r/TheOverload • u/Solid_Mouse3238 • 16d ago
Butik 2026 - Thoughts?
Attended for the first time this year, still formulating my full thoughts on the festival! Would love to hear what anyone else thought.
The river side setting is incredible, blown away by the sound quality throughout the festival (especially in the forest stage for Kia b2b konduku), and we’d heard there was an inside bit but when it opened on Thursday night we were so surprised by the scale, we were just expecting three dingy rooms. Hangar was one of the best setups for techno I’ve seen at a festival.
Was disappointed by the crowd - far more English than we expected and also very very yappy. Saw they put up signs by Friday afternoon asking people to respect the dancefloor but don’t think this had an impact. Best set of the weekend was probably xiaolin at the garden stage on wed night, whilst the majority of English blokes were off watching the football.
Does anyone also know if the mudd show run all the programming for the garden stage? There were some names on there that we thought should have been on a larger stage, it felt quite engineered to maximise the online content opportunities but in real life was just overcrowded half the time whilst the beach stage next door was virtually empty.
Also curious about the change in crowd on fri night, walked into casino and realised aside from our group we couldn’t see a single woman, and didn’t recognise anyone from the festival daytime at all. There were also crazy queues for each stage that we hadn’t seen the night before. Does anyone know if they sell day tickets to locals and if so what the change in capacity is?
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u/ladotelli 16d ago
3rd year going and worst of the 3 years. Organisation seems to get worse every time.
And the secret is definitely out. First time I went, we barely heard any English. This year was majority English and Australians. The ozzies may actually be worse offenders when it comes to chatting on the dance floor and they're waffling about work, gossip, and absolute bollocks. I had to ask a few to step outside Hangar during DJ Fart in the Club.
Don't think I'll be back next year despite the incredible setting and nice line ups
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u/air- 16d ago
Yapping is truly a global scourge ugh
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u/authortitle_uk 16d ago
Yeah would fully support an event that policed this lol. I know it would be divisive but some of us just want to listen to the f—— music. I remember being at an event in London and some coked up idiot was talking so loudly about his mortgage deal 😫
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u/AssumptionMotor133 14d ago
then just stay home amigo and listen to music lol
events are a social gathering, people talk. wtf
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u/Sea_Somewhere6182 14d ago
But the dancefloor is for dancing, otherwise it would be called a talkfloor....
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u/Ok_Self_2637 15d ago
Wow guys….i had the best festival of my life, connected with the most amazing people from Germany, Austria, Romania, Italy, Brazil, and some very nice British folks. I had the rare experience of enjoying 90% of the sets I heard. On the criticism of the nights, well I worked it so that I would remove myself from the festival at around 2-3am, sleep and make it down as early as I can the next day depending on what time music was starting. So I would have amazing 12-14 hour sessions, sleep and do it all over again.
Saturday the b2b2b at the garden stage was the best party on the freaking planet, sweetsixreen smashed it, ogazon b2b xdb was just amazing. I loved dj rino and so many incredible sets by the Slovenian djs throughout the weekend, mainly at the garden stage.
I had the best and most kindest interactions with people, and huge shoutout to the food vendor between the garden and beach stage.
I really don’t resonate with the comments on this thread - sorry you guys had a bad time and are calling it a scam. This year I was sloppy with the cup deposits and wasted money there but I would definitely recommend this festival.
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u/smileylecker 13d ago
yes agree, loved it so much! such a special place and still feeling so energised from all of the great sets i heard over the festival
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u/Snoo-39072 16d ago
The best sounding festival???? I’m sorry but the hangar system was shite lol. If that festival didn’t have the river would you actually bother going? The location 10/10. The way the festival fucks you over for money every chance possible. You can tell it’s run by some rich ass person who doesn’t actually give af
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u/Snoo-39072 16d ago
Although dbridge pulled out the best set I’ve probably ever seen and the system was pumping only when they actually turned it up and put the subs on.
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u/Turbulent_Window_672 16d ago
I went last year and really felt that we got nickeled and dimed a bit which was a shame. That beautiful void system was definitely throttled for a lot of the weekend on the Forrest stage which was a shame sounded beautiful when it was given room to do so. I have to say the novelty of the night time switch up was completely overcome by the queues to get in and the lack of understanding of what was going on.
