After 7 days in Italy i returned from Sonica Festival and thought i should post a review about the whole experience.
Place : Great place ideal for a festival (apart from the lack of shadow for campers),i very much enjoyed the fact that the party area was on the top of a small hill giving you a nice view of the whole area plus providing you with a cooler temperature during the day even at the late morning hours,little cold at night but was preety fine about me.I had no problems at all with the dust since the day before the festival it rained a little causing the surface to become much better for a dance festival.Only small minus for me was the fact that you had to walk a little bit from the entrance before reaching the main stage,but how can you expect a nice view if you dont first climb the hill?Stages well placed and areas well seperated.Very big minus the fact that the main stage was not higher as it should be in my humble opinion,people love to see the artists and dj's from every place of the main stage but this time the main stage was lower than it should be. 8/10
People : Around 6500-7000 people attended this great event according to the organisers words.The festival was full of happy and beatiful faces with the girls stealing the show,never seen so many nice looking girls in an event before.Everybody was friendly and helpful,nice also to see the variety of ages and nationalities,you could see people of any age from 18 to even 60+ and meet people from every country of the world from Italy and Greece that were the majority there to France,Germany,Hungary,Israel,Usa,UK,Turkey,Lebanon,Spain,Mexico,Austria,Belgium,Denmark,Sweden,India,Australia and many many more.Only minus the fact that the people never seemed really excited on the dancefloor,at least at the hours i was there. 9/10
Music : I went to Sonica looking forward to listen to Silicon Sound,Etnica,Wizzy Noise,Psysex,Wrecked Machines and Hallucinogen but i only managed to listen to two of them which were Simon Posford and the Wizzy guys.Though the line up of the event was impressive the timetable was very bad scheudled according to mine and many other people's opinion and even artists.I mean having Domestic playing a dj set on the first day of the festival in 1 in the night while he plays morning music is a bad selection,also having SIlicon Sound so late in the morning (10-11) was a bad selection too when you could easily change his scheudle with Du Serena who played from 8-10.Same with Etnica and Psysex who should change hours on the last day.Anyway i guess this is tottally a matter of taste.So back to the music part i will just give a feedback to the artists and dj's i heard.
TIKAL nice opening for a festival with different psychedelic music than the usual full on stuff most artists produce today,just one minus for the French guys,too many ideas borrowed from other artists out of the psy trance world.
MARCHELLO didnt pay much attention to this dj set due to the fact that the music sounded too repetitive to me,not my style of music.
MARIOS i am sorry to say that for my friend Marios but this was one the worst dj sets of the festival in my humble opinion,the music seemed out of place and specially after he played Cosmovision by Biotonic (which was the best tune in his set if you ask me) the rest of the tunes were really really bad and thats probably why noone seemed to really dance to them.Better lack next time mate.
STRIDER nice live perfomance,i very much enjoyed the second half of it and the last two tracks were really great,keep an eye on this artist.By the way this is the one half of Lotus Omega no?
ANTARO the German legend started a magnificent set but after the first hour the music became little repetitive and i got tired so i decided to go back to my hotel for a good sleep.Good overall set though.
PSYCHOTROP one of the best dj sets of the festival with great music all around,i very much enjoyed the energetic though atmospheric and melodic set of my French mate,thumbs up and keep it like this in the future.
VOR good music BUT me and my friends had that feeling that some tracks included in the set were mp3's in very low quality,at least thats what we realised by the quality of the sound,please correct me if i am wrong and accept my deepest apologies on the subject.Overall the music part was on my taste and preety much enjoyed it.
WIZZY NOISE i didnt liked the beggining of their live act (i expected something more groovy or atmospheric maybe) but after that the guys rocked the whole place with Aegean Sunrise being the ultimate highlight of the festival with the people freaking out on the stage and fireworks exploding in the air.Their new remix on Silicon Sound and Jaia unreleased track Oblivion was just superb.
