Lighthouse Festival celebrated its 10th edition and Numéro NL joined the ride this year. 


On “a small island-like hotel area in the Mediterranean Sea with rich nature, various stages addressing all musical flavors with excellent artists performing and summer weather”, as DJ Gigola raves, Lighthouse Festival welcomed its guests this edition. Together with the festival’s crowd, mostly coming from the Austrian scene, we enjoyed an electronic music selection of the highest quality at the Croatian beaches of Lanterna Peninsula in Porec. True to its motto Electronic Music on Vacation, the festival combines vacation with celebration.


“The location is amazing, lots of green and the sea in addition to very different stages. This makes the atmosphere very chill with music 24 hours a day over different spread out stages and accommodations on the festival site.” – Vuur from Amsterdam electronic music collective IsBurning

“I’ve been here already last year. We were such an unexpected but cool group of people. I was hanging with Sedef, THC, Bashka, and David Muallem. They were playing some nice music on the RadioStage hidden in the woods at the beach. I suggest you go there for the sunset – it’s beautiful. What I enjoy about Lighthouse Festival is the intimacy of the stages and the festival in general. It’s like a village with apartments where everything is around. I like the organizers, and how they are curating it – the lineup is great as you don’t only find the big names on it. And the stages are much more intimate, I prefer this to big stages and huge floors with thousands of people. Next to your playtime, you can have a great time with the other artists and socialize a lot. The festival has a nice spirit, and the crowd and guests are very open and friendly. Next year I’ll come back for one week, the end of May is perfect for it – it feels like holidays”, Freddy K reflects while we sip a coffee on the veranda.

The weather was immaculate and Lighthouse Festival was the kickoff for our summer. Over five days more than 120 artists played around the clock on three permanent and many pop-up stages with a vast variety of genres ranging from techno, house to UK/Bass and hip-hop to more ambiental music. Next to Freddy K, DVS1, DJ Gigola, and Voor, Sedef Adasi, Mama Snake, Bashkka, Dax J, DJ Heartstring, Voor, MCR-T, Ryan Elliot, Steffi, and Virginia complemented this year’s greatly curated lineup. 

One of our highlights – if not the one – was the captivating back-to-back set of Freddy K and DVS1, taking us and the crowd on a journey at the industrial Nassraum stage: “We know each other for so long, we know our vibes and what we play. But we actually played in two parts as we usually do when we do all nighters. And when the mood is good we go for a B2B”, Freddy K explains. The two legends took us on a ride with their finest vinyl selections at the sweaty Nassraum stage. The crowd was hypnotized by the DJ masters – throughout their playtime, the two artists kept the stage full with a consistent energy of the highest quality techno. 

Meanwhile, in the depths of Nassraum’s basement, DJ Spit and Mad Miran unleashed an eclectic back-to-back performance, blending electronic music genres that pushed the crowd’s energy beyond limits at the intimate Zodiak Underground stage.

Steffi and Virginia smashed the Autodrome stage with a B2B in the early morning hours on Monday, where Vuur also played the other night. “I really liked playing, it wasn’t that busy when I started at 8 PM but afterward I spontaneously joined TITIA who played after me. That was our second time playing together and it felt really good! The room filled up really organically and we had a lot of fun playing together!” – Vuur

The Villa of Gaze welcomed guests like Rumi von Baires, Lakuti, and Tama Sumo. On Sunday, the feminist and sex-positive collective hausgemacht in Wien hosted a party on the same stage. “The vibe and the crowd were energetic and great, even though it was already the fourth day. We had the villa next to the Villa Gaze. It was a good fit because it gave our sex-positive party a home party flair. Next year we can, hopefully, even fill a bigger stage with even more beautiful booties”, Federica, founder and curator of the collective, told us.

Each year, the festival hosts pop-up stages like this year’s Pizza Party hosted by Wolfram. We got to hear DJ Heartstring, and the curator and host himself playing sexy tunes ranging from Eurodance and pop to trance and techno.

Another highlight was the acts on the Lighthouse stage, the festival’s main stage, set at a breathtaking location and closed on Friday by longtime festival friends HVOB with their restrained yet minimalist electronica and incorporated vocals. 

Right there at the beach with panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea, also the Live From Earth collective was playing their diverse electronic sounds. Especially DJ Gigola’s back-to-back with MCR-T made us lose ourselves, fully immersed in their electrifying set and the euphoric crowd. “The sunset during my B2B with MCR-T at the oceanside was the cherry on top of an extended tour month and weekend. Not only am I looking back to a 7-year-long friendship with MCR-T, we also grew more popular as DJs during this time which made us also grow more and more together. I respect him as a performer a lot, I adore his DJ style, his track selection, his live hybrid set-up, and his stage persona. Playing with him is not only always fun from the friendship side but also from the DJ side. Finishing the B2B tour month with MCR-T on that Sunday with the sea and sunset in the back and surrounded by label fellows ALCATRAZ and Bauernfeind felt magic. It was all a smooth, natural energy flow between us and the crowd – I think when both of us are flowing it transmits directly to the crowd. In those moments I also just feel lucky I am with a community, a collective because these moments feel better when you can share them,” as DJ Gigola opened up about her perspective and meaning behind their performance. 

Eventually, the iconic Partiboi69 closed the stage with a genre-rich electronica set true to his crazy sound identity, transferring the crowd to another peak.

Lighthouse Festival’s milestone 10th edition surpassed all expectations, creating an unforgettable experience where celebration, relaxation, and community intertwined. Its diverse stages showcased exceptional artists across a vast range of genres, each moment was imbued with an irresistible energy that immersed the crowd. We can’t wait for another edition of Lighthouse Festival and dive back into its mesmerizing atmosphere.

Words by Thore Damwerth and Magdalena Roe