Rovinj , Croatia (8th-12th September)
Featuring: Tourist, Last Waltz, Bad Passion, Chvrches, Erol Alkan, Daniel Avery, Mount Kimbie, Wild Beasts, London Grammar
Tuesday. Time for our boat party! We set off to find Entrance B to hop on our shuttle to the port, an easy task you would assume from looking on the map…except no, it was not possible to get to Entrance B by any normal means and it reached the stage where we thought we were going to be trapped in the site forever!! Overly dramatic? Perhaps, but it was a bit of an ordeal getting to that stupid entrance whenever we needed to. Once at the port, we made our way onto the boat to start the party.
Our hosts for the afternoon? Tourist, along with the lovely Last Waltz and Bad Passion boys.
The sun was out, there was a rare sighting of actual cider, the tunes were flowing… Hang on a minute though. Having sailed away from the port, we now appeared to have stopped. Really?! Not quite our idea of a boat party – usually the boat moves. Oh well, a good time was had by all and, by the time we had had a little boogie to Cerrone’s Give Me Love, we made it back to port and were raring to go watch some of the live acts on the main stage.
We were lucky enough to make it back in time for Chvrches, who proceeded to put on a great show. 
The young Scots have done well for themselves over the last year or so and their electronic sound and selection of strobe lights make for a great set. Here is an clip of Under the Tide (and just a bit of flashing)!
With Chvrches wrapped up and a little pit stop under our belt, it was time for us to head back to the Forest to get our fix of Erol Alkan, followed by Daniel Avery, and there was no way the rain (which had now set in for the week) was putting anyone off! See for yourself.
Next, Wednesday, the day that will always be affectionately known as ‘the day we didn’t see London Grammar’… Half way through the week and a day where our main priority was the Main Stage; with Mount Kimbie, Wild Beasts and London Grammar on the line up, it was the only place to be earlier in the evening. Just one problem: Unknown had changed set times, but the majority of Unknowners (can you call us that?) were oblivious to this fact – maybe something to do with the fact that the one notice was easy to miss unless you happened to be going a) to the restaurant, and b) once in the restaurant, to the toilet!
We discovered on the Thursday (following the cancelled Island Party, further on that to come) that key information at Unknown was mainly spread by ‘word of mouth’ (given many had gone old skool and had gone ‘offline’ for the week)…unfortunately those mouths seemed to miss us on the Wednesday!
Anyway, set time cock ups aside, this was going to be a gig of reckoning for us – a chance for us to make up our minds on London Grammar. There is no question that they have a great debut album, If You Wait – they certainly do – the question is what are they really like live? Having seen them twice before (both times in 2013 – once at Night + Day, before their steady rise to the tops of the charts, and once at Electric Brixton, possibly as their popularity was reaching its peak), we had very different experiences as our reference points. While relatively unknown at Night + Day, lead singer Hannah Reid sang timidly yet powerfully and completely captivated the crowd, who moved from sheltering from the rain under trees to swaying in their wet plims in front of the stage. Electric Brixton was a very different experience and a subdued crowd watched on as Hannah came across as almost arrogant in some of her comments to the audience in between tracks. Who are the true London Grammar? We will have to wait until next time to find out as the answer remained Unknown…
Instead of Mount Kimbie, we saw Wild Beasts. Not their biggest fan following an interview in which they did not come across well at all, we chose to stay for their set to see if they could live up to their own opinion. Whilst it was clear the Northern boys pleased many in the crowd, they fell a bit flat for us and we made a move over to Atlantis where we spent much of the rest of our evening.
Coming up next, our views on days 5 and 6…
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