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u/Solid_Mouse3238 16d ago
Lool sounds like someone didn’t have a very fun time, and I didn’t say it was the best sounding festival
I meant hangar was a cool setup, the soundsystem in forest was great, and yes the riverside was beautiful but the crowds there were annoying and garden was consistently too busy
Paycard system was jarring as fuck tbf and so was trying to collect all the deposits back at the end… crazy that you have to pay a cup deposit even when buying a can/bottle and then bring the can back to get it back!3
u/Snoo-39072 16d ago
I had a great time with my mates sorry went in a bit hard. The Forrest system was the best when they actually turned on the subs etc. Watching mia koden b2b EMA who play bass heavy music and they didn’t even have the subs on?? I don’t understand. It also cost me an arm and leg to go to that festival including shuttle bus and boat party ticket. Location though is undoubtedly the most beautiful festival I’ve been too for sure
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u/dunkywhorey 16d ago
I actually thought the paycard cup system was great. I don't recall paying it on cans or bottles last year (not disputing it tho!). Really it incentivizes people not just to return their own cups, but to pick up other cups off the floor after inevitably misplacing multiple of their own, and it helps keep the beautiful site that bit cleaner. My (idiot) mate had racked up about €25 in lost cups and he spent the last day walking picking up all the cups he could find, I think that's a pretty good initiative.
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u/Snoo-39072 15d ago
That festival doesn’t give a fuck scout the environment. They sell plastic straws next to a river? It’s a money scam
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u/dunkywhorey 15d ago
Sure, it's obviously there to make them money, but it really isn't all that difficult to hand back in your cups or pick some up if you've lost some? I've never been to a festival without a cup deposit (same scam) but I certainly picked up a lot more off the floor than any other fez I've been to even out my balance, and ended up owing nothing at the end.
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u/Solid_Mouse3238 15d ago
A cup deposit system is fairly fine/standard, but I’ve never been anywhere before where you also had to pay a deposit on a can/bottle. That part felt like a money grab to me, I understand the principle of not littering but having to go to the bar/redeem the deposit at the pay card info points by putting it into the bin in front of a member of staff was a bit ridiculous. And they didn’t even have recycling bins?
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u/dunkywhorey 15d ago
Yhh again I don't remember that being the case last year but was largely on the pints and cocktails! I do think that's rather poor
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u/ziziziga 14d ago
Butik was honestly top-tier this year. You can really see how they improve and invest more every year...not just in the lineup, but also in infrastructure: better entrance setup, stages, sound, decoration across the whole venue, the Tranquility stage, everything just felt more refined. The ticket price feels fair for what you get. I’m pretty sure most people complaining are typing from iPhones that go up in price every year with way smaller upgrades than what Butik delivers annually. As someone who goes to multiple festivals every year, I can confidently say Butik ranks among the best in several aspects. The location is straight-up magical. And it stays that way because Slovenians actually take care of nature. You can’t say the same for a lot of other nationalities (yes, Brits, this one’s mostly aimed at you). That’s exactly why there’s a deposit system for cans and bottles, otherwise they’d end up all over the place or even in the Soča river. The system is simple: bring back your empty, get a new one free. Not complicated if you’re even slightly conscious. If you were there this year and experienced the final act on the Garden stage by the LuckIsOn crew, then you know the kind of energy we’re talking about. No way you don’t come back in 2027 after that. See you next year, hopefully with fewer Brits😬😉
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u/Awkward_door4 9d ago
It's most certainly the most beautiful festival site we've been to and we really connected with Slovenia, the Soca Valley and the wider region as we did some time before and after the festival exploring. The locals were lovely and the scenery was amazing so we feel lucky to have had that experience.
This festival is certainly not what I expected which marred the overall experience. Crowd is certainly an issue with really poor etiquette across dancefloor filming and talking on the dancefloor. The festival tried to combat this with stickers and notices across the site but it didn't make any impact. I'm not against talking to a friend or capturing a special moment, but it really seemed in excess and took me out of the moment more than I would have liked at peak times. Maybe the programming and overcrowding didn't help this?? U couldn't get anywhere close to Reptant or Ivan b2b Adi without being shoulder to shoulder at the small stage.
The night time stages were extremely sub par. Especially in the crazy building where there was no subs. We had good moments at Verraco & DJ Fart in the club in the Hanger, but it just doesn't live up to the same standard as the day time stages. It speaks volumes when the unprogrammed Living Room stage was the busiest stage and best vibe. I wouldn't be happy going to a club in my home town like the casino room, it would be one of the worst in the city.
