DIMENSIONS FESTIVAL REVIEW

And so another festival has finished. Even though my expectations for Dimensions festival were lower than for Sonus – due to weaker line up, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. The Punta Christo fort is perfect for an underground electronic festival. And to place 8 different stages within the walls and ruins of an abandoned fort creates a perfect ambiance. In addition – the weather did not create any problems so if you still had some energy left from dancing all night you could have continued dancing all day at the beach.

The biggest stage was The Clearing – where major names played in front of huge crowds – and even though it was acoustically very good, that was not my favorite place to be. The Garden and Arija Stage were smaller stages were I didn’t spend too much time. My favorite bigger stage was The Void, and I felt best at The Fort Arena 1 and The Moat – as they look like tunnels in the middle of the fort. Noah’s Ballroom is the most amazing stage – it’s a circular pit with a sound system in it – the only thing is that not more than 75 people can fit in the pit. Then there’s the Mungo’s Arena which is quite a cool stage but as they were mostly playing drum’n’bass I didn’t spend any time there. Then there’s the beach – where there’s music throughout the day, where you can chill out, swim, dance… whatever you want.

These are the sets I’ve heard at Dimensions festival:

Viatori – ok, so I haven’t actually heard his set, but I have to mention him, because I have to express how amazed I am that a 15 year old boy is spinning at a festival like this, or spinning at all. I hope I’ll hear him play sometime soon and I wish him all the best in his career.

Herzel – I’ve heard this Macedonian guy play before and he was great. This time he played in Noah’s Ballroom, which is definitely the coolest place to preform at Dimensions festival, even though maximum 75 people can hear you play. His set was intense and bitter but in a very good way, and the atmosphere was intimate which is what I really liked.

Âme (Kristian Beyer) – I’ve seen his other half Frank Wiedemann preform live at Sonus and that still remains the best set I have ever heard in my life. However, Kristian was fucking awesome as well. I did not stop dancing for one second, and just like Wiedemann he was intense but not violent and emotional but not sleazy. Very proper, very organized and very very good. I hope I’ll get to see Kristian, Frank or both of them preform again soon.

Rødhåd – I knew that his music was very dark, but I wanted to see for myself whether it’s something I’d like or not. And I didn’t. The beginning of the set wasn’t so bad because there were various sounds included, but as the set progressed it got worse – in my opinion. I’m not saying he was technically bad but his music is too violent, too dark and not creative enough for my personal taste.

Daniel Avery – he was preforming at The Moat – a tunnel like space within the high fort walls. His set was also very dark, but I adored it – it was different than Rødhåd’s. The tempo of the set was really fast, the atmosphere was really dark, the music was incredibly loud, I could feel the bass in my chest and I loved it. He was very creative, there were a lot of different effects and I loved the progressiveness of the set. There was a beautiful clearance at the end of the set which was fabulous. The only remark I have is that there was so much mist and that the light show was so invasive that we didn’t get to see Daniel much – which is a pity – I like to see what the DJ is doing on stage.

Delano Smith – to be perfectly honest I wasn’t too familiar with his work and his performance in front of thousands of people at The Clearing stage was such an amazing surprise. Old school Detroit house and techno beats made the crowd dance like crazy. His set wasn’t too housy, yet not too Detroit techno – a perfect hour and a half, especially because I didn’t expect so much.

Legowelt (live) – one hour of such intense, fast, loud, but really interesting and creative music in the tunnel like, dark Moat. I wouldn’t let him play for 5 more minutes because it would be too much, or 5 minutes less because it wouldn’t be enough. It was perfect – like an aerobics class – you jump your soul out, dance like crazy and it’s finished after an hour. A very good, intense and interesting set which made me wanna find out more about this Dutch guy.

Felver b2b Jogarde – as if I hadn’t seen Felver preform in such a long time I had to go and support our Croatian guys again. The beginning of the set was a tad bit too progressive for me but as it moved on they were more severe, dark and intense which suited me and the crowd very well. The ending was perfect as after 2 hours of dark music they played Coma’s: Lora (Robag Wruhme Remix) which is cute, adorable and my favorite summer 2015 track.

Dusky – I didn’t listen to the whole set, but what I’ve heard was alright. Not wow, but not bad either. The tempo was fast and people were jumping around but I cannot say that I adore the kind of music he plays. My overall opinion is that he played an ok and correct set that I’m not dying to hear 20 times more.

Gerd Janson -I really liked the deep house beats, the summer vibe, the laid back atmosphere, the smooth track list… but… this is a set I wouldn’t play from 2-4 am the last day of the festival. This is a set I’d play at the beach party where it would fit perfectly. Don’t get me wrong – the set was really good, but it did not fit the time and place and that’s something quite important.

John Talabot – he was the main reason I wanted to go to Dimensions festival and it was totally worth it. He was not as fierce and intense as he can get in his sets – it was more of an emotional set but I really loved it. The track selection was lovely and the way he mixes tracks is very good. At 6 am, at the end of his set, with the arrival of the dawn, he played his remix of Jamie XX’s Loud Places and made me drop a happy tear. Thank you, you lovely Spaniard :* !

As mentioned earlier – what I loved about this festival was the location. Even though it’s hard to dance on rocks – an abandoned fort is the best festival location I have ever seen. The light show was amazing and the forest as well as the fort walls were colored in a lot of different colors. The crowd was good – maybe better than at Sonus festival. There was definitely more of an underground vibe. However, there were some idiots that pushed people, threw beer in the air and spilled it all over people… which is something I truly cannot understand and it really annoys the life out of me. But if we try to ignore that – besides the great location and a very good underground vibe I loved the fact that I discovered a lot of new artists at this festival which was not the case with Sonus. Sonus has a way better line up but you get lost in trying to see everything, while here I found the time to chill and to discover some artists I hadn’t listened to before which is a plus. In conclusion it’s definitely a festival you should check out and I’ll make sure to attend it again next summer.