Hospitality on the Beach 2024 Festival Review

July 29, 2024
Kate Webster
Photo: Hospital Records PR

The definition of the word “hospitality” is “the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.” As Americans traveling to Europe for a drum and bass festival, you would think that we might feel like strangers sailing into uncharted waters, but as soon as we arrived at Hospitality on the Beach, they made us feel a lot more like family. From start to finish – the Hospital Records crew went out of their way to accommodate our needs in a way that is almost unheard of in the US event industry. It might have also been the familiar, soul-stirring music that we know and love, or the temperate climate that is so similar to Southern California– either way: dancing on the beach with so many like-minded individuals made us feel right at home.

The 7-day festival kicked off Tuesday, July 2nd, which allowed the crowd to make their way to the small beach town of Tisno, Croatia from all parts of the globe. The So-Cal crew touched down late Tuesday night, so by midday on Wednesday, we were more than ready to start dancing and hit the beach. The festival venue “The Garden,” is nestled in a small cove just South of Tisno and is home to various events throughout the year. The owners acquired the property in 2012, and it’s truly a hidden utopia outside of the charming, yet antiquated neighboring Croatian towns. Both Tisno and Pirovac were quiet, yet pleasant communities on the water, with narrow, winding one-way streets lined by sleepy marinas, and visited mostly by families with young children or older European couples on holiday. Yet just a few minutes outside of town, a week-long festival full of rowdy ravers and up-front electronic music raged every night until the early hours of the morning.

As we entered The Garden, we made our way down the cobblestone walkway to the Wabi Sabi restaurant, which was open to all festival attendees each day as a place to recharge. The building also provided a central hub for the festival’s operation and production teams. Attendees who stayed on-site could choose from a selection of condo-like apartments, mobile homes, and glamping/tent camping options that were dispersed freely throughout the grounds. The security check getting into the festival was brief, but as we ventured through the festival site, any apprehensive thoughts about safety quickly dissolved. It didn’t take long to realize that Hospitality on the Beach is nothing like the overcrowded (and sometimes unsafe) festivals that we are used to from large promoters in the US.

The relatively modest attendance numbers paired with the smiling, friendly disposition of each person we passed made us feel less like we were entering a private vacation getaway with a couple thousand of our closest friends.
On Wednesday afternoon, The Beach Stage set the tone with a lineup for the soul-loving liquid heads. The dancefloor was poised on a dock directly over the crystal clear, turquoise Adriatic Ocean, and low rock walls along the beach and surrounding the dancefloor created multiple levels for optimum stage-viewing. As the crew laid our towels out on the beach and began to splash in the sea, I was able to catch up with US producer Winslow (KC, Missouri) before his set for a quick chat. “It’s great to be back here in Tisno with the Hospitality crew,” he said, “Last year in Albania, it seemed like a ‘we’ll try it thing,’ kind of decision. Which was fun! But it’s good to be back at this venue.” Being one of the few American artists on the lineup this year– he also mentioned, “It’s great to catch up with everyone because I only get to see the crew on this side of the world like once a year. So, it’s nice to catch up with friends and then also see music from all the legends!” Both Winslow and his long-term partner producer Imo-Lu (Glasgow, UK) smashed their sets at the festival, playing selections of original music signed to Hospital Records. Our crew spent the rest of the night exploring the festival grounds, grabbing our gear from the Hospital merch booth, and dancing at the main Garden Stage: a large, enclosed area with a club-like feel and a sprawling stage, 270-degree LED panel surrounding the dancefloor, and an impressive sound system. Winey and P-Money’s highly anticipated set had the energy at a high for the night, and they played all their heavy-hitting tracks from ‘Sorry I’m Not Sorry’ to ‘6STR’.

Thursday was our first day out on the water, and we hustled back to the festival site to make it onto the Spearhead Records boat party in the early afternoon. The festival had two large cruising boats making multiple trips out to sea each day from Thursday through Sunday showcasing various labels and collectives. The weather was absolutely perfect, and the scenery of the Croatian coastline was breathtaking. There is nothing quite like feeling the gentle tilt of the boat and the ocean breeze on your face while dancing to some of the most iconic artists in our genre. We sipped our cocktails on the bow of the boat and watched the translucent waves slashing by below us– the vibe was immaculate. Before he stepped up to the decks, certified “bestie” of the San Diego drum and bass scene and Spearhead label don BCee found a moment to touch-base: “Very happy to be back at Hospitality again,” he chatted as we cruised along the coastline, “I’ve been a part of this festival since the very beginning. It was great playing on The Beach Stage yesterday and am really looking forward to my set here on the boat.” He went on to promote some exciting news for the label, “There is a brand-new BCee album coming out in October of this year. The first single came out in June and the next releases will be in July, August and September. I’m working with Dilemma on an album as well. This year we will be celebrating 20 years of Spearhead Records, so we’ve got a series of singles coming out next year with some very special guest appearances!” Over the three-hour journey– Riya, LSB, BCee and Stamina MC curated the soundtrack of a beautiful afternoon and made us not want to disembark once we got back to shore. Luckily, we had a few more opportunities over the weekend to hop on board. The DJ Marky & Friends boat was a purely emotional event, with a beautiful moment of tribute to the late MC Conrad just as the sun was setting below the horizon. Fabio’s “Tribe” boat party on Saturday featured a stand-out set by Brighton’s producer Workforce, and though Dillinja couldn’t make his appearance, London Electricity was able to hop between the two separate ships to fill in. After he smashed his set on our boat, he made off into the distance on a private powerboat like James Bond making an epic getaway!

