Eggs, Shells & Frisbees: How Epizode Won My Heart Again

Some might say that 12 days at a music festival is downright bonkers. They’re not wrong.

I mean, just imagine it. You’re caught in a cycle of dancing to blistering techno till daybreak, taking a siesta on the powdery beaches of Phu Quoc Island, gaining second wind to jive to minimal house in the morning, scootering to your villa for another sloth-like snooze, waking up to catch a magnificent sunset back at the festival now soundtracked by deep house or psychedelia, filling gas in the tank with a scrumptious Vietnamese dinner, and adjourning back to the mega spectacle under a blanket of stars. Surely, that sounds absolutely horrid, right?

This being my second Epizode experience, I knew exactly what was waiting for me once more on the Vietnamese isle. And yet, the fledging festival still managed to pull off a couple of surprises that coloured me impressed This year, in fact, immersing yourself in Epizode was an odyssey more effortless than ever before.

While 2018 – Epizode’s second edition – endured several growing pains, 2019 rectified these flaws to the delight of everyone. Gone was the confusion of muddled and unclear set times; Epizode’s savvy social team made sure to post set times a day in advance. Those peckish from the prancing had more food options this year – from Indian butter chicken to vegetarian-friendly pesto pasta. And with daytime activities like yoga sessions and Holi-inspired powder-flinging festivities, Epizode felt like a full-on, lifestyle-centric festival rather than a relentless, juvenile rave that didn’t know when to stop.

Notably the starkest difference that made Epizode stand out in my books this year was its greater diversity in programming. While the preceding year was dominated by house and techno heavyweights like Loco Dice, Richie Hawtin and Nicole Moudaber, 2019 roped in a hodgepodge of genres from minimal and electronica to trance and even drum & bass.

One way how Epizode managed to accommodate this stretched gamut of sounds was the welcome addition of the Shell Stage, a new sheltered den that, at times, felt like an intimate, tropical glass igloo blanketed with heaps of leaves. Not only was the Shell Stage a swell respite from the sometimes-jarring elements – rain or shine – but it also provided a perfect daytime ‘after-party’ venue following the razzmatazz of the main stages.

Often, the Shell Stage was the spot where I’d make the decision to shake and jive for two more hours – where I deemed it acceptable to skip my hotel’s free breakfast – and golly, was it worth it. Some of my dearest memories come from the Shell Stage, from the crisp segue between the minimal four-hour odyssey of Zip and the jaunty, hi-hat-laden grooves of Fumiya Tanaka, to the meditative yet nudgy all-vinyl set of Binh. The Shell Stage was truly packed with surprises, including an impromptu back-to-back set between Seth Troxler and Craig Richards that I’d apparently missed. The regret continues to haunt me.

Beyond the Shell Stage, Epizode’s original three stages held their own, with a healthy roster of both international and regional acts on their decks. The Eggs Stage – complete with its iconic, fluorescent egg towers – flaunted eclectic sets from the likes of Sunju Hargun, Zig Zach, Jonathan Kusuma, Weng Weng, Hibiya Line and more. For sounds of more unorthodox, experimental nature, this was the place to plant yourself at.

Meanwhile, the Main Stage drew the biggest crowds with its vast dancefloor, facing colossal, elephantine stilted sculptures chiselled out of a Dali-esque daydream. Highlights here include a cheeky, acid-tinged set from Peggy Gou, a magnificently cinematic performance from Red Axes, and a brooding, ballistic techno salvo from Dubfire. One serendipitous development that also happened here was the spontaneous performance of Agents Of Time back-to-back with Asobitai, whose performances were both cancelled the night before due to stormy weather. Together, they churned out a blissful array of melodious selections that pounded till the morn, including a highly apt insertion of Faithless’ “Insomnia” – a “thank you” to the punters who stayed up with them.

However, what’s arguably Epizode’s most iconic and beloved arena is its UFO-shaped Frisbee Stage, and it continued to make Epizode-goers feel right at home. Sunrise-greeters revelled with big names like Nina Kraviz and Ricardo Villalobos – the former busting out minimal and harder cuts of techno; the latter ingeniously pulling out all sorts of tricks from his proverbial hat, including a mischievous 4/4 edit of Minnie Riperton’s “Lovin’ You”. On the flipside, sunset-chasers were treated to zen-soaked numbers from the likes of the legendary Spy.Der, and Andre Pahl who ushered everyone through a remarkable electronica journey as the final sunset took a bow.

Six days I stayed at Epizode, and even after that, I didn’t feel particularly wiped out. There’s a certain magic that permeates the grounds of Epizode. And while I definitely got a taste of it in its previous year, it charmed me even more on this edition, like an addiction you just can’t get enough of. A return visit is undeniably not out of the question.

All images by Mira Morozova, Dmitry Chuntul, Alexey Pavlenko, Anton Ogarev, Yana Ross, and Victor Scheffer.

For more information on Epizode, visit its official website.