Providing the best of dubstep, drum & bass, dub, dancehall, reggae, roots, hip hop and experimental beats, Outlook has deservedly been hailed as Europe's premiere dubstep and bass culture festival. Located on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, the Fort Punta Christo, Pula, Croatia - an abandoned fort built in the 1800s – provided an awe-inspiring setting for this year's event.

With a capacity of just 4000, the intimacy of the event was one of its resounding glories. So too, of course, was the line up - Hessle Audio, Sub Dub, Tectonic, DMZ, Shogun Audio, Vagabondz and Sub:Stance were just some of the names repping at the four day extravaganza. Then of course, there were the boat parties, the soundsystems on the beach during the day, the glorious sunshine and the mass exodus up to the crumbling sun bleached walls of the fort at night...

We spent our first day chilling on the pebbled beach, listening to a delectable melange of beats, hearing the sub go boo-ooo-oom whilst taking a quick dip in the azure Adriatic, sampling some local cheese and wine at the press and media briefing and getting to know people who would later become familiar friends.

As the sun sank beneath the horizon, we headed up the winding, dusty coast path through the scrub from the campsite up to the fort for our first night of beat related debauchery. Upon entering the grounds an enormous 'Outlook' graffiti sign greeted us. Deciding to take the right turn, into the 'Main Arena', rather than the left towards the 'Outside Arena' and beyond that, 'Mungo's Hi Fi Arena', we arrived in time to catch the Iration Steppas finishing up an incredible live performance with trademark dubbed out finesse – "Bad boys, bad boys, watcha gonna do? Watcha gonna do when they come for you?" This was also the first time the official Outlook anthem got played out – Damian Marley's Welcome To Jamrock with lyrics altered from "Jamaica, Jamaica" to "Croatia, Croatia" – a song that was to haunt the airwaves for the next four days.

Next up, however, was Zinc, who proceeded to go in hard with his quintessential 'crack house' mash-up of fidgety electro/house, dubstep bangers and some cheeky dancehall riddims. Nearing the end of his set, Zinc took it back to his roots with some late 90s jungle - the sounds of Bad Company The Nine echoing round the sunken walled area magnificently.

Over in the 'Mungo's Arena', the Vagabondz takeover was in full swing – with Kutz, followed by Plastician, East London's True Tiga collective and Stenchman taking it into the early hours. As we wandered past the 'Outside Arena', Mancunian crew, Broke N English were finishing up with some classic Wu Tang anthems, causing a wail of applause to let up from the crowd.

After an overwhelmingly satisfactory first day, a few hours kip and suitable rest and refreshment, it was back to the beach for Friday, where Kidkanevil really stepped up to the mark with a cracking set mid-afternoon. Clashes were rife in the fort on Friday night, leading to a line-up which looked something like this: Roots Manuva vs. Appleblim vs. Commix (we repped Bristol on this one as apparently Roots was packed out but caught a bit of Commix too), Joker vs. Scuba vs. Alix Perez (laziness prevailed, and we stayed cosy in Mungo's rather than venturing over to the notably less superior soundsystem of the main arena), N-Type vs Spectrasoul (D&B soldiers til we die... nuff said), 2562 vs. Break vs. Nero, Distance vs. Icicle... and so it continued.

 

 

Highlight of the night, however, had to be Benji B's 9pm set. Excitement levels were running high as the 1Xtra DJ took to the stage. Floating Points, who were intended to precede him, unfortunately didn't make their slot (luckily they turned up for a superb set on the beach bar the next day). Pushing our way to the frontlines we were treated to Benji's signature eclecticism and razor sharp selection, fittingly pointing more towards the dubstep tip; Ramadanman's Work Them getting a great reaction and Breakage's Hard picking it up on the grime edge a little.

Deciding to spread our wings and explore more of the fort, we crossed the wooden drawbridge and ventured in to the main heart of the building to the cobbled 'Courtyard' and through a long, eerie passageway lit with fluorescent webbing to 'Noah's Ballroom' – a circular, open-air, bull ring style pit, with alcoves to hold speakers and decks alike. Already the heat, copious skanking and sheer volume of people had stirred up clouds of dust and things were getting rowdy.

