The Garden Festival Croatia
The Garden Tisno, Petrica Glava, Croatia.
- 2nd - 9th July 2014
£120 for full 5 days and nights / special double whammy tickets with Electric Elephant £150.
thegardenfestival.eu
Croatia has become a land where festivals have thrived over the last few years, as new gatherings of music and people pop up every year, all keen to take advantage of the friendly environment for festivals and beautiful scenery. The Garden Festival Croatia was the first of these festivals to see the potential in the country. Starting out in 2004 around the city walls of Zadar, the Garden Zadar was a beautiful festival on the Dalmation coast, running successfully for 2 years, until the owners of the the Pinja Hotel from nearby Petrcane asked if they would like to take on a new challenge in their garden.
And so, on to ‘the next step' and 'one step beyond', as they say - Garden Tisno, and the 9th year of The Garden Festival Croatia! After some large attendance numbers, the festival organisers decided to limit the capacity to 2000 in recent years, and so retaining some elements of intimacy, but running over two weekends. The Garden Festival Croatia and Electric Elephant, running the weekend after, will join forces as some form of 'double whammy'.
Across the terrace with the main stage, the Tiki Bar overlooking the sea, the Barbarella circular club, the secret island party and the Argonaughty Boat Parties will be a multitude of live bands, DJs and outside promoters from across the musical spectrum. Highlights so far include Bad Passion Project, Beats In Space, Crazy P vs El Diablos, Edible, Flux, Futureboogie, Hidden Agenda, Just Jack, Krankbrother, Kontrapunkt, Last Waltz, Leftfoot, Louche, One Records, Ransom Note, Resident Advisor, Sunset Sound System, The Great Outdoors, The Pool, Tief, Underbron and Wolf Music. The first wave of artists set to play the festival will be announced as early as January, so keep a keen eye out.
If we can look quickly a little closer to now, we have the return of The Garden House Party NYE session at The Brunswick in Brighton, UK - also run in conjunction with Electric Elephant - as they lay on a Crazy P (DJ Set), The Unabombers, Red Rack'Em and many more across the night. Following this party will be The Garden Get Together Tour. More details on where the tour will head and who will be involved as we have it, although expect UK and Europe and many of thise involved in the festival itself.
Electric Elephant
The Garden Tisno, Petrica Glava, Croatia.
- 10th - 14th July 2014
£120 for full 5 days and nights / special double whammy tickets with The Garden Festival £150
electricelephant.co.uk
What were we saying about Croatia being a land of festivals and dreams? Electric Elephant, rolling in to its 7th year, takes place in the same beautiful setting as The Garden Festival, only one weekend later, and with the musical focus taken away from the disco side of things, to a more house and techno themed festival. Artists like Carl Craig, Frankie Knuckles, Danny Krivit, Prosumer, Ewan Pearson, Miguel Campbell, Ivan Smagghe and Michael Mayer featured across the three main stages last year, with the addition of the Argonaughty boat parties too.
This year, much of the lineup has been released already. Those announced include Chez Damier, Horse Meat Disco, FCL, Justin Robertson, Ashley Beedle, Rahaan, Max Essa, The Numero Group, Chris Duckenfield, Sean Johnston (Hardway Bros./ALFOS), Unabombers, Ruf Dug, Lowlife, Down To The Sea & Back - Kelvin Andrews & Balearic Mike, Kabal, Idiots Are Winning - Jake Manders & Louis Finch, Thunder, wOnK (Soul Mekanik), Krysko, 2 Billion Beats, Will TRAMP!, Il Bosco (Red Laser Records), Matt Ward (Wet Play/Piccadilly Records), Kosmonaut, Billy Scurry, Leon Sweet, Nick Acid Tree, Jan Hammered, Steve O'Connor, Martin Davies, Home Grown DJs, Ola, Engine DJs and Funky Navigation.
The ‘double whammy' essentially allows you to experience some of the highest quality electronic music over a 14 day period for less than 180 euros (£150 actual) - get involved.
Travel
The locations for both festivals - Tisno - is situated between Zadar and Split airports. Fortunately, the area is serviced quite well with flights through airlines like Easyjet, Jet2, Wizz Air, German Wings and Croatia Airlines, whilst Ryanair now fly direct from Liverpool and Edinburgh (to Zadar). Information tells us that flights and prices have now been released for these dates, so check sooner rather than later, as inevitably prices will go up.
Photo Credits: Heather Shuker + Khris Cowley.
