25,000 of the world’s most well informed music lovers made their pilgrimage to Melt! festival’s surreal location outside of Berlin at the Ferropolis, Germany’s “City of Iron.” Year round the open air location is set around a surreal peninsula landscape decked with massive industrial machines abandoned a long time ago and surrounded by a beautiful lake which served it’s purpose all to well during the weekend’s perpetual heat. This weekend however, no signs of former abandonment were to be seen, as Melt! celebrated it’s 16 anniversary. The weekend was packed with the world’s leading underground house and techno acts as well as an equally impressive display of the most innovative indie and rock bands out there today.
Friday night’s party started off before even entering the festival grounds. Melt! offers its campers 2 different stages in the camp site with local talents which spin every afternoon and night, getting attendees in the groove before they even make the walk along the lake to the festival site. Once physically and mentally prepared, we made our way to the Big Wheel by Resident Advisor stage just in time for “It’s Time for the Perculator” being spun by Joy Orbison. After a beautiful set transition into Scuba, we had the pleasure of catching an extraordinarily emotional performance on the main stage by James Black who managed to hold his audience captive with every cord he sung. We then (obviously) caught the Belfast duo Bicep spin their sexy house grunge back on the Big Wheel stage. The absolute highlight of the night was Benjamin Damage’s incredible fist pumping set on the Melt! Selektor Stage, surrounded by the beach and water. Imagine moving your body to Benjamin Damage’s oh so sweet techno with your legs in the water, that moment was epic to say the least. We closed off the insane night with 4 hours of the world’s best techno, brought to us by the Berghain raised and Berlin natives Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock. Both men, feeling right at home spinning at Melt! festival, brought their best records and an epic vibe with them to the Big Wheel stage.....it was almost as if Klock queued in the euphoric sunrise which marked the beginning of his epic set.
Day 2 started off with the one of the best sets I have ever had the pleasure of dancing too. After dragging ourselves away from the tent and to the infamous Sleepless Floor (which lies right outside the actual festival) we were taken in by the incredibly innovative soulful house sounds of Motor City Drum Ensemble. His set going from 3-5pm, the vibe on the Sleepless Floor beach and the immense connection between him and the audience was unbeatable. MCDE spun all his classic tracks with the most sincere passion and love for his music and the incredible crowd in front of him.
Eats Everything rocking the Big Wheel stage. We then caught a legendary performance by The Howling, Innervision’s Ry X and Frank Wiedemann’s new project. Their set was everything I had expected it to be and more, if you ever have the chance of treating your ears to a perfectly curated sound, don’t deny them of The Howling. We then ventures back to the Big Wheel stage for the marathon of sets that included DJ Koze, James Holden, Schwarzmann (live) and Solomun. DJ Koze dropping his infamous remix of Matthew Herbert’s “It’s Only” was legendary and had the massive crowd rippling with love throughout the whole 3 hours. Diynamic label boss Solomun closed off the night (morning) with a cool sensual set filled with deep and funky house classics. His set definitely marked a hilight of the festival, the rowdy crowd was going wild in the morning sun for beginning to end.
On the third day of Melt! the sun always feels a little hotter, the music a little louder and the people a little sexier. We couldn’t deny ourselves of the deep house duo Catz N Dogz spinning down a funky set at the Sleepless Floor from 12-2pm. The Polish duo brought the heat and threw down records just as hot as the sun was. Still vibing off their disco sounds, the party continued at the Big Wheel stage with Damian Lazarus and a bass filled set by none other than Maceo Plex who brought a solid collection of pumping records to his Melt! festival debut. Without any hesitation, the masses grooved on over to see Atoms for Peace close out the Main Stage with an extraordinary set appealing to both electronic music enthusiasts and live band lovers. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke in tandem with Red Hot Chili Pepper’s bass guitarist Flea and long time Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich took the crowd on an unforgettable journey through the creative minds of some of the best musicians out there today. Their 2 hours performance was packed with groovy renditions of York’s solo material and a plethora of tracks from the band’s recent debut, AMOK. The performance was legendary to say the least.
To close off the night keeping true to tradition, Ellen Allien, the Queen of label BPitch Control, ended her label showcase and the festival on the Sleepless Floor. One of the best vibes of the whole festival, all Melt! lovers come together on the final morning to dance together and let Allien take control of their bodies, minds and souls as the sun rises one last time. Having been one of the initial artists to draw up the festival lineup in 1997, Allien feels perfectly at home on the Sleepless Floor and this time was no exception, taking the all too willing crowd on a journey through the layers of techno and acid house.
Between it’s monumental backdrop, multinational crowd and incredibly impressive lineup every year, it’s no wonder why Melt! festival is every so often crowned the best festival in Europe over the course of the summer. Despite the blistering heat this year, the festival remained exceptionally well organized and it’s crowd radiated a positive vibe though a mix of lake side chilling and early morning raving. This year proved to me and my Crew that there is absolutely no doubt we will be returning to Melt! paradise again next year.
To get an insight on exactly how extraordinary the weekend was, check out the 2013 recap video below, and look out for Melt! 2014 tickets on sale very soon, taking place between July 18th and 20th. http://www.putpat.tv/e/ZDgzMiMyMDE4