Bucket hats, strong English accents, and a sea of buzzing youths swarm the iconic Fort Punta Christo, an abandoned fort overlooking Pula Bay. A string of local fishermen and boat owners dotted around the beaches attentively wait to make a quick buck by bringing tourists across the bay to reach Pula’s city centre. Young men and woman in luminous high-vis vests wander around the campsite trying to sell tickets for the opening party of Dimensions, situated just across the sea in Pula’s beautiful Roman Amphitheatre, this year hosting Four Tet and Floating Points.
Running at the end of summer for the last four years, the Dimensions crowd realise that this may be the last festival they attend for a while and certainly make the most of it. Very few actual Croatians around, the few that are present at the festival are the police and people working at the food stalls.
With nine stages dotted throughout the festival, it plays hosts to some of the finest producers in the techno and house scene today, with the likes of Ben Ufo, Pearson Sound, Pangaea, Legowelt, Juan Atkins, Hodge and Space Dimension Controller, giving us some of the heavier stuff. And for the people who don’t like to party in the moat, surrounded by two 30 foot walls with speakers every 10 feet, you could party down at the clearing to see Motor City Drum Ensemble, Moodyman or the legendary George Clinton. No matter what your dance persuasion, you’re guaranteed a good time.
During the day, sun-soaked festival goers chill down at the beach, occasionally taking a dip in the lukewarm Adriatic Sea to try and freshen themselves off after a heavy night grooving in the dust, whilst the wilder ones head out onto one of the iconic boat parties that makes Dimensions so famous. The beach stage plays chilled-out disco and some softer house during the day, with people also having the option to rent a paddle boat and bring themselves “back to their youth”. For the more seasoned adrenalin junkie there was the option of going jet skiing.
With everybody eventually recovered from the night before – and burnt to a cinder – the supermarket is full to the brim of people buying cheap booze, before hobbling down to the main arena. The main stage acts not wrapping until half six in the morning, with the sun peeping over the horizon at this stage, a mass of people head down to watch the beautiful sunrise at the beach, with the rest heading back to their messy campsites to drink beer, chill with their friends, and meet some of the funky people in search of new-found friendship.
Pre-sale registration for Dimensions is open now at [link]www.dimensionsfestival.com[/link]