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In a year where Croatian festivals are spreading like wildfire, the competition is certainly heating up in terms of who is going to rule the newly discovered roost. In its third year now, Hideout is a definite contender, hitting a sweet spot between the smaller boutique festivals and the much larger and brasher formulations like Outlook and Serbia’s Exit.

            Set over the course of 7 days the festival starts mid-week on a Wednesday, however for most with a festival and holiday temperament combined, three days simply won’t be enough. In which case it is certainly advisable to hit the pre-parties, a divine combination of events taking place on boats and in pools. Before the festival had even begun, huge acts including Sir David Rodigan, Netsky and Redlight had graced the various pool parties and stages. Just think of it as a warm up for the main event where you will be gracing the pool from 2-8 and (if you are sensible) retiring to your apartment or tent to eat and brush up before a night out that stretches out until the sun rises the next morning.

            Set upon Zrce beach the festival is split across three main venues, each with a pool and each hugely expansive and unique fitting at least a couple of thousand within. The town itself if you are smart enough not to camp in the sweltering temperatures is a rather hot and arduous 15-minute bus journey away. Although the sheer madness of the buses in a way provided it’s own amusement for the legions of hung-over, sweaty and drunk punters.

            Here we get to the crux of what was so great about Hideout Festival, namely the incredible atmosphere, it wasn’t uncommon to make new friends from day to day. More to the point the crowd were so ecstatic about the location that you would frequently have the person next to you exhibit an outburst exclaiming how awesome things were.

            Once the actual festival itself kicked off, things got really mad as 10,000 people descended upon the beach and brought it to life. Whilst it seemed difficult at first to perceive why there were pre-parties in the first place it soon became clear as things went to another level. The line-up really exploded with pool parties from Ram Records, Hot Creations, Dirty Bird and Numbers being massive highlights. As for the night, Rudimental brought their A-game with an incredible set that defied the chart topping roots that they are often stereotyped by. Jackmaster closed the first night with a 4-6 set that saw the euphoria hit new levels with his novel approach to DJing that fuses house, 80’s classics and often lyrical gems from The Streets. A last highlight would be the amazing Floating Points and Four Tet who closed the last evening with extreme panache, choosing selections that really bought the disco vibes. To be honest there was nothing we saw that was disappointing bar a boring set from Julio Bashmore and the usual brashness from Mistajam. The remainder of the line-up was a veritable who's who of top names from the worlds of bass and house music.

            There’s not really much else to say other than check it out while it’s still fresh, Croatia is definitely the new Ibiza and Hideout is certainly a leader within its festival based economy. To put it simply why would you go slum it in a rainy English field in a crappy tent when you can be sunning yourself in Croatia where the atmosphere alone kept the party going for a full week?