Balance Festival launched its first festival at the Garden Beach Resort in Tisno, August 7-10th. It was everything we dreamed it would be and so much more!
Photo credit: Ceci Minassian
In a scene where genres and trends are constantly changing, it’s awesome to see that Balance Series has maintained its position as one of the few electronic music series that is still so relevant today. Over the course of 25 years, the Australian label has welcomed the scene’s most cutting-edge and respected artists, like James Holden, Hernan Cattaneo, Nick Warren, SOS, Danny Howells, Dave Seaman and many more. We thank Balance for helping to give these artists an amazing platform to spread their music worldwide. These DJs have helped to shape our lives through their music. They’ve helped create memories and emotions that have brought hours of satisfaction on and off the dance floor. They’ve helped us form friendships for life. For many of us their music has been the soundtrack that helped us get through everything we have faced over the last 25 years. We found our family on the dancefloor because of them. This music has never been a phase for us, but our lifeline.
This is why the Balance Festival was more than just another festival. It was a 25-year reunion of friendship that was founded through the music we all love. With over 50 artists playing across 4 nights and 3 days, the event brought together the most avid progressive house music lovers. The fans of this genre are extremely dedicated, as are the DJs who have paved the way for the new generation of DJs, who are now following in their footsteps. Whether old or young, we are a breed that is built differently; we thrive on the dance floor. We danced in 30+ degree heat for over three days with little to no sleep and still didn’t want to leave! There was so much love on the dancefloors with so many friends from around the world dancing their hearts out. Few phones were in sight, except to capture some memories that we know will live forever.
The Garden Resort was the perfect location for this 5,000-capacity festival. Many other festivals are hosted there over the summer, so organisationally, everything ran smoothly. The stages blended seamlessly into the landscape — the Olive Grove glittered with a stunning disco ball, while the Yard stage stood at the center, giving off that true mainstage energy with DJs’ names glowing across the surrounding LED screens. But it was the Beach stage that stole our hearts. Dancing beneath the full moon felt magical; its glow wrapped around us, pulling us deeper into the music and charging the night with an electric, unforgettable energy.
The resort had several options for staying on-site, and the advantage to doing so was that you could avoid taxis every day, and waking up with easy access to the beach allowed for quick entry to boat parties. The water at the resort is gorgeous, clear blue, and refreshing, so walking up for a swim was a great way to start the day.
Balance curated an incredible lineup, which started with Simply City, who opened up the festival with a masterful prog set at the pre-party on Thursday night. We then got our first experience at the Beach stage for Mariano Mellino, and instantly knew we were going to spend a lot of time there over the weekend, as a smile spread across our faces. We then headed over to Barbarella’s for Khen and Deep Dish, who were all incredible! We were happy we got a chance to party at Barbella’s, a perfect venue for an outdoor party under the trees, where we watched the lasers dance on the leaves.
In the world of progressive house, Argentina is a major hotbed, thanks to Hernan Cattaneo, who has paved the way for a whole new generation. It’s always great to see him, plus rising stars like Nicolas Rada, Ezequiel Arias, Rocio Portillia, and Mai Lawson. The Argentinian energy on the dance floor was unmatched — so full of warmth and friendliness. Whether they were DJing or in the crowd dancing with us, their smiles and their moves quickly caught on.
The other major migration was from the home of Balance, Australia, with Zankee Gulati, DJ Be Kind to Other People, Mike Rish, Jamie Stevens, GMJ & Matter, and the pioneer from down under, Anthony Pappa, who all made the long trip. We had so many great times with them on and off the decks, and alongside the main festival, there was a side quest that we were happy to take. On Saturday, we went to the Skyline hotel party for a reunion with the Glasgow and Aussie crew. It was like one big happy family, a feeling that was continuous throughout the weekend.
Canada also had a great representation of artists like Simply City, Sinca, Niki Sadeki, and Simon Doty were all on our must-see list for the weekend, and we’re very happy we caught them all!
Old friends from the UK were reuniting on the dance floor and also behind the decks, like SOS (Demi, Desyn Masiello, and Omid 16B), who played a live set at the Yard stage on Friday night, followed by a boat party hosted by Super Progressive on Saturday. We had so many waves of nostalgic memories watching them, and they know how to curate an amazing set. We wish they did it more! We also got treated to an amazing B2B2B of friends Dave Seaman, Quivver, and Anthony Pappa, thanks to Skyline, who hosted the Beach stage on Sunday night. More UK legends, including arguably the best DJ duo of all time, Sasha and Digweed, packed out the Yard stage on Friday night. We wish we had more room to dance that night, but fans of these legends will still pack in to see them wherever they are.
It was also wonderful to see veterans and new talent sharing the same stages, like James Zabiela and Fish56Octagon, both playing incredible sets on Saturday night at the Olive Grove. It had been more than a decade since we last saw James, but he is still so technically skilled, he blew us away again, like it was 2005. It was our first time seeing Fish56Octagon, who rose to fame through his consistent posts on Instagram, which are equally as educational and raw as his Weetabix. His energy behind the decks was contagious. Even with the power going out for a minute, he brought the vibe back instantly, and we danced right until the end, followed by a very friendly meetup at the end, which was a cherry on top!
Although Balance was mainly a progressive event, the music spanned genres just like the series did with the likes of Nick Warren, Danny Howells, Adam Freeland, Patrice Baumel, Rodriguez Jr., Fur Coat and Franky Wah, who are all great examples of DJs who have their own style of dance music that can’t be pigeonholed into prog but can easily blend in with the genre. One of the biggest highlights for us was the Sudbeat boat party on Sunday with Graziano Raffa and Danny Howells. As if we weren’t hot already, Graziano played a gorgeous house set that warmed up the decks perfectly for Danny to continue to play one of the best sets of the weekend!
Finally, at 6 am on Monday morning it was time for our final dance, which was made even more emotional when Patrice Baumel played an edit of Phil Collins ‘In The Air Tonight.’ The Yard stage was glowing with the light of the new day, and so many smiles in the crowd. We all clapped and wanted one more track, and we almost thought we were getting one as Patrice queued up another, but the power cut, and we finally knew it was time to go.
This festival will be remembered as much for the music as it will be for the friendships that it brought back together, for the ones that it helped strengthen, and for all the inspiration it gave to all of those who travelled from around the world.
A big thank you to all the artists, fans, and especially the team at Balance for putting this debut festival together to celebrate 25 years of a series that is timeless. We can’t wait to continue this journey together on August 6th-10th, 2026!
Early bird tickets are available for sign-up here. Tickets will go live on September 9th at 11:00 AM CET.
