Event Focus: Suncebeat Festival, Croatia

Let me transport you back to 2015. It was the year the final Southport Weekender took place in the form of a three-day festival. Back then I used to live in London and said I’d always go but things get in the way like work and life, but once I heard they festival was entering its final chapter, nothing was going to get in my way.

Thinking back whist writing this article, a big smile is a permanent fixture on my face as it really was an amazing time. Some of the world’s best DJs are in the one spot. Everyone is friendly and having a great time. I feel lucky to have experienced the Southport Weekender.

The last Southport Weekender was held in Minehead, about three hours west of London, not a destination on everyone’s lips. While SunceBeat is in the picturesque surrounds of Tisno, Croatia. The festival is currently in its ninth year with the same organisers behind both festivals. In 2016, I packed my suitcase and headed over to tranquil Tisno. Located some 300km south of the capital, Zagreb, it’s perfectly located on the Dalmatian coast where the ocean is a stunning blue colour that you only see on travel shows.

Come night time the party soon starts. A quick walk from central Tisno and you’re at the festival site, there amongst hundreds of other house music fans with their dancing shoes on and ready to go. This where the fun begins! Dance the night away to some of the biggest house DJ legends. Check out this list - I’m salivating typing their names; from Kerri Chandler to Roger Sanchez to Louie Vega to Purple Disco Machine to Joey Negro to DJ Spen, and many more.

The night doesn’t finish there as the after party kicks off at the end of each night at Barbarellas discotheque, which is only a short taxi ride away. Here you dance under the stars with many friendly faces until the wee hours.

If you haven’t partied too much at night and feel like some day time action then there are boat parties. Not only do you get to listen to some amazing music, you get to witness some amazing sites as well. One of the best 2-4-1 deals going around! Here you get to sail around the Kornati Islands of the Adriatic Sea in a 100-year-old schooner, and if you’re lucky, some friendly dolphins will join the party.

From 18 - 25 July you will dance to some of the best house music in one of the most picturesque bays in the world and make a bunch of new friends. See you on the dance floor!

I recently held an interview with the co-founder of the festival, Alex Lowes.

The last year I went in 2016, I was living in London at the time I saw lots of familiar faces in the crowd having been to Southport Weekender, 51st State, Liverpool Disco and general London scene. Do many outside the UK come to Suncebeat, how do promote the festival around the globe?

Everything is done with online marketing nowadays, we get a massive consistency of people, I would say 40% come from all around. We get a massive amount, we have 100 from Tel Aviv, Israel alone, couple of hundred from France, Australia and New Zealand.

I think we listed about 35 countries one time, and learn to say hello in all the languages. It was quite incredible really, so it’s very much a global event and mixed ages groups from 21-50.

How do you go about choosing the artists each year? There must be some office personal favourites?

There is, we have our favourites from over the years but we are very aware that we have to move with the time and we are all very music orientated and watch what’s happening, we like to bring the likes of Jayda G, alongside Louie Vega, Kerri Chandler, Roger Sanchez.

We keep an eye on all the different scenes, Afro house, Hip Hop, everything really, people like Natasha Diggs is on the hip hop, soul front from New York, so we are always looking for interesting angles as well as having your classics.

Are there any artists that you haven’t been able to get to perform at Suncebeat but you would like to?

We have been pretty good over the years and everyone has liked to play at Suncebeat at some point, it will be our 10th year next year and we’ve been pretty lucky in that respect and built up a good reputation. It’s the same for Southport Weekender as well, which has a 30-year legacy, so not a problem really, getting most of the DJs that I think we would want.

What’s your favourite artist or DJ since Suncebeat started? Mine is Joey Negro set on the Boat Party in 2016.

Joey Negro is a fantastic DJ and he never ever lets you down. To be honest there’s so many DJs that do the same, from Black Coffee, to DJ Spinna, Louie Vega, Kerri Chandler. Some of the people from last year like Greg Gauther from Paris blew us all away, he’s not a well know DJ but has been around for a long time, Manoo, also from France is great.

There are some really interesting DJs, from across all sides of music, I think it would be unfair to put one individual, but honestly, there have been some good sets from all the editions.

It’s not all about music, Tisno is an amazing part of the world - why and how was Tisno chosen as a venue?

We used to do it in a little place called Petrcane which is also a beautiful venue, but everyone went into a mad panic because we lost the venue due to the hotel where the site was sold. One of our partners spent a couple of weeks driving around Croatia, and I remember being on the phone to him as he had driven to this cove, and he couldn’t speak or get the words out of his mouth, he was so excited.

It used to be a hostel site that a lot of Croatians used from back in the ex-iron curtain, communist days. It was always the communist dream to have a week’s holiday for every family and there were these sites that had hostels on them, this was one of them and it needed attention, so it fell into our laps brilliantly really. Since then Croatia has been an international boom place, we were just so lucky as its in its own cove and everything, stemming back from the old communist days.

The olive oil is exceptional, have you tried it?

The olive oil, on that site, no! Actually, I’ll tell you a little story, the guy that runs the site grows his own olive oil, he puts the olives in the sea for two weeks, he actually won a reward for the best in Croatia last year! I can’t believe somebody else knows about that, I couldn’t get any as it ran out, I was most annoyed, but the olive oil is actually put in the nets and then you put the olives into the sea.

Surely you were too busy with Southport Weekender to take on Suncebeat?

Yes, I’m always too busy with everything, that’s why I’m doing this interview six weeks later [laughs].

Are the locals still favourable for a week-long festival in their backyard?

They love us as our crowd is quite respectful, they love our events and it’s great for tourism - they welcome all the festivals with open arms.

The boat parties are an exceptional and great idea, what was the thought process about offering these?

You’ve got the beautiful Adriatic Sea, you had these little boats going around Croatia for family things, and obviously boat parties are always great. I think it’s something special being on a boat, especially a 100-year-old Schooner. It’s just a beautiful setting, how could you not love it? Kornati Islands, world heritage sites, that’s where we sail around, you have dolphins, beautiful sea and good music!

Future plan wise, where do you see the festival being in 5-10 years, anything planned for the 10th birthday in 2019?

We are starting to think about the tenth already but let’s get the ninth done first, I always do it by year, and whenever we’ve done stuff it’s always on a long term basis. Southport Weekender was 30 years, we are up to 10 years in Croatia, it’s unbelievable. Croatia is a beautiful place and has grown, we are not looking to grow massively in numbers, we are happy with the numbers of crowd, I think if it got any bigger than that it would take away what it is to be honest.

Head over to the Suncebeat festival website for all the details.