With the success of the recent INmusic in Zagreb, and the ongoing partying at Fresh Island on Zrće beach, the summer festival season has kicked off in earnest around Croatia.
Back with a bang after a two-year hiatus, the beach bashes and seaside revelries of Croatia’s many festivals will be running through until September.
Pula Music Week features seven days of sounds in the city’s Roman-era Colosseum, the Arena. Performances by Bosnian DJ Solomun, UK electro duo Disclosure, South Korean DJ Peggy Gou and others run from June 30-July 6.
This dovetails with the long-established Hideout Festival at Zrće beach, now in its tenth edition, offering a huge bill at five open-air venues over five days in early July. UK DJ duo CamelPhat, Bristol DJ Eats Everything and Adelaide DJ Sonny Fodera all feature among the 75+ electro-music masters, with boat and beach parties always an extra. The event runs July 3-7.
The day after, Split’s Ultra Europe starts up at the Park Mladeži, this year with superstar Dutch DJ Martin Garrix, award-winning UK-Canadian veteran Richie Hawtin and trance master Armin van Buuren. These and other star names appear July 8-10. There’s nothing but music all summer in Tisno near Vodice, starting with Love International (July 13-19), impeccably curated by The Garden crew. Headliners include the UK’s Ben UFO, French electro house merchant Ivan Smagghe and Ireland’s own Saoirse. Numbers are limited to 2,500 – all weekly passes have been snaffled up, only resales are available.
Tisno also hosts SuncéBeat (July 21-28), where the team behind the Southport Weekender showcases chilled DJs – New Jersey’s Kerri Chandler, New York’s Kenny Dope, Chicago’s Mark Farina – in the intimate setting of a private cove. This summer, the renowned Outlook relocates from Pula to Dalmatia, back to its roots, having started out at The Garden’s former base at Petrčane. Now Outlook Origins takes place at Tisno from 28 July-2 August, with the usual cast of many (Goldie, Total Science, Charlotte Devaney), boat and beach parties.
Defected Croatia sets up at Tisno on 4 August to provide ‘6 Days of House Hedonism’ with Roger Sanchez, Danny Tenaglia and Carl Craig. Summer in Tisno is brought to a close by Dimensions, following its sister event Outlook’s lead by heading south from Pula. Between September 1-5, Tisno welcomes Hamburg’s Helena Hauff, the UK’s Radioactive Man and Jena’s The Exaltics to celebrate ten years of Dimensions.
The party keeps going at Zrće beach with Sonus (August 21-25), this year with iconoclast Parisian DJ I Hate Models and classically trained Italian spinner Giorgia Anguili, and Barrakud (August 25-29), also celebrating its tenth anniversary with Paul Kalkbrenner as headliner.
Finally, don’t miss the stalwart Seasplash in Šibenik (July 14-17), now 20 years young, always with the usual mash-up of reggae, dub, ska and whatever else keeps everyone moving and happy