Garden Festival Zadar: 2 - 11 July
The 900-year-old Croatian walled city of Zadar is the place for dancing and summer sin this year. The Garden festival takes place between 'The Garden', a lounge club right on the walls of the city and on the beach of the Pinija Hotel, on a curving headland, partially hidden in trees, of Petrcane. The site itself is a mini paradise - a circular beachfront bar built into the sea with a large wooden terrace from which to watch the glorious sunsets. The heart of the action is Barbarellas, a seventies discotheque in the round that was built for the original advent of disco, but laid derelict for years until rescued by current owners Nick Colgan and Eddie O'Callaghan.
When Brittains club Electric Chair closed in January last year, there was much rumour and debate about what the founders, The Unabombers, would do next. Few could have anticipated that after 13 years of subterranean clubbing below the pavements of Manchester and an ethic that revolved around "a basement, a red light and a feeling", they would emerge into the sunshine and resurface on the beautiful Dalmatian coast of Croatia.
Breaking out of the basements has also allowed Electriks to showcase a hithero-hidden side of their music tastes. So, while they brought along longtime sparring partners like the house and disco Idjut Boys and the Balearic Aficionado, they also brought a bunch of psychedelic folk artists including Adem, King Creosote, Pictish Trail, Quiet Village and Liz Green. One of the highlights of the festival was a late night impromptu live acoustic set by John Stammers on the roof of the beach bar, which is about as far as you can get from the bass heavy sweaty basements The Unabombers grew up in.
The other highlight was the daily boat parties on the Argonaut - a couple of hundred salty old disco heads and electric souls setting sail every afternoon on the Adriatic for parties hosted by Lowlife, Homoelectric v Horsemeat Disco and Electric Chair v the Idjut Boys. Even Alfredo, the original Ibiza legend was forced to ponder if Adriatic is the new Balearic.
So, no basement, and the red light is now the sun dropping into the sea but, more importantly, the feeling remains intact.
Great music, beautiful people and unspoilt nature. Magical.
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