13 June 2013 (gig)
13 June 2013
It works for Snowbombing, can it work for Croatia? Newcomer Echo Festival sought to find out last week. Foregoing the Bill It And They Will Come line-up strategies of EDM juggernaut Ultra Europe , Croatian national fixture Umagination or world's first mini-superfestival Hideout , Echo has followed the ski-festival approach and built an event out of an entire resort.
Set away from the usual Brit hotspots of Petrcane , Tisno or Punta Radman Echo takes place in the hiking-resort of Kanegra , a sizeable apartment complex set deep in a forest that filters down to a beach overlooking a glass bay - Slovenia visible in the distance.
The Site
Echo’s sell is built on location and here it’s undoubtedly onto something. Festival goers live in apartments based in thick forest that circles a wide clearing, in which sits a very well put together main stage. Drift downhill through more forest via some lost trip hop and mesmerising visuals and you land at the small stretch of beach, at the front of which is a smaller but equally serious looking second stage. That’s it. No levels of accomadation to separate the two-house housers from the budget holiday bass lovers, no entry queues, and possibly the best set up for apartment pre-drinks seen in Croatia thus far. Particularly since, unlike the ski-resort sessions on which the festival seems to be modelled, pregame here was a unanimously balcony driven affair - and with apartments side to side all at ground level - the atmosphere was instantly one of mass socialising.
The Line-Up
Was, like many first-born festivals (or children), not particularly planned, but delivered nonetheless. Headliners interspersed across the four days included Fred P , Magda , DBridge and XXXY topped a similarly mixed amalgamation of emerging London nights and individual artists. Genre wise or even programming wise there wasn’t a theme per say: particularly on the beach stage which managed to shift between garage, bits of disco, D&B and deep house set to set from around 1pm onward daily. DJs did manage to step up though: remaining comitted to a crowd that more often than not were torn between sunbathing and fist pumping, often managing both in in half hour shifts.
The Beach Stage, Slovenia in the background
The Vibe
The mantra of many Brit promoters locating events abroad is the promise that the event is both a festival and a holiday. Echo delivered here: a normal day for most beginning at midday down the beach with stage starting, before goers returned back to apartments for increasingly communal drinks at any balcony that had stolen enough deck chairs, then rolling back to a mainstage shortly before midnight. However, many asked: was it too much of a holiday? The crowd here were fantastic. A mixture of grads, some devoted followers of the DJs and a smattering of mainland Europeans comprised a unit immediately at home with balcony swapping, afterparty-hosting and booze sharing. But the lack of buildup or theme in the festival programming meant much of the small event did feel like that half-full house party: a bit of a steady burner
Controversy
Dawn on day three and as the sun came up and those still at the stages came down, stories began to echo (see what we did there?) about an altogether more sinister turn of events that had occurred at the end of Day two.
A whopping 56 arrests for drug possession or use were made at the end of day two - including 5 event staff and two DJs. That's approximately 1/10 th of the festival.
All arrested were ordered to drive to nearby town Umag and then to a local court in a neighbouring town. Fines varied from £60-£100.
Sweaty thoughts of your summer turning Midnight-Express churning through your mind as you pay out cash and panic in equal measure is bad enough, but worse, was to come. Whether orders came from Croatian authorities or festival promoters looking to balance the books is unclear, but Echo has now turned biblical on the subject of alcohol.
Alcohol can only be bought from the onsite bars. Pre-drinking in apartments was now out of the question, as guards searched all shopping that entered the site. The consequence of this? Night three didn't get going until about 11pm - people rationing what limited pre-game supplies were left before heading down to the festival. With a high amount of students / recent grads, many couldn't afford to spend the night propping up the festival on site bars.
Credit should be given however to the artists on the following night: with a more sober crowd kicked back into life by an uplifting dawn seeking set from Nick Hoppner. whilst down the beach, Lenzman kept people going well into the sunrise with a smooth liquid D&B session.
Overall
An step away from the more standardised Trusted-Site & Boats approach, Echo’s vision is attractive: use a self sustained resort - building a tight community on site as the ski festivals have done. This festival has the makings of true summer fixture: the beach stage set right by the sea, DJs playing as the sun comes up across the shimmering water, the beautifully lit field stage. The last night summed up the experience in some ways all too well: An epic thunderstorm saw a devoted crowd jammed under hastily erected umbrellas - lightning smashing into the sea as house pounded through heavy rain. Then the system died. The response? The crowd laughed it off, and cheerfully headed off to a string of ipod-powered afterparties - before heading back down the beach for sunrise. It was friendly, it was fun, but it just felt more like a holiday than a hot, sunburned oh-my-god-what-was-that-tune / we’re not sleeping for 4 days / I have to find him/her again foreign festival.
Conclusion
This festival site has everything going for it. Further, if the core crowd can be retained, then the next few episodes could build Echo into a powerful event. However, Echo needs to evolve beyond being a holiday with music. Promoters: You’ve got a lot right here: but don’t do this alone. Get a line-up strategy, get a PR hype campaign, get big stage takeovers, have that conversation with the police - a great festival is in the making.
