Sensational Epizode³ – one of the most thrilling music and art festivals in the world, has just wrapped up its biggest and most successful edition to date.
This year’s festival attracted double last year’s attendance, with more than 10,000 people from 79 countries dancing on the beaches of Phu Quoc, Vietnam, from Dec. 28 to Jan. 8.
They all threw rolling beats across four artistically-designed stages for 11 days and nights, 24-hours a day
The groundbreaking festival’s huge lineup included 140 international DJ superstars, such as: [A:RPIA:R], APOLLONIA, CRAIG RICHARDS, DUBFIRE, FERRY CORSTEN, GOLDIE, NINA KRAVIZ, NICK WARREN, PEGGY GOU, RICARDO VILLALOBOS, SETH TROXLER, SONJA MOONEAR, ZIP, TINI, who played alongside the best regional talents, such as: ALAM, DISKONNECTED, GABRI-L, HIBIYA LINE, JONATHAN KUSUMA, KERRY WALLACE, MARCUS L, OUISSAM, SEQU3L, SUNJU HARGUN, ZIG ZACH, to name a few.
They all threw rolling beats across four artistically-designed stages for 11 days and nights, 24-hours a day. The crowds enjoyed the festival’s unique captivating vibe in a hypnotising environment with iconic art installations and sculptures dotted along the tropical beach paradise between sunrise and sunset. Apart from the non-stop partying, daytime activities included yoga classes, Holi day, and mesmerising sunset sets.
Epizode³ brought many memorable moments, such as surprise sets by Raresh b2b Rhadoo and Raresh b2b Sonja Moonear on Jan. 1, Seth Troxler b2b with Craig Richards on Jan. 7, Zip’s and Rhadoo’s five-hour sets at the festival’s after party.
Epic moments happened at the Main stage too when Red Axes came back in the morning to play one more time, and one of the most viral moments – Ricardo Villalobos’ 9-hour set at Frisbee during the heavy tropical rain.
Epizode³ also welcomed some of the best global party brand and label showcases, such as Arma, Mdrnty, Yoyaky, Half Baked, Sci+Tec, The Volks, System 108, Equation, Sash & The Breakfast Club, to name a few, as well as Boiler Room Vietnam edition, with James Mc Hale, Alci and Dana Ruh on the decks.
“The vibe was amazing and social media is still on fire”
“We are very grateful to all partygoers, artists and partners who danced with us all the way,” said Epizode organisers. “We doubled up the attendance compared to the previous edition. We welcomed some of the world’s greatest and best regional artists who came back to play additional sets. The vibe was amazing and social media is still on fire. We invested significant resources this year to make the festival bigger, better and crazier, and to showcase the best of the best from the global and regional dance floors. We will continue to grow in the year to come and bring even more great music with the aim to become a winter music hub for ravers and industry people, bringing East and West together.”
Th festival launched on Dec. 28 with Epizode³ general producer TYOMA on the decks at sunset at Frisbee stage, while the day after OLIVER HUNTEMANN and BLOODY MARY played the same stage, followed by Prodigy’s LEEROY THORNHILL at the Main stage on Dec.30, together with Asia’s ALAM and DOTT at Eggs Stage.
NYE was a true spectacle with TYOMA, Berlin’s finest DANA RUH and YOUANDME at Main, while Romanian super trio [A:RPI:AR] and Swiss queen SONJA MOONEAR set the Frisbee stage on fire until the early morning, and then the crowd moved to the Shell stage, for an afterparty with surprise sets of RHADOO b2b RARESH and RARESH b2b SONJA MOONEAR.
On New Year’s Day, iconic GOLDIE, BLACK SUN EMPIRE, Hong Kong’s OCEAN LAM and Beijing’s WENG WENG, smashed the venue, followed by PETRE INSPIRESCU at sunrise at Shell on Jan. 2. One of the most epic moments happened on Jan. 3 when RICARDO VILLALOBOS played for more than nine hours at Frisbee during the heavy tropical rain, while Australia’s finest KERRY WALLACE AND GABRI-L played at their Sash & The Breakfast Club showcase at Shell.
January 4 brought an amazing night with DANA RUH and APOLLONIA at Mdrnty showcase at Frisbee, and with GUTI, PEGGY GOU AND PAN-POT playing the Main Stage, followed by RED AXES who came back to play an additional sunrise set, and all that alongside Vietnam’s OUISSAM and HIBIYA LINE at Equation showcase at Eggs and SAMMY DEE at Shell Stage for the Arma After Party.
On Jan. 5 LAMACHE and MAAYAN NIDAM threw some magic at the Yoyaky day at Shell, while later that night, CRAIG RICHARDS and DJ MASDA did their thing at Frisbee, alongside NICK WARREN on the Main and SUNJU HARGUN and JONATHAN KUSUMA at Eggs.
On Jan.6, the Volks Day presented Perlon’s ZIP and FUMIYA TANAKA at Shell, followed by the Ants showcase at Main stage, with RICHY AHMED and DAVIDE SQUILLACE, SETH TROXLER and BILL PATRICK at Frisbee and Seoul’s MARCUS L and Smoke Machine resident DISKONNECTED at Eggs.
The morning Jan. 7 brought a surprise with SETH TROXLER b2b with CRAIG RICHARDS at Shell, followed by tINI and THOMAS MELCHIOR at Half Baked showcase, while on the same night, DUBFIRE AND DAVID GTRONIC played at Main Stage’s Sci+Tec showcase, alongside NINA KRAVIZ and DJ STINGRAY at Frisbee. The last parties saw Binh, Matias Aguayo and more close out the festival by day followed by an after party where ZIP and RHADOO played for hours.
Super early bird tickets for Epizode 4 will go on sale soon with more info to be revealed in the weeks to come via social media and the website www.epizode.com.
Meanwhile, enjoy some of the best photos from some of the best moments of this year’s festival below!
—All photos & video supplied by Epizode
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