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BLOG: GARDEN FESTIVAL, CROATIA — DAYS 6 & 7

The final part of our blog from the last ever Garden Festival

Reality is hitting home as we haul ourselves out of bed today — we only have one night left! We’re laughing at each other worried that we're going to go back to the UK looking paler than when we left, so we decide that a little sun-soaking is required in today’s plan. 

As we debate the evening's musical timetable over a seafood platter, we hear that there’s a secret gig at the main stage at 6pm so we rush up to site to hear Bing Ji Ling’s compelling performance of original material and covers. This incredibly inventive routine consists of a loop pedal to build up layers of instrumentation, a guitar which he also uses percussively, and his voice which also doubles as the drums — AMAZING!

It’s 8pm and time to go and meet with Eddie, who’s taking us up to the top of the nearby hill. The panoramic views can only be described as outstanding and it’s making us feel quite emotional

We’ve chosen Futureboogie with Christophe, Crazy P and Felix Dickinson for our last night at Barbs but before we start the journey to the club we think it’d be rude not to go say hi to Maxxi Soundsystem. As we expect, he’s got the beach bar going off. 'Mazin times. We want to get the speed boat to the club tonight, but alas there are some problems — we don’t mind though, all the more reason to come back next year!

Felix Dickinson’s acid disco set is killing it right now and we’re pretty sure he’s gonna be one of the highlights of tonight. We’ve decided to get stuck in and move into the middle of the madness on the dancefloor, and suddenly it feels like we’re in heaven as Jim Baron drops Funky Green Dogs ‘Fired Up’. It's been a while since we’ve heard that on a dancefloor, and trust us it’s still massive! Before we know it, the night sky is fading and we realize the end is nigh. Thank you Futureboogie and Crazy P!

In summary, The Garden Festival 2015 will be one of the highlights of a decade. We walk away with a wonderful sense of joy and happiness and feel blessed that we were lucky enough to be a part of it. Blown away by the music and the people, we have nothing but the best memories after the time of our lives.

During the week we asked everyone that we met to give us three words that summed up the festival for them. We wanted to see if there was one word that would represent this magical event and there was one clear winner from the very start and that was FAMILY.

So long Garden Festival and Croatia, looking forward to seeing what 2016 and Love International have in store for us.

Words: Shino Allen