The Dimensions Festival 2016 has come to an end in Pula. TCN’s Dave Gasson paid a visit to Dimension with his camera, enjoying one of the great festival sites in Europe, Fort Punta Christo.
From the opening night at Pula arena to the closing tracks at 06.30 on the morning of Monday, August 29, 2016, the Dimensions Festival proved once again to be a huge success and celebrated it`s 5th birthday with some outstanding performances and phenomenal sounds.
The location of Dimensions, Fort Punta Christo, is the perfect setting for a festival. The venue is a Roman fort on top of a hill surrounded by the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic.
As you arrive in Puntizela, Stinjan, you are greeted by friendly and helpful volunteers who guide you to the site and to the festival camp-site. The fully equipped camp is more or less on the beach and you are never more than 200 meters away from the sea. In the camp-site and throughout the festival there is a good choice and variety of catering.
The mood and vibe of the festival is always good. During the day it is very relaxed and the emphasis is very much on enjoying the beach, the sun and the sea or just chillin` by your tent in the shade with the distant sound of music. For those that want to party, then there are plenty of party boats to enjoy . The main beach has several beach bars selling reasonable priced cocktails and beers. As the evening approaches, so does the beach party and the warm up for the night begin. With a good DJ and an even better live performance you are soon up and dancing.
After a change of clothes, and a bit of food its time to head towards the main music arenas, making sure to stop along the way at the Knowledge Arena. Here you get a chance to meet and listen to some of the performers. The atmosphere is relaxed and personal as you listen to new test tracks, talk of new albums , demos, loops, back tracks and some excellent knowledgeable interviews.
As you leave the beach and the customer village and walk up to the fort you are first greeted by The Clearing. This is a vast stage with dazzling lights reaching into the night sky and a huge dancing area for up to 3,000 people, surrounded by trees. It’s the perfect entrance to any music festival.
In total there are 8 stages, plus a beach party stage all offering a different experience with its lighting, sound and genre of music.
After a 2-minute walk you are inside the grounds of the fort and on one side is The Arija stage, surrounded on 3 sides by the steep walls of the fort and offers a good area for dancing and good sound. The other side is The Garden Stage, at times a slightly more chilled out area. In front of the stage there is an area for dancing and amongst the trees is a great place to sit, watch and relax.
Then you are brought to a standstill, and rightly so as you catch your first view and hear the sound of The Moat.
The only way to describe it is by quoting everyone who first sees and it and stops and stares. “Wow, Totally Awesome, like totally sic man, insane amazing, bangin, OMG, no way, Well wicked” and it is all of those things and more.
The Moat is surrounded on all sides by the thick rock of the fort and the DJ booth is positioned half way up the wall. The quality of sound is incredible and the bass reverberates throughout your body The light show dances from wall to wall and is captivating and mesmerising. The Moat and its 100 meter long dance strip is for some serious hardcore partying.
As you work your way through the labyrinth of corridors inside the fort you are treated to 3 more very special and unique stages The stables, Noah`s Ballroom, and Mungo`s Arena.
The Stables is an enclosed area with 20 meter high walls which help retain the high quality of sound and is a good area for partying with some great lighting effects.
The Void is a good sized open air traditional stage with good lighting and a large dance area holding up to 1,300 people
The Noah`s Ballroom is one of the most unique and iconic dance areas and has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Essentially it’s a circular pit with a D J booth precariously perched half way up the wall. The sound is electrifying and you soon get lost in your own world of dance and music. Space is limited to between 75 and 100 people at a time. If you have to wait to get in. Wait, you will not be disappointed.
The festival is well organised and offers a vast array of music including house, techno, world, disco, dubstep and electronic sounds all produced with a stunning back drop and surrounding area. People travel from all over Europe, America and Australia to enjoy this prestigious festival.
The attendance is growing each year and its reputation on the international stage is encouraging established artists to add this to their `must play` festivals.
Check out the highlights of last year’s Dimensions Festival in the official video below, and for more pictures from Dave Gasson, check out his photography Facebook page.
