REVIEW: ION, one of Europe’s most exciting new festivals

We took the stunning journey down from Albania’s capital, Tirana, to review LWE’s new festival, ION, which launched this September after a two-year COVID delay. The country’s rapidly growing reputation as the best new spot for abroad festivals got us very excited to see what all the fuss was about in the ‘Albanian Riviera’.

The site

Until about five years ago, Dhërmi was a quaint little village where the Prime Minister took his holidays. Now, it’s a bustling town of hotels, restaurants and intimate beaches that now play host to
a brand new house and techno festival, ION, whose musical identity sits somewhere between Dimensions, Houghton and Junction 2 festivals.

The main festival site’s four stages are comfortably sprawled down the coast. It’s a couple of minutes walk from one end to the other, with restaurants, hotels and loos scattered throughout, a detail that made the whole experience feel like being on holiday rather than at a festival, in a good way. This also meant there was zero sound bleed between the stages – each one felt like a destination rather than one collective party zone. Modern, sleek sound-systems reached every corner of every dance-floor with ease.

The line up

The programming at ION was a well-curated mix of all things house and techno. There was usually something for everyone across the four stages on the main festival site. There were tons of minimal
house, a big chunk of pummelling techno, a fair amount of experimental bassy DJs like Hessle Audio and Madam X and finally Balearic goodness in the shape of Dan Shake, Maribou State and Chaos in the CBD.

Highlights included a fiery b2b from Batu and Bambounou, the latter played his new Britney edit four times over the week, twice with Batu and once in his solo set before Ben UFO. Bristol-born DJ, Otik played an eclectic set full of left-field remixes, closing on his 2020 track, Zero- Sum Game. Helena Hauff tore up the Deck before DJ Stingray, throwing electro and techno punches left, right and centre.

The off-site stages

The much heralded Gjipe stage from Kala Festival is renamed the Canyon here – an idyllic stage only reachable by boat. We jumped on board for the SNO, Jason Wynters and Dan Shake affair which took place in the sweltering heat of day, luckily the beach wasn’t far from the dance, and there was even a shower in the nearby hippy-ish campsite that we heard was actually a commune, which really added to the loose vibe. On Sunday Batu played an extended set after KT, which saw the Timedance boss revelling in the heat, taking the crowd on a trippy, hypnotic and almost laid-back affair. We also heard great things about the new Fort stage, an old Roman building which hosted Marcel Dettman, a Dax J jungle set and Helena Hauff.

The accommodation and restaurants

We stayed in the resplendent Empire Hotel and resort, just a stone’s throw from the Main Stage, which was luxurious to say the least. ION festival’s system of booking accommodation with your ticket was refreshingly easy, a real relief from overpriced Airbnbs and cramped campsites. There was plenty of restaurants to choose from, on any budget, most of which were good value for money and a nice change from the usual festival street food.

The restoration and wellness classes

Yoga classes in a muddy field in Hertfordshire when you’re hungover don’t really make much sense. But when we saw the breathtaking location of the wellness program, we couldn’t say no to trying something new. We joined a Kundalini session, a rare Eastern practice which really put us through our paces and left us fully restored for Monday night in the Bunker.

The Bunker

Monday night saw the Main Stage soundsystem moved into the nearby underground carpark of Empire Hotel, which made for an incredibly imposing venue. Jeff Mills, Dax J and Hector Oaks brought the heat, turning the place into an absolute sweatbox and novel affair after a week of dancing outdoors. Special mention goes to Nina Kraviz, who set hearts racing with a 200 bpm track by Manchester’s Space Afrika, Blackhaine and aya.

Sustainability

As the environmental and cultural concerns of attending festivals abroad grow in the wake of Ibiza and Croatia’s impending doom as party destinations, it’s hard not to question whether this is all ok in 2022. But festival producers, Mainstage and ION have gone above and beyond on the Dhërmi site to make sure that everything is done responsibly. For every non-local person hired, they are committed to hiring one Albanian. Water is sold in cardboard tetrapaks, plastic cups are €1 from the bar and eating in actual restaurants off plates certainly felt more sustainable than all those plastic forks.

Locals are given discounted tickets and encouraged to come and party too. ION ran a party in the capital, Tirana, making sure the scene in Albania are aware the festival is happening, and are included. This is the norm in the UK now, but it really isn’t in Albania. A decent amount of credit should be given to the organisers for doing what is expected of them and we can only hope that this has the impact it aims to.

ION will return in 2023 on 6th-13th Sep. Sign up now for early access to tickets.