JOSKO i dont know who this guy is but he is a great dj with great music selections and preety nice mixing skills.One of the very pleasant moments in Sonica Festival,more info on him are welcome.
SHANE GOBI for me the ultimate dj set of the festival,intelligent music selections and solid mixing skills establish the founder of Alchemy Records as one of the very best djs around.Thumbs up for this guy.
DUVDEV a great dj set with nice selections and mixing skills,very much enjoyed the melodic tracks.
INFECTED MUSHROOM i am not a big fan of their music but their live perfomance is really great,maybe a little bit more guitar sound than i can handle but it was ok i guess.Just like a friend said to me 'their music is only to be played and performed by them and noone else' and i tottally aggree with him,if i was a dj i would never play one of their tunes but their live perfomance is a unique experience,for me the best live act of the festival plus the people love them.
ALTOM right music in the right time,nice powerful and melodic though at times repetitive,with a little bit more innovation this group can climb even higher.Nice to hear them live for the first time.
SUB6 ok now this is a strange situation here.I dont know who this MC guy was but he really ruined half of the live perfomance of the famous israeli duo,he was out of place and time if you ask me.Fortunately after he left the stage the guys gave a solid perfomance which i very much enjoyed.Just get rid of that MC guy and focus on your music guys.
HALLUCINOGEN well not much to be said about the master,original and innovative music plus a stage appearence that creates magic all around,one of the best times of the festival.
TRISTAN wow his dj set was just amazing and stage appearence second to none,the uk man is one of the best djs around and he proves it every single time.My total respects for him.
Overall i will give a 7/10 to the music part at least for the artists i heard.
Facilities : Very nice facilities,many and clean toilets,nice showers,water points,first aid tent and fire department vehicle,nice and big bars with no queues at all,many chaishops and food shops,massage places,trance shops with cds,clothes and various accessories.Only minus the small parking area that was not enough for the ammount of cars that turned to the festival and the fact that no shade was available for most of the campers. 8/10
Organisation : This was a very well organised festival,good security,no problems in the entrance,organisation people all around to help you,no problems with the artists and the facilities promised and most important of all the full help of the local people and authorities,i mean the attitude of the police authorities towards the party people was just amazing they protected the event and even helped the road traffic near the festival,thumbs up for the local polizia and carabinieri. 9/10
Sound : The soundsystem was crystal clear BUT lacked a lot in power if you ask me,i mean for such a big festival you need obviously a bigger soundsystem that will also help the vibe of the party,the fact and only that i was sitting next to the speakers and having a conversation with my friends shows clearly that more sound was needed. 6/10
Decoration : The structure in the main stage was very nice,the lights and laser were also very good,the projectors really cool too.I expected some more things though like some big banners and some extra decoration structures for example. 7/10
So thats all i guess.
Overall i would rate this festival with 8/10 sincei love number
On this part i would like to thank Edoardo,Antonio,Kaio,Patricia and the rest of the organisers for this lovely experience.
Greetings go to Silicon Sound (keep producing great music my friend),Psychotrop and DJ Kaa (sorry we didnt spend much time together),Joti the bafsketballer,Loic from Total Eclipse,Marios from Samothraki,Wizzy Noise,Danger from Procyon Records,Thanasis from Harmonia Records and the rest of the gang,Meko (italian food rules),Filipos at the Greek Chai Shop,Fotis Elf and his girlfriend,Angelo Mentalab,Iraklis Mindphaser and Giannis,lovely Myrto who finally managed to take a photo with Duvdev,all the Greek people i met and specially the guys from Corfu and the people who bought Sonica tickets from me and just popped to say hi,the Frenchman that throwed water to me all the time with his waterpistol,the beatiful girls of the festival,Felipe and Kahel from Portugal,Anna Maria at Carrozza D'Oro Hotel,Giancomo at La Cavalla Restaurant the best in Montefiascone and his crew,everyone i forgot to mention and last but not least George and Ilias who followed me to this great festival.
P.S Italy has the best food and most nice looking girls in the world,i will marry an Italian girl for sure.
