- It's been a crazy summer in Petrcane. Five years ago, it was a sleepy fishing village on the Croatian coast, population 600. In 2010 the locals now spend their summers staying in nearby Zadar, their houses rented out to a revolving door of pleasure seekers who come for sun, fish and weekend parties that somehow always manage to roll through to midweek. This year, the five-year-old Garden Festival ran over two weeks and accommodated over 2,000 revellers, many of whom swapped increasingly wallet-worrying Ibiza jaunts for the cheaper, more relaxed parties now on offer on this stretch of Adriatic coast. And the festivals at this idyllic spot have grown—Soundwave, Electric Elephant, the Garden and Southport Weekender's SunceBeat were all incredible events with even more incredible line-ups.
Rounding things off this summer season was the inaugural Stop Making Sense festival, in the weekend last year occupied by Disco 3000. The premise for SMS was unusual—whereas most of the events in Petrcane have been musically dedicated to one sound, SMS had the feel of two festivals in one. Probably because the two promoters behind the event come from vastly different hubs—the quality house and soul of Need2Soul and the mostly live tropical soundclash of the Cargo group. The line-ups made for interesting reading for sure. (The Very Best, Radioclit and Friendly Fires next to Theo Parrish, Juan Atkins and Carl Craig, for instance).
Possibly because these two sounds make for slightly uneasy bedfellows, there were a few wobbly bits on the opening day—some confused house fans scratched their heads at Radioclit's African mash-ups on Friday and a woefully empty boat party on Friday afternoon. Some of the programming felt a little sketchy too. Brain-smashing 4/4 in the afternoon made for a tiny gathering, when most of the sun-kissed, blissed-out festival-goers might have preferred something a little more, dare we say, Balearic—Adriatic?—as the sun went down. But by the time Panorama Bar's Tama Sumo was throwing it down to a packed beach bar on Friday night, while Friendly Fires delivered a thumping set out of the top-drawer main-stage system, things sounded like they were coming together. And, when things moved inside to Barbarella's club for a Detroit shakedown from Juan Atkins and Keith Worthy, a serious party was unfolding.
Saturday brought scorching sunshine and some scorching sets to match. Although again possibly too much thump had been programmed for a Mediterranean afternoon, the set of the night belonged to Mark E—a DJ who always manages to do his talking via the groove. The highlight was a solid dub of "Club Lonely," but with E weaving between acid house, disco and his own well-crafted edits, it was cool all the way. On the main stage, you had the rubbery groove of Rebolledo, Optimo and the almost Eurovision house of Matias Aguayo that deservedly got the best response of the night. The main event on Saturday night, though, was inside the smoky confines of Barbarella's—a circular club straight out of '70s porn flick. Benji B brought a distinctly London flavour to the night, shifting gears between UK funky, Detroit house and techno and getting the best out a sometimes fuzzy system. Theo Parrish followed—bringing together Brasilian, jazz, disco and house in a solid performance that was all the more commendable considering one box of his records was stranded in the air-travel ether. Kicking off with Norman Connors' jazz-dance favourite "Mother of the Future," he succeeded in taking things, as one punter called it, to the level of a Theo rave. Quite a feat. Quite a party.
Sunday, as you'd hope, things delved a little deeper. The Warm boat party was the place to be on Sunday afternoon: Mark E and Warm's Ali and Rob smashed classics into new deep house joints as the awesome good ship Argonaughty circumnavigated nearby islands. Fitting crowd pleasers included "Club Lonely" (again), Blaze's "Lovelee Dae," Kings of Tomorrow's "Finally" and a rousing refrain of Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls." It was the best boat party of the weekend.
Back on dry land London's Secretsundaze took over for probably the most consistent chunk of programming all weekend. Giles Smith eased dancers out of their apartments and onto the main arena's dance floor before Wbeeza absolutely floored every weekender on the site and unveiling plenty of new jams in the process. Another Detroit big hitter, Carl Craig, started a little shaky with a jarring attack of "Strings of Life." But he clearly found his Sunday groove and laid down a sweet set.
Despite some disjointed music programming, SMS was well-organised, well-prepared and well-attended, proving a fitting end to a great season in this Croatian hotspot. Yes, it did feel a little like two parties shoe-horned into one. But the vibe and the enthusiasm were most definitely there.