Review: Dimensions Festival 2021, Tisno (Friday)
You know you’re on to something good when the first thing you see at a festival is ISAbella from Barcelona queer collective Maricas playing ‘House Nation Under A Groove’ to a packed 10pm dancefloor, each departure and return of that slinky bassline greeted by cheers and redoubled dancing from the crowd. The Olive Grove stage was a mysterious purple-and-red-lit cube of a space, flanked by aged examples of the eponymous tree (which several people found useful as leaning posts throughout the weekend) and adorned with colourful umbrellas, lanterns and logo-shaped mobiles constructed by Nick & team from the Spaced crew. The system was Funktion One and suited the size and shape of the stage. In contrast, the Beach stage had a tendency towards excessive loudness in order to reach those dancing at the back, and as a result could usually be heard whenever the bass dropped out at the Olive Grove. To my dismay I discovered I had arrived only 20 minutes before ISAbella finished her set, but even that small glimpse set a positive tone for the rest of the weekend.
This was actually day two of Dimensions Festival, so I had already missed a whole evening’s entertainment. Everyone I bumped into who’d been there on the Thursday said they had loved Dr Banana’s Beach stage showcase, the only reservations being to do with DJ Perception’s geography-obsessed MC. I was sad to miss it, but looking back now at the 4 days of festival that I did experience I do wonder if I’d have enjoyed the Monday night quite so much had I added on an extra night of fun at the start. Other misses during the course of the weekend included Titonton Duvante’s Beach liveset on the Monday, which sadly coincided with a desperate need to eat lunch, and Matthew Neequaye on the Saturday afternoon, who was playing while the rest of us were on a boat. It was the age-old lesson of a festival: you can’t do everything.
Once ISAbella had finished it was time to make my way to Barbarella’s discotheque, a glamourous Ibiza-style al fresco club about 25 minutes’ drive away from the main Garden resort, where each night’s ‘afterparty’ happens. I arranged to meet Velvet Velour aka Liam and his partner Kitt at the coach queue, and following six months of correspondence about his upcoming record on Welt Discos (more info soon!) it was the first time we’d met in person. It quickly became apparent they were two of the best people you could hope to get to know on your first evening in Tisno. Not only are they are veterans of multiple Love Internationals and know all the ins and outs of the place, they’re also fantastic people, and I knew the rest of my weekend would be easy in their company. When we got to Barbarellas they indulged my amazement (it’s a very very cool place) and showed me their preferred dancing spot near the slightly raised section that circles the dancefloor, which creates that joyful multi-levelled vibe of a good outdoor setting. This was true also of the Beach at the main site, where I spent a good few hours dancing on various heights of the stage-side slope.
Hamish & Toby had already warmed the crowd up within the first half hour of the night, and the presence of many familiar faces from parties in the UK conjured a sensation similar to walking into Pickle Factory early on a Friday night - except with palm trees and plenty of fresh air. The Spaced crew were out in force and I had the chance to meet a few other people I’d previously only spoken to online. Then Hamish played François K’s epic remix of Erasure’s ‘Stay With Me’ (which I put in my Dimensions mix) and it felt like a sort of statement: it might be September but, for this weekend at least, summer was here to stay. Vera came on next and played what I found to be a measured and quite dry set, very poised but leaving me wanting some occasional fireworks. I recognised last year’s Sideral EP on Partout and Attaboy’s ‘Maguma’, both great records but for me perhaps more suitable to an afternoon beach set than to 2am on my first night at the festival (yes I’m a selfish raver).
Then it was the long-awaited time to see Zip again, the last opportunity having been a night in fabric before I moved to Lisbon over 7 years ago. Little had changed and that was both good and bad: good, because Zip is one of the best in the game and it’s always a pleasure to hear him stitch records together so expertly; and bad, because my own taste has fluctuated over those 7 years and it would have been nice to feel a similar sense of change from his side. This feels like a minor technicality, though, especially given all that he has done over the decades, and on a basic level there’s not much that beats Zip delicately teasing out the opening strings and pads of ‘Life’ or ‘The Struggle Of My People’ as if it’s the easiest thing in the world. He was doing it all those years ago and he’ll be doing it for years to come.
As the party came to a close we made a dash for the shuttle and I was in bed before 6am, just in time to be kept awake by Tisno’s beloved bell tower, which stands proudly just over the road from the artists’ accommodation. Of all the challenges I expected to face on this trip, a hyperactive bell tower was not one of them, but I guess life is full of surprises (perhaps I should have read this first). Ask any of the DJs staying in the otherwise very comfortable artists’ complex and they will now be able to inform you in detail about the bell tower’s habits, as it rang not only the full hour and the quarter hours, but also the full hour every quarter hour. Then, just for kicks, it would do an entire chorus at 6am for at least five minutes. On the Sunday morning I swear I caught it going off on one for no reason at precisely 8.07am. Apparently it’s been at it for 400 years, which is why no one does the sensible thing and cuts the cord.
Thus ended Friday (and a bit of Saturday morning). On a more general note, I was reassured to find the festival site well appointed with more than enough space, bars and toilets for the number of attendees (around 2.5k apparently). The cashless payment system took a bit of getting used to and must have meant a bit of a raw deal for the staff (no cash tips), but the food and drink options were good and at no point apart from Saturday lunchtime did I go hungry (more on that in the next post). It was an auspicious start to what promised to be an exciting weekend and, for me at least, Saturday was going to be the big day.