27 August 2010 (gig)
06 September 2010
Reviewers: Sarah Bridges & Lisa Brown
27th, 28th, 29th August - Petrcane, Croatia
The picturesque fishing village of Petrcane, on Croatia's Dalmatian coast, plays host to the Electric Elephant festival. Now in it's third year, Electric Elephant, sets up home for 3 days in The Garden, a site well used by a host of other festivals, promising cosmic, spiritual fun on the Adriatic Sea.
It truly is a beautiful setting, a 900 year-old whitewashed fishing village, surrounded by lush landscape, dramatic mountains and clear-blue seas.
Electric Elephant is the brainchild of the guys behind Electric Chair in Manchester, offering an eclectic line-up of cosmic, electro, spaced-out disco, sound system reggae, and a handful of folk; bite-sized slices of musical dreaminess to suit an open-minded crowd.
The festival site was an intimate one, with room for about 1500 revellers. By day it was a chilled out affair, beautiful people drifting around in their swimwear, or lying on beds in the shade. The Tiki Bar played out the day's soundtrack with DJ sets from Moonboots & Jason Boardman amongst others while Richard Norris warmed things up into the evening. The crowd were easy-going and it was small enough and relaxed enough that everyone became your friend.
There were of course the legendary boat parties that set sail twice daily from the bay, with about two hundred guests partying into the sun, four hours of music and fun from a whole host of DJs, including the legendary Unabombers and Elliot Eastwick with his World Famous Pub Quiz. The later boat trips enjoyed the spectacular sunsets that are famed around this stretch of coastline.
Back on land, there was a live set from the much-hyped F*** Buttons on Friday night on the main outdoor stage which really got the crowd going. The Phantom Band headlined on Saturday night, whilst Elliott (Naive Melody) took to the decks at the beach bar, the oncoming electrical storm on the horizon added to the intense electro soundtrack.
Rain stopped play, and everyone headed indoors to Barbarella's Discotheque, an architect-designed 70's circular disco space with DJs Rik Moran and Prosumer raising somewhat dampened spirits with a hot and packed dancefloor.
Other highlights included folky loveliness from Jesca Hoop, a Deep Space session from New York's Francois K and awesome last night DJ sets from Don Letts, Ashley Beedle and Andrew Weatherall. So awesome the club was still packed at 5am, nobody wanted this party to end!
Electric Elephant is hyped as 'an escape, an adventure, a musical getaway, a meeting of like-minded souls' and I have to agree it most certainly is. A lot of people turned this 'escape' into a week-long holiday with chance to explore the area. The Dalmatian coast in Croatia has a lot to give and combining this with a beautiful, magical festival makes this a perfect escape.