Perhaps it is worth mentioning here a few rules of the road for next year: watch out for the aforementioned dust (this got worse as the weekend went on, leading to chest infections a-plenty in the aftermath), also be wary about undercover police if you're partial to a spliff or more and, also, tip of the day, get your bearings and check out the layout first and foremost (rather than discovering the albeit a little cryptically located 'Dungeon' on the last night, as we did!)

Another night passed and Saturday brought with it the promise of the long-awaited Tectonic boat party. As we pulled out of the bay just after 1pm, the beers were already flowing and the party spirit very much alive as Tectonic label owner Pinch took to the helm, alongside Distance & Cyrus and RSD and who took it in turns to rock the boat, each donning a formidable captain's hat for the occasion and taking salubrious swigs from a bottle of tequila like renegade pirates on a cargo vessel.

New York's finest, MC Jukali, injected a good dose of humour with his incendiary lyrics "Party on a boat/party on a boat/party on a goddamn boat!", followed by "Boat/Tectonic/Boat/Tectonic", and the clinching line "Don't fall off the boat!" The hours passed quickly as we cruised around the Croatian coastline, lurching around the deck, the bass booming out across the rippling water. RSD mixed up some jungle anthems and Ganja faves with some tasty dubstep, Pinch showcased a selection of the freshest dubplates, 90s dance and funky classics and Distance & Cyrus played back to back with a tangible, synergy, taking things on more of a garage tip at times.

 

 

Adjusting to land again, after a four hour stint on the high seas, we headed up to the fort once again for the evening, where all crews, it seemed, were headed to the DMZ stage for an epic line-up: Kryptic Minds, Pinch, DMZ vs Loefah, Hatcha and Quest & Silkie. Gaslamp Killer and dBridge were also on the agenda for the evening, as was Mary Anne Hobbs and Congo Natty ft. Tenor Fly, over in the 'Main Arena'.

Eventually emerging into the dawn of a new day, the blossoming sunrise marked the final day of the festival. Hessle Audio were dominating 'Mungo's Arena' for the early part of the night, with Pangaea, Ben UFO, Untold, Ramadanman, Brackles and Jack Sparrow all in attendance, playing out the lovely cerebral numbers, forward-thinking cuts, Hessle favourites and lush tunes a-plenty, with Mala's 'Alicia' being a particular highlight.

It was then over to The Bug & Flowdan for the midnight slot in the 'Main Arena'. As more and more people packed in to the dust clouded area, a one in/one out system was implemented. By this stage, we were overlooking the sea of people below from the walls above so we could visibly see the hubbub rise to a new level when Skream and Hatcha took to the stage, ripping out the riddims - the anthemic Katy B – Katy On A Mission adding some mischief, as well as Redlight & Ms Dynamite What You Talking About? causing a ruckus across the arena.

A brief trip up into the upper echelons of the fortress to the press/artist area, inadvertently found us sharing a table with one who we later discovered to be Congo Natty's Rebel MC, who was recounting tales of the festival. For our last foray into the fort, we finally discovered the cavernous 'Dungeon' room – a dimly lit, hot, sweaty subterranean den, with curved stone walls, an oppressive allure and some suitably dirty, tech-y D&B tearing it up for the last few hours.

Winding up the night out in the 'Courtyard', the music came to an inevitably earth shattering halt, still ringing in our ears, and the festival organisers took to the stage to announce the end of Outlook 2010. As they did, the heavens opened and the rain began to pour in a dramatic catharsis.

For those who were there, and for those who were not, there is only one place to be next year: "Croatia, Croatia..." Outlook 2011: we're counting down the days already.

Words: Belinda Rowse

 

 

Related Links:

• Outlook Festival 2011
• Innovation In The Sun 2012
• Extalgic Festival 2011
• Win Parklife Festival Tickets
• The Garden Festival Returns

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