-goers peered around the eerily quiet Petrcane site that by Sunday night friends would have been made, ears charmed, heads spun, feet worn and smiles almost worn out.
Friday
But so it was. As the inaugural Disco3K festival unfolded on Friday afternoon, initial fears were that there were only a fraction of the available tickets sold for this debut event. The fact that the initial Garden Festival on this site (only four years old and now numbering thousands) only sold 80 doesn't filter through. The rumour mill was spinning into overdrive—not enough people, only one boat party, less acts. What would it be like? Who cares? By the time Leicester's Innerzone crew were at the helm of the beach bar—the bamboo scaffold and DJ booth that extends over the sea—worries were already beginning to sink the same direction as the sun over the horizon.
Within a few hours, the crowd—a modest 200 or so—were beginning to congregate around the festival site. And already things were shaping up nicely. Rather than the Brits en masse that generally attend the more well-known and established Garden Festival or Electric Elephant, this was a friendly, chatty mix of Europeans and beyond. In just a few hours I'd met people from Holland, Belgium, Germany, Israel, UK, Serbia, Hungary, Ireland, the US and one reveller from as far as Hawaii.
Friday night's goodies included dub from Juju (from Juju & Jordash), DFA's Jacques Renault's disco selection, Gilb'R's breakneck disco/electro set and a loose-legged party set from Disco3K founder and host Trus'me. A late set from Smallville's Julius and Move D, moving inside to the '70s fantasy porn venue that is Barbarellas, extended late into the morning as David "Move D" Moufang celebrated his birthday early.
Saturday
Friday was the full moon, but it was Saturday that was touched by something magical. Maybe it was waking up under another crystal blue Croatian sky, or the fact that new friends had already been made, or that our ears had already had a teasing fix of bottom heavy house, disco and boogie. Whatever it was, something was in the air and something special was unravelling.
When reluctant dancers were shepherded off the Beach Bar's sea outlook stage, there were a few grumbles. But as soon as Edinburgh's Fudge Fingas pitched up for the first live set of the weekend in the main arena, a warmth began to bubble around the site. Gavin Sutherland's cosy live house would melt the hardest of hearts. (It had this reviewer and Keith Worthy agreeing they wanted to give the man a hug.)
Move D's stunning low-slung live sets have impressed all year, but tonight was the best we've heard him. As afternoon gave way to night, the air among Disco 3K's international crowd was already crackling. Just after 9 PM, Detroit's Patrice Scott pitched up behind the decks, joining Aesthetic Audio's Keith Worthy, who'd been chilling on site since Friday. "He always cuts it fine," joked Keith earlier. But what unfolded was much more than fine.
Each of these DJ/producers has laid down pristine ditch-deep house grooves on their respective Sistrum and Aesthetic Audio labels. Together behind the decks, dropping vinyl, they are deadly. Maybe it was the bottom-heavy Funktion 1 sound system bursting into the warm, clear Croatian night, maybe it was the international party crowd already blushed under a couple of days of sun, maybe it was something in the beer or partying under the stars. Or maybe it was hearing Kerri Chandler's mix of "This Sound Is Yours," or Moodymann's "I Can't Kick This Feeling" or lost classics on Rainy City. Wherever the magic lied, this was one hell of a party.
Wherever you turned someone was breaking out a new move, or dancing on a ledge or screaming at the next bassline or simply jumping up and down to the house message. Three hours down and it was over too soon; Trus'me took over for the last half-hour—Linkwood's "RIP" never sounded as good—before shuffling everyone inside the club for another tag team from Keith and Patrice alongside Manchester's Development DJs. Could it be bettered outside? Unlikely, but they had a good go. Outside the air was clean and full of midrange, inside it was smoky, sweaty and rumbling with bottom end. Most people stumbled off to bed by 4 AM, battered and happy. Tomorrow: Boat party.
Sunday
Hangovers and tired feet were soon forgotten on Sunday, as the sun beat fiercely down on a slightly more wobbly crew of shipmates for Disco 3K's solo sojourn. Squeezed into just one sea outing meant squished sets for all concerned. Amsterdam's Dekmantel dropped disco and Austria's Deephousemafia what you'd expect with a name like that. As the boat cruised slowly out, along the coast past Zadar and around the neighbouring islands that edge the Croatian coast in the Adriatic, smoke was blowing up onshore, a brief forest fire by the looks of things.
Out in more open water, Keith and Patrice once again stepped up. But it wasn't to be, as the wind wrenched needles from decks at every mix. Switching to CDs wasn't a happy choice for either DJ, but it meant we got to hear some untested new releases from both Sistrum and Aesthetic Audio, including Miles Sagnia's intense "Relativity" from Worthy's imprint. Offshore, wind gusting, the bushfire pyrotechnics provided stunning natural visuals, as two fire planes swopped low over the boat, collecting water from the channel to fly over and drop on the fires. It kept partiers entertained, the boat crews swearing they'd put it on for our entertainment.
By Sunday evening the crowd, clearly weary from a hard day's partying on the high seas, was diminished. But not enough to ignore Reincarnation, Dekmantel or Love Fever, tonight's hosts in and outside the club. From house outside to disco screamers inside, there was a feeling that no-one wanted to go home.
Disco 3k might have been small, but it was perfectly formed. Boasting all the correct ingredients for a fantastic party—a friendly, hard-partying, happy crowd, fantastic music, a beautiful setting, sunshine—and everyone promising to be here again next year, Disco 3000 is clearly set for a healthy future. Disco 3001, anyone?