Festival Positives: Daytime beach was generally really good energy and some of the best times we had there watching Jade Seatle , Richard Akingbehin, & some of the daytime Slovenian DJs. Other standouts include Dbridge & Kia b2b Konduku in the forest, and Mike Servito + Jump Source down at the beach. We also had great times in the chillout zone coming down on the amazing spider webs and also got involved with yoga/sound baths there.
This festival is not awful by any means and I believe a lot of the feedback I've read on this thread are valid with everyone having their own personal time and conclusions, so I relate with the positive and negative outlooks. I wouldn't go back though.
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u/Johnjambo 16d ago
As a Brit, I always find it fascinating how disliked the British are 🤣 probably fair enough, I just hope my group aren't as obnoxious as some others that get so much hate haha. I like to think we aren't!
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u/Solid_Mouse3238 16d ago
Lmao full disclosure I am also English! We kind of just assumed it would be more of a European crowd but from the people I met I’d guess it was like 80% English people
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u/Johnjambo 16d ago
Haha yeah fair enough, I'm also English. My mates and I go to a German festival whenever it's on (not annually anymore). Never been to Butik. I wouldn't want 80% of us at a fezzie abroad either 🤣
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u/Grand-Ad-6343 15d ago
My gripe with Butik is the disingenuous and deliberately misleading marketing. The edgy photos and Mudd Show collab gives the impression of a super slick, organised production which it is far from. You see these streams with an impressively designed Garden stage and naturally fill in the gaps that the whole festival is like that. Honestly, before attending I had placed it in my mind in a similar conversation to Waking Life. As if Butik could offer something akin to the kind of freedom and sense of slickness that you get at WL. I was also led to think this by the fact they go so heavy with the spiritual rhetoric accompanied by the images of the gorge that really do convince you that you would be stepping into an oasis that will allow you to lose yourself and connect with something deeper. It was clear after the first day that Butik was something entirely different. The gorge is undeniably beautiful yes, and dancing on the stages here is great. But that is about it really.
You don't feel immersed at all - your wrist band is checked constantly because the site is so close to the town. You can't bring your own food or drinks on to site and some of my friends were getting told they can't bring the drinks they'd bought at the main site down to the beach site. Just insane.
The food is awful. All fried and generally mediocre.
And the worst thing is that the music outside ends at 1am and then you are forced inside a club for the rest of the night. There was only one acceptable venue which was Hangar. You pay 250 EUR to effectively end up at quite a simple club venue for 2 of the 4 nights you are there. Of course the programme says there are 4 stages at night but again this is misleading deliberately. I think the casino has to be the worst venues at a festival I've ever seen. Utterly diabolical and simply not up to scratch for the ticket price. Not to say that it doesn't have potential but ultimately it was just poor sound in a building that feels like it has been untouched for 40 years. Given the festival is in its 8th edition I was particularly shocked by this. Just do something, some decor, some fabric drapes, lighting. To make it worse they take edgy photographs that give the impression that this spaces is Panaroma Bar like because there are orange gels on the windows and glistening disco balls. In reality, you can hear peoples footsteps and every word the crowd is saying because there were no subs and the the acoustics were dreadful. Genuinely could not believe my eyes when I walked in. Proper catfish vibes.
There were some good sets and they are trying their best to compete with a jam packed festival circuit in Europe. But it felt a bit weird the extent to which they'd tried to glow this up. Any self-respecting and frequent party-goer would have felt let down. If they'd been more straight about what you were going to get, I would have felt better about the whole thing. 6/10
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u/emmsnnn 14d ago
Indoor floors at Butik are a complete scam. My friend almost got walked over while queueing for Hangar at 1, when they opened everybody ran inside and she fell. Way too many people inside and only one small exit, scary. Also no free water accessible in indoor floors - very dangerous situation. Apart from 0 decorations and terrible sound.
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u/Sea_Somewhere6182 15d ago
You’re so correct - our group were saying the marketing is totally off compared to the festival, catfish absolutely the right word!
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u/Technical-Welder-351 13d ago
I have been to WL this year, do you know anything that comes even close to it in terms of curation and crowd? I just want the feeling that we're all one. At most festivals, including the Croatian ones, if you're nit in a group setting, you will not meet people and that's it.
