- It's hard to fault the DGTL crew for playing up the "sunny Barcelona" angle in the months leading up to their inaugural festival in the Catalan capital. After years of throwing events in rainy Amsterdam, a weekend in Barcelona probably felt like an incredibly safe bet. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had something else in mind.
DGTL Barcelona had its fair share of highlights—good Funktion One sound, a solid lineup, strong organization—but it's likely that what many people will remember most about the two-day festival is just how unwelcoming the weather proved to be, particularly on its stormy second night.
To their credit, the DGTL organizers weren't completely unprepared. Following a windy and rain-flecked Friday night at Parc Del Forum—a venue best-known for hosting Primavera Sound—the DGTL team smartly put together a Plan B for Saturday, moving the Phono Stage to an expansive new spot beneath a covered overhang. Although the Phono sound system didn't quite have the power to fill up its larger new location, many festivalgoers were thrilled just to escape the rain.
Barcelona DJ Pau Roca certainly didn't mind, as the shift meant that his Saturday evening set, which took place during some of the weekend's heaviest rain, was inadvertently greeted by one of the weekend's largest crowds. To his credit, Roca rose to the occasion, offering up a tasteful and pleasantly restrained selection of house.
Of course, plenty of folks at DGTL weren't about to let the summer showers ruin their good time. Throngs of poncho-clad punters pogoed with abandon during quality sessions from Berghain residents Marcel Dettmann and Ryan Elliott, both of which took place on the techno-leaning Stereo stage. Over at Digital—effectively the festival's main stage—the rain only slightly dampened the audience's enthusiasm for the driving, vocal-heavy tunes provided by Amsterdam selector Job Jobse.
A strong, steady kick drum is almost always going to go over well in Barcelona, which helps explain why Friday's sets from Boddika and Ben Klock were so successful. From a musical standpoint, Pearson Sound was also satisfying, even if his Friday night turn was a bit too heady for the largely young and party-geared crowd. (It also struck me that most of the audience were tourists, which isn't all that surprising when you consider that locals generally leave the city in droves in August.)
Regardless of its composition, the festival's attendance was sizeable. All three stages were always busy, but even so Parc Del Forum never felt too packed. Moving between stages was easy, lines were generally short, and people seemed to enjoy the festival's pseudo-industrial motif. As such, the overall vibe was a positive one, and the audience's exuberance meshed well with the soaring tech house provided by festival veterans like Dixon, Âme, Maceo Plex, Henrik Schwarz and Agoria, all of whom played on the Digital stage.
David August also played Digital, and though he received an enthusiastic response, his live set of cloying melodic house included a Wu-Tang Clan clip that was as disrespectful to the source material as it was embarrassing. French producer Worakls' live session was another Digital lowlight, veering into crunchy EDM territory as his hour drew to a close.
At the other end of the spectrum, Barcelona's own John Talabot served up the weekend's best set. Few artists can hold the attention of a big festival crowd while plotting a deep, thoughtful musical journey, but Talabot walked the line perfectly—and also took advantage of his set coinciding with Saturday night's rainstorms finally letting up. It may not have been "sunny Barcelona" at that point, but "not rainy Barcelona" was more than adequate for Talabot to work his magic.
Photo credit: Tomdoms.com