Nachtdigital: Escape to Olganitz
29th-31st July 2022
This is the festival that almost went away – back in 2019 the organisers of Nachti announced that the upcoming edition was to be their last, after more than 20 years. The festival had built a strong reputation as one of the best intimate festivals in Europe, attracting top DJ's every year while maintaining its DIY and community nature.
The festival ended in emotional fashion in 2019 when Job Jobse played a legendary sunrise set on Sunday morning
Roll forward almost three years to March 2022, post a global pandemic that left surviving music events on life support, and somewhat unexpectedly Nachti announced that the festival would be back under the guise “Escape To Olganitz”. Tickets for the 2000 capacity event sold out in quick time - I'd been put on to Nachti from some friends who had been several times previously, so I was beyond excited to head over to Germany to see what all the fuss was about.
The festival takes place at the Bungalowdorf Olganitz, near Leipzig and around 2 hours drive from Berlin. The setting is an old East German holiday park complex, with a football pitch, playpark and man-made beach around an enclosed lake.
With just 2 stages - and an ambient floor running 24 hours – I had a warm feeling I’d be meeting the same dancers over and over throughout the course of the weekend.
Upon arrival at the site I received my festival wristband along with a welcome pack which including a one away airline ticket “from: Escape, To: Olganitz”, addressed to the musically themed identity that I was to adopt for the weekend – Mr Vyne Hill!
I also received a rubbish bag to store my waste, and upon returning a full bag at the end of the festival I would have the option to take home my very own line up poster or claim 5 euros - an initiative that wouldn’t go amiss at more festivals who are serious about attendees looking after the site. Moreover, it’s the little things like the discounts you receive at the bar for returning your empty bottles, that make Nachti so special and go long way to encouraging responsible fun and community spirit.
When picking your camping spot, the so-called quiet zone is the way to go. I say so-called because the site is small enough, and the music loud enough, that you’ll still be able to ID tracks from the comfort of your tent. However it really pays to be just a few extra minutes walking so you can enjoy somewhat peace if you find yourself in need of a mid-afternoon snooze. Plus the walk is really quite pleasant, taking you past the ambient stage, where the comfy mattresses and soothing sounds offer a nice substitute to a full on tent retreat.
On to the music then and as darkness set on the first night at Nachti, Jennifer Cardini b2b Solar upped the energy with a signature set spanning Italo and EBM. Cardini raised the dancefloor into a crescendo with a spin of Alen Skanner’s Supernova, a new one on her own Correspondant imprint.
Roza Terenzi dragged the crowd into the depths of the night with heavy sounds techno and acid. Despite the rain pouring down, spirits were not dampened in the slightest and while some sought refuge in the rave cave – a tiny bar and dancefloor hidden inside the Bungalowdorf complex – the perseverant stuck it out. After organizers pulled out what I can only describe as a huge tarp (the sort of thing you would see ball boys and girls rolling out after a few droplets of rain at Wimbledon) it was not long before a 500 strong crowd were bobbing up and down under the rain proof cover, their raised hands propping it up as the music throbbed on into the night.
There’s nothing better than shaking the cobwebs off from the night before with a quick swim and freshen up. That’s exactly what many Nachti goers, along with myself, did on Saturday morning – although I wasn’t quite as bold as those who chose to skinny dip!
The stages at Nachti run alternately, so as everyone eased themselves back into the swing of things on Saturday, the good vibes – and the smoke machines – were to be found at the Beachfloor stage as Agyna layed down a classy vinyl only set.
Over in the food court, the popular – and ever so reasonably priced – wood fired pizza van was a hit with everyone, none more so than me. I do love the comfort of a warm Pizza in the swing of a festival weekend. The pizza van also doubled up as an excellent dancing podium for staff to dance on as the party continued into the night.
As Saturday evening drew in, the main stage opened up for Nachti mainstays Manamana to make their inevitable appearance – so inevitable, in fact, that the duo of Map.ache and Sevensol are referred to as official residents, a title held only by a very select few.
Tijana T was the perfect recipe in the darkness of Saturday night, throwing down Nick Leon’s standout release Xtasis as dancers geared up for a long night.
When Mell G and Cyan85 stepped up to decks it was clear this was not their first b2b rodeo. The duo delivered an electrifying electro set and comfortably navigated the crowd through some of their own solo productions and even threw in a few fun curveballs at the end including Moko’s edit of Diana Ross’ Upside Down, heavily pitched up, and Stevie B’s Funky Melody.
Two rising stars of the European scene – the diminutive THC and effervescent Bambounou – turned Saturday night into Sunday morning before Job Jobse took to the decks to – in the words of Pete Tong introducing the dutchman’s BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix - “weave his magic”.
Drawing the crowd in with the likes of Slam’s irreverent Eterna, before dishing out a strong dose of classic trance including Opus III’s It’s a fine day, Greece 3000’s Three Drives on a Vinyl and Fragma’s Toca Me, this set was undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend.
As Job’s set drew to a close it felt like the whole festival was out for the special sit-downs and jump ups as parasols from the makeshift Nachti beach were waved above heads and the late morning sun shone the brightest it had all weekend.
A special set finished with the euphoric pianos of Pianoman's "Blurred" and Westbam & Nena's "Old School Baby", concluded finally with Talk Talk’s triumphant It’s My Life – another moment to remember from a musically wholesome weekend.
Speaking of wholesome, it’s worth tipping a hat to the friendly Nachti crowd, which is concocted of passionate music fans hailing predominantly from the strong scenes in local Leipzig, Berlin and Amsterdam.
By Sunday afternoon the fatigue was starting to set in. A wander down to the ambient floor for a mid-afternoon snooze presented a surprisingly memorable moment as Oxia’s classic track Domino trickled out of the speakers at a heavily pitched down tempo…it certainly caught my ear as I lay down for a rest.
All good things really must come to an end, however, and after delivering the perfect Sunday morning set, Job Jobse had time for one last dance as he crowdsurfed to Palms Trax’s festival-closing set - wearing a flattering discoball helmet, might I add.
As I gathered my things and headed towards the bus home, I was followed out by the sound of Arman Van Helden's timeless track I Want Your Soul blaring from the Beach stage speakers. That song, and this festival, is now etched in my memory.
Nachtdigital brings to the European festival circuit something that few other festivals can. With strong commitment to quality music and nice people, and no huge brand sponsors or over stacked lineups, this festival is effortlessly one of the best I have experienced.
With the music program running non-stop from Friday – Sunday evening, and the set times unannounced (officially, that is - I did get a hold of a lineup on blurry photo of a photo of a phone), Nachti is a festival truly focused on creating the right vibe at the time with a natural ebb and flow from techno, electro and acid into the night, to ethereal trance and euphoric old school house as the weekend celebrations climax.
The vibe, music programme, setting and sound are delivered with flair and I would absolutely recommend any underground electronic music fan to snag themselves a one way ticket Escape to Olganitz, and get lost in the music.
