Moondance Festival, the Hidden Gem of Croatia’s Underground Festival Scene

Moondance Festival

We interview the man behind Moondance Festival, proclaimed the best festival in Croatia year after year taking place on 29-31 July 2022.

Moondance Festival is an electronic music festival, held on the medieval island of Trogir, Croatia. The festival was first established in 2013 and is held in a middle-aged Venetian fortress. packs a punch when it comes to location and a stellar line-up. Moondance is one festival that should be on your bucket list if you’re a fan of techno music.

Meet Pero Fullhouse of Moondance Festival

The man behind the festival is Pero Fullhouse. Pero is a Croatian producer and DJ and one of the original kick starters of the Croatian electronic music scene. It was due to a lack of live venues and inclusion that lead Pero in the early 90’s to organize his own events. It’s here where he would be able to play the music that he loved – techno.

Pero has produced over 200 large scale events and playing some of the biggest festivals and clubs across the Balkans and the EU. These include Love Parade and Techno Parade. He’s also performed several times at the heavy hitting Tresor in Berlin, La Locomotive and Aurora.

As he started to take on major club bookings and selling out his own events, he started to think bigger eventually establishing Moondance festival in Croatia.

“Moondance is the essence of everything I think is good in techno music and culture. Primarily music that is unlimited by any hypes, any false glitter, primordial, stripped to the core and direct. It’s about democracy.”

Pero FullHouse
Pero Fullhouse

Moondance Festival, the techno head’s dream

Moondance is the stuff of dreams for techno heads. This year’s edition is no exception with the festival set to welcome artists from all over the world. Including Jamaica Suk, Mr C, Oliver Deutschmann, Sytek – Live, DJ Lock and Tome R. Expect to enter the different worlds and genres of techno from the dark to the lighter melodic.

This immersive festival promises to take you on a sensory overload. Expect the best sound systems on the market, along with visuals, and video installations surrounded by the Mediterranean. The festival is also unique in its democratic approach and focus on equality and inclusion that Pero insists on. There is no VIP section. What is important here for Pero is that people are treated equally. This approach is why Moondance Festival has been recognized and given awards over the years.

“In my 30-year career I have visited many festivals and I know exactly what I want and what I don’t want. Moondance Festival is an oasis of ready-made events that’s surrounded by beautiful scenery and techno music. We don’t aggressively market, but each year we sell out. This is due to word of mouth and is in line with how I have always thrown successful events”.

Moondance Festival
Moondance Festival

Ambassador Awards for Moondance Festival

The Ambassador Awards cover several categories of the entertainment industry. Including but not limited to producers, promoters, festivals, clubs, and dance destinations. The Ambassador is an award given to local names to show that they’ve made an impact on a globally.

Moondance Festival holds several Ambassador awards. They hold the award for the best Croatian festival for 2016, 2017 and 2018. They also hold the best boutique festival for 2018, as well as an award for their record label, the best new label for 2017.

“These awards are the wind behind our backs for the future.”

Moondance Festival
Moondance Festival

Moondance Records

Pero started Moondance Records in 2016 with the mission to capture the heart and soul of the festival. Moondance records is the successor to the label Omega Rhythm who helped pave the way for Croatia’s festival paradise through high profile bookings.

Moondance Records is the soundtrack of Moondance Festival. The artists who perform at the festival also play their music at the festival itself. The label captures the vibe of the festival and the design aesthetics.  

“Although we were initially strictly vinyl, we recently launched Bandcamp with all the releases of Moondance Records and the Omega Rhythm records archive.”

The label has taken a break for the time being due to the rising costs and wait time of producing vinyl. However, it has been successful, and it only took three releases. John Heckle reached the record of the month in DJ Mag with his album Memories of Kamerlengo.

Contributed by Urban BUG.

Written by Ian Hinksman

Ian Hinksman is the co-founder of Underground Sound, an out-of-the-box writer, content creator and entrepreneur with a decade of experience in the music and events industries.

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