UNKNOWN  

Rovinj , Croatia  (8^th-12^th September)

Featuring: John Talabot, Jamie XX, Eats Everything, Jungle, Ten Walls, Mano le Tough, Simian Mobile Disco, The 2 Bears, Waze & Odyssey, Disclosure, Last Waltz, Jackmaster

Thursday was the day of our Island Party and we were looking forward to seeing John Talabot and Jamie XX back to back. We optimistically (or perhaps pessimistically by this stage) looked out of the apartment window to be greeted by…torrential rain. Oh dear. It looked like the Island Party was unlikely, but, having not yet heard from those infamous mouths, we made our way down to the meeting point to find out whether it would be going ahead. With confirmation that is had indeed been cancelled, we were told that some of the artists from the cancelled Island and Boat Parties would be playing on the pool terrace during the afternoon – that was our plan sorted then! To our delight, one of those artists was Eats Everything! One of our highlights from Ibiza this season, Eats never fails to play for the crowd and always has a cheeky grin on his face. We couldn’t resist a photo opp…and of course a dance!

The Main Stage also had lots to offer this night and the first act we saw were Jungle. Described as a ‘modern soul collective’,
Jungle were a welcome addition to our list of finds for the week. Easily filling the stage, not just by sheer volume of people, there were a couple of tracks we recognised (Busy Earnin’ anyone?) and many more to go away to research.

Next, the mighty Ten Walls. While many will think of him as a relative newcomer to the scene, others will have fond memories of each time Gotham dropped during a set in Ibiza last year. Now hitting the mainstream charts, his signature basslines are guaranteed to get any crowd moving. In fact, the girl in front of us was so excited by each and every beat that, at one point, we thought she may, quite literally, lose her head! He seamlessly powered through his set and gave each track everything he had. Then came Walking with Elephants – the anthem of the summer and the brassy pom pom poms that led to a well deserved sit down…

Having recovered from the excitement of Ten Walls, we headed to the Forest to see Mano le Tough. Having seen him previously at the last Mulletover Hallowe’en party, we are big fans of his choice of house. 

Then we hotfooted it over to Atlantis to get our second Eats fix of the day. We found ourselves backstage for the end of his set – a second highlight of the day! That guy has so much energy; it’s possible he could just keep on playing, hour after hour after hour!

Having bid farewell to Eats, it was the turn of Simian Mobile Disco to take to the decks. This was a real treat for us – not only getting to listen to two fantastic sets, but also being able to witness them unfold right in front of us!

You can catch Simian Mobile Disco at XOYO from October to December as they take the helm as the fourth residents in XOYO’s residents series.

Friday. The last (official) day of Unknown (*sob*). The weather was starting to improve slightly and, while everything we owned was damp and covered in mud, there were periods where the raincoat could be taken off.

We spent the early part of the evening flitting between stages, trying to catch snippets of the many acts we wanted to see. Friday catered for quite the exciting line up: John Talabot, The 2 Bears, Waze & Odyssey… We couldn’t call out a highlight from any of the sets, although perhaps the shark could be more specific!

Then it was time: time for Disclosure. A hotly anticipated set by the majority of the festival, we knew the Forest would be busy with revellers wanting to witness the young Lawrence brothers in action. Opening with When a Fire Starts to Burn (what else?), they immediately got the crowd into a rhythm and the rest was history. Now don’t get us wrong, we love the Disclosure boys, and they were one of our highlights in Ibiza this year, BUT they just didn’t do it for us this time. Playing it a bit safe perhaps, one of the better moments was when they dropped Masters At Work’s To Be In Love – a less obvious choice from the rest of their set. Now taking a well deserved break from their hectic year touring, we look forward to what their next album has to bring.

With the crowd a little rowdy post-Disclosure, we decided to make our first(!) visit to the Mad Ferret stage to see the Last Waltz boys. This was such a great choice as it was the most fun we had witnessed behind the decks all week. Having as much fun as the crowd (if not more), Mick, Lee and Geoff thoroughly entertained us for the final hour of our night.

Although our night ended there, Unknown partied on and the after party continued in the Forest with Disclosure and Jackmaster. Rumour has it that it went on until 10am!

Next time…our thoughts on the last day and of Unknown overall.

 Visit our Flickr page to see photo highlights from the festival and our YouTube channel where you can watch video extracts.
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You can also check out our Past Events page to see our music archives.

 

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