A huge part of our international pilgrimage to Hospitality was to support our fellow US Drum and Bass artists overseas. So, Friday’s Respect LA takeover of the Olive Stage was an important event to rally the troupes for! Celebrating 25 years of drum and bass in Los Angeles, the Respect crew showed up in numbers to demonstrate the expertise of our favorite residents Clutch and Machete. Clutch kicked things off with the sunset vibes as the crowd began to fill in. Starting with some signature liquid selections, he steadily brought up the energy at the stage with PVC on MC duties, closing out with an original drum and bass remix of Labrinth’s “Yeh I Fuckin’ Did It” that hand the dancefloor rockin’. When Machete stepped up to the decks, the crowd’s spirit was infectious. He proceeded to shell out banger after banger while the California junglists saluted with gun fingers and cheered in unison each time Linguistics MC big up’d the crew in the place. Throughout the weekend, Europeans would approach us asking about how the drum and bass scene is doing in America. Instead of mentioning that our scene had only recently been “saved” by the Brits, our go-to response was simply “Watch out– we are catching up to ya’ll!” The rest of Friday night at the festival simply had too many acts to catch every performance, but some amazing sets that followed included The Caracal Project (FR) on the Garden Stage, Camo & Krooked b2b Mefjus, and a last-minute surprise set by the legend himself TC.

The sound stages at The Garden shut off each night around 2:00 AM, which meant that the party crew was shuttled or Uber’d over to the local venue Barbarella’s Discotheque for the after-hours. The beautiful outdoor venue was a short 10-minute trip over to Pirovac, the next town North along the coast from Tisno, and in 2016 was listed at #39 in DJ Mag’s “Top 100 Clubs” issue. Even though the after-hours tickets were not included with a festival pass, each night the venue was packed with Hospitality attendees by 4:00 in the morning. Barbarella’s has two sizeable bars on either side of the dancefloor, which along with their cashless wristband system, resulted in little to no wait time for their reasonably-priced drinks. Even though there was plenty of seating room along the edges of the venue, the dancefloor was swarmed with ravers until the very latest sets of the night. On Thursday night, the lineup was stacked with Flava D, GLXY, and Sub Focus, but the show was stolen by queen Charlie Tee (BBC Radio 1host)– who played an impressive set filled with double and even triple-drops. Her extensive catalog of exclusive tracks was to be expected, but what blew us away was her incredible mixing and perfectly timed switch-ups that had the crowd cheering for more by the time she was finished.

A notable part of the entire Hospitality on the Beach experience was the impressive amount of female-identifying talent showcased throughout the week. Even in 2024, it’s a very rare thing when a festival feels evenly balanced when it comes to gender representation. Though it wasn’t a completely 50/50 split, it was obvious that the women of drum and bass had a strong presence on the main stages, the boat parties, and the after-hours events. Bristol-based producer IVY brought a fresh, young feel to each of her sets: combining her techy, 4×4 style with obvious knowledge of classic Drum and Bass and Jungle genres. Not only are the women of the next generation in drum and bass defining their unique styles– but more importantly– they are also doing their homework! Hospital Records is one of the most prominent international labels that has been actively supporting women in the genre, which is something that many brands (especially here in the US) have yet to do. During Pola & Bryson’s set on The Beach stage, when Emily Makis was introduced to sing their 2023 hit “Phoneline,” a massive wave of young women flooded the dancefloor, singing along with every word with enthusiasm that you would only find in the US at an arena-sized pop concert. The energy was intoxicating! Notable sets from female-identifying talent also included Natty Lou, Anais, Kyrist, Youphoria, and many others.

The final night of the festival came all too quickly. Before the closing B2B2B2B on the Beach Stage on Monday night, co-founder and owner of Hospital Records Chris Goss made a closing statement expressing the label’s appreciation for the fans and the music. The overwhelming sense of inclusivity during our week on the beach was something that we hope each person takes back home with them. If anything, the Hospitality on the Beach team has given us the gift of inspiration to move forward in our local scene with a sense of love and support for our community!