Neversea 2023 brought unrivalled party energy to the Romanian coast
Sometimes in life you experience things that are so liberating, inspiring and exciting that they’re hard to put into words. Which is great for general life happiness, but a bit tricky when your job is to write a review of your weekend - in this case, the mind-bending Neversea Festival.
Situated on a dreamy beach in Costanta, Romania, Neversea delivers four days of brain chemical highs. So, what’s so impressive about it?
Firstly, the scale - this basically feels like Tomorrowland and Glastonbury got frisky on the Romanian shore. Next in the diversity - of both artists and attendees. Then there's the energy - we’re not just talking about camaraderie, but a distinct unifying energy.
That unifying energy can probably be put down to the shared reason everyone is attending - to just have fun. I can honestly say I’ve never been to a festival - anywhere in the world - where you simultaneously feel so connected due to your shared experience, yet so liberated in a “no-one’s judging, dance how you want, dress how you want, feel how you want” kind of way.
Take for experience the Friday night, where the (humongous) main stage set-up sees these two moments back to back. First, everyone’s favourite face-tatted Lil Pump shouting “I”m a sick f*ck I like my d*ck sucked” before launching himself a good 15 feet into the crowd. Then, before you know it, we’re all gifted light up crowns, Claptone is on stage and 25,000 odd people are screaming along to 'Music Sounds Better With You' in unison.
We’ve also got to talk about sunset. We all know that sunsets are magical beasts. But being surrounded by beautiful people while listening to minimal yet melodic soundscapes (MAGA and Layla Benitez being particular highlights) and watching the sun go down over the Black Sea Coast is really something special.
Getting lost at a festival is normally undesirable - you can’t find your mates, phone signal is non-existent and you don’t really know what to do. But Neversea has such a welcoming community that on multiple occasions I found myself dancing with strangers to Romanian DJs I wasn’t familiar with.
From the many random expeditions, here are just some of the delights I came across: A 100-150 capacity tent sponsored by an NFT project that had an unreal house-party energy; a fully decked out Sephora next to a mini Romanian independent clothing shopping centre (big up My Simplicated); and a stage dedicated to Balkan music, where some kind locals taught us the basics of their impressive footwork.
Unlike its sister (or maybe older brother) festival, Untold, Neversea has more of a focus on Romanian artists than international artists. Don’t get me wrong, you can still see main stage superstars like Lil Uzi Vert or J Balvin, but most of the joy comes from the support and energy that the local crowd give to their local trap heroes IAN or OSCAR on the smaller stages, like The Ark stage.
Every festival’s goal is to make you forget about your problems, be present and spend a few quid, too. Neversea succeeds in a way that many festivals fail. That could be because it’s on a beach in Romania, or because your senses are stimulated at every turn. Or, it could be because it does a perfect job of reminding you that you have the most fun when you truly are present.
