Our favourite time of the year is fast approaching – long weekends, sunshine (fingers crossed) and the very best house music – festival season! Kicking off at Soundclash in two weeks and concluding in September at Sundown, along with our very first Defected festival in Croatia, 2016 is set to be our biggest summer to-date.
We start this year’s journey on May 1st at Soundclash, a festival that will take place at the beautiful Somerley House in Hampshire. You can expect relentlessly quality house music from our mouth-watering line-up, which sees festival destroyer Hannah Wants and DJ S.K.T, who released his ‘Dirty’ EP on Defected last year, join our very own Sam Divine, Sonny Fodera and Simon Dunmore.
Also on May 1st, we have curated a superstar line-up for international conquering Groovefest, with Malta’s picturesque Café Del Mar providing a perfect location for music, fun and sunset bliss. House legend MK will be there to provide the soundtrack, along with other members of the Defected family – including Franky Rizardo, Riva Starr, Dantiez Saunderson and ANOTR.
A few weeks later and we travel to Belgium for Extrema Outdoor, a festival that started back in 2011 and once again has an eye-catching location, this time at a lakeside site in Houthalen-Helchteren. Defected favourites Sonny Fodera, Simon Dunmore and Riva Starr are joined by Nick Curly, who released his game-changing DITH compilation back in 2014 and our amazing Glitterbox resident Purple Disco Machine for a full day of house heaven.
Fast forward to the end of May and we’ll once again be bringing Defected In The House to Essex for We Are FSTVL, which provided one of the summer highlights in 2015. No holds barred with our line-up this year, as we welcome house icon Armand Van Helden and party master Shadow Child, along with Andrea Oliva, Franky Rizardo and more for what will be one of the biggest parties of 2016.
Also, for the first time ever Defected will be at We Are FSTVL on both days, bringing Glitterbox to Upminster and ensuring you don’t stop dancing for the full weekend. You can expect sets from dance music legends Todd Terry, Joey Negro, Roger Sanchez and an array of talented selectors at one of the ultimate party experiences, which you will also be able to find at Space Ibiza every Friday this summer.
Moving into June, we are excited to be making our first appearance at Lakedance, a gorgeous beach party based in the south of the Netherlands. Franky Rizardo, Tube & Berger, PDM and Shovell will all be rocking the DITH stage at Aquabeat, with our crew of Simon Dunmore, Sonny Fodera and Sam Divine all in attendance. We will be returning to Lakedance on August 12th for part two, with the line-up TBA.
Taking place in the most idyllic corner of Croatia’s beautiful Adriatic coast, August is all about the first ever Defected Croatia Festival. Across the week you will see main stage house superstars to disco icons and underground heroes play all-day beach sessions, with daily boat parties adding to a truly unique outdoor clubbing experience. You can expect an eclectic selection of DJs playing the very best in house music - from Basement Jaxx to Kenny Dope, Julio Bashmore to Dennis Ferrer and many, many more.
Rounding off a summer packed full of amazing house music, we will be finishing our festival run at Sundown in Norwich, an event that continues to improve and impress after six years in the game. Sam Divine, Sonny Fodera, Riva Starr and DJ S.K.T. are there to ensure your festival season ends with a bang, as the sun sets on another amazing five months of partying.