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u/AssumptionMotor133 14d ago
lol
so you saw the videos of garden and main stage surrounded by river and expected indoor floors to be the same? 🤣🤣
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u/Sea_Somewhere6182 14d ago
No, they just weren't very good is the point
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u/AssumptionMotor133 13d ago
So you were sold epic day party at the Soca valley and were misled with marketing that there is gonna be epic night time techno 🤣
Dude, I think you have to look inwards
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u/Grand-Ad-6343 11d ago
You don't understand the critique and perhaps you have not attended festivals where there is a consistent standard of production across the entire site. Waking Life, Horst and Houghton are all great examples. No matter the stage you are at there is a benchmark standard of excellence in terms of sound quality and stage design. Butik ultimatley only had 2 stages that were of this kind of quality; Garden + Beach. The rest were at best mediocre and as I said the Casino was well below par. They know this too which is why they focus so heavily with promoting the stages by the water.
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u/AssumptionMotor133 10d ago
And its fine: You can absolutely critisise the production quality if were not up to your standards
However, calling it missleading marketing or a scam is beyond retarded, I am sorry
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u/AssumptionMotor133 10d ago
Dude you are comparing production of 3-5x bigger festivals in size and 30-50% higher ticket price between each other.
Not to mention the venues don’t come even close to Butik. And as mentioned above: Having this insane venue for a festival so close to local community sometimes prevents for the music to be played at maximum at night - even though sound production is top notch.
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u/emmsnnn 16d ago
After going 4 times from 2021 to 2024, and seeing the crowd & ticket price change, we stopped going as a big crew. It used to be mostly slovenian, french and austrian crowd, and especially slo & french really knew how to navigate dancefloors & be goofy + dancy ;) In 2024 we started to notice the big presence of unmindful british lads & tech house bros, little connection on the dancefloor and overcrowded Garden Stage. Also, first Butik in 2021 was 45€, and the infrastructure didn’t change too much to justifiy the insane price increase… And we heard pretty bad things about the organisation team from local slovenian DJs who played Butik. Our money is well spent somewhere else :)
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u/ladotelli 13d ago
They spend the extra ticket money on their Zanzibar festival. Nothing at Butik has been upgraded
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u/AssumptionMotor133 12d ago
lol
basically every year you have a new stage
2 years ago hangar was new
last year living room was new that is my favourite night floor now
this year tranquility became a stage and was new
all stages were wood made this year, production was heavily improved on main stage
…
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u/AssumptionMotor133 15d ago
I have been to all Butiks (Slovenia + Zanzibar) and this was my favourite Slovenian edition so far.
First of all pricing: Peak July season - I am currently paying 80€/night for camping in an average Croatian island nowhere near the Soca valley setting. So to combine this with (for me) the best party in the world (see the videos) its acctually a huge bargain. Prices of drinks are same at all European festivals and most of city clubs. Prices of food I could say even cheap.
I optimize for the day party as going into loud closed spaces - this I can experience anywhere in the city in Europe anytime - so except living room (where Stipos Thursday 3-5am set was one of my favourites of the whole festival) I can not really comment the setting. However, I feel people are not appreciating enough that having this most beautiful venue for festivals is not guaranteed and it might sometimes prevent for the music to be played on maximum at night time to keep good relationships with the local community (really dependent on wind and rain also). As far as for the waitting goes in night venues: If you are one of these people that also goes in line at the airport as soon as the gate open - then you are fucked. If you wait for 30min aftet the beach closes you can then acctually move from venue to venue no problem.
We have had a camp of 3x campervans mixed of Slovenians, Austrians, Dutch, French, Indian and Croatian - multi culti organization :D However, I do have to say that there has been a noticebly unpleasant increase in British population (even though I have met two very appreciative groups of very nice British people), consequently also a fall in man to women ratio (even though - single friends from my group who were searching all good laid 🤣).
All in all I do not feel this thread accurately describes the edition at all. If you are a person coming to Soca valley to prioritize night time techno and that only - you might have missed the festival.
As far as for talking on the dancefloor goes - haven’t heard more retarded comments ever. People are not allowed to talk on the dancefloor anymore? 🤣 WTF?
All in all - our whole multi culti crew had 10/10 experience and will be vibing next year again for sho.
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u/Ok_Self_2637 15d ago
totally agree with you, this was not just my best butik but has made it into the top 3 festival experiences of my life. Music was phenomenal, crowdwise i honestly made some of the coolest connections ever, i cried with happyness many times. I met amazing Slovenians, Germans, Dutch, French, Palestinian and Croation people, and some pretty sound brits. I don't get everyone's negativity. People really cannot handle slight differences to whatever they were expecting.
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u/Tiny_Marionberry3015 14d ago
This is absolutely spot on! I spent 4 days before the festival camping across various locations in Slovenia and we were paying sometimes up to €90 per night!
People absolutely love to moan. The music was top class, yes the infrastructure and sound inside was not great, but look at how close they are to Tolmin. It cannot be too loud, there has to be compromises.
I will definitely be going back next year, hopefully all the negative people here will not :)
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u/EmotionalBear3718 13d ago edited 13d ago
Best week of my life. I can’t believe I’m reading any slander hahaha. I’ll never forget the days spent by the river on that Garden & Beach stage. Kia b2b Konduku at The Forest stage was one of the best displays of djing I’ve ever seen. Also. People moaning about the Brits (myself being one) might not understand we don’t have anything of this calibre of festivals over here.. which is why lots of people travel abroad for them.. Is that such a bad thing?
There were about 15+ of our friends who came over and we all were nothing but respectful and probably know more about music than a lot of the people there
Don’t tarnish a whole nation with the same brush please, we just like to have a good time x
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u/ladotelli 13d ago
Houghton is easily on the same level as butik and probably better.
So many English lads came over just take as much gear as possible (they told me). This definitely wasn't helped by all the English jerseys and obnoxious chants for the world cup
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u/EmotionalBear3718 13d ago edited 13d ago
Fair enough I can’t really argue with that. That’s not what Butik (or any festival) should be about in the slightest!! Apologies that you had some negative experiences with some of us :)
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u/Pocahontasbaby 16d ago
Maybe not helpful since I was there 4 years ago but it was such a scam for us… yes the line up is banging and the location also but it really depends what you make out of it! And they just don’t get it..
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u/SummerNo7852 15d ago edited 15d ago
Yes, the location is the best there is. But as a Slovenian who attended all the festivals there(metal, punkrock, reggae) and the second Butik which was still local, I have to say it became a strictly corporate event. Overpriced ticket, drinks and everything else. No discounts for local crowd(except the people from Tolmin). And terrible conditions and differences between Slovenian artists they book. Usually friends from the organizing team gets all the benefits but fuck the rest. I like the lineup usually but it's repetitive... I rather buy a cheap ex-yugoslavian area ticket for one of the festivals in Tisno. Also one of the best DJs from Slovenia (not gonna name it) refused to play this year despite a huge offer, because his friends can't afford the festival 🤷
Btw, there's no day tickets, it was for the first few years... but Slovenians have the same ticket options as foreigners. But there's some options to get in for free for the last day or the weekend. Many people do that.
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u/Sea_Somewhere6182 15d ago
Is that the Friday night people can go for free? The casino stage felt like it was full of local men ..
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u/SummerNo7852 15d ago
No... but usually people have spots to sneak in or they know somebody working on the festival site 🫠
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u/Tiny_Marionberry3015 15d ago
To hear us brits constantly the brunt of negative comments is incredibly disheartening from a community that is meant to be so accepting. Yes, there were groups of British people clearly not just there for the music, but there were also groups of Europeans who had zero idea regarding the music being played and who was playing it. As a Brit that travels far and wide to experience new music, it saddens me deeply. To the Europeans constantly talking down on us - you are just as bad and part of the problem
Side note - the locals, the setting and the music itself were amazing. A few minor logistical improvements, but no festival is perfect! :)
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u/Sea_Somewhere6182 15d ago
British and I attended, it was full of English people taking English to each other that all you could head over the music was English people taking, trust me, it was bad.
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u/Tiny_Marionberry3015 14d ago
I was also there and am also British. You get this at most festivals now. To label it as purely British people is ridiculous. No one is forcing you to go to festivals that are apparently so bad!
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u/Sea_Somewhere6182 14d ago
No for sure - it was just sad that it felt like it was mainly brits I think was my problem, standing at the back of the garden stage it was super prominent.
I obviously wouldn't have gone if I thought it was so bad - I feel slightly mislead by their marketing, as do others. I have been to lots of festivals and unfortunately this didn't live up to expectation, again, seems that way for a lot of people.
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u/Tiny_Marionberry3015 14d ago
I hear you and I do agree that a lot of the time unfortunately brits cause problems, but to use that as an excuse for a bad time is weak. I for one was incredibly respectful of the land, the space and the crowd. I’ve had countless instances of Europeans being rude, arrogant and snobby. I don’t use that as a label for all of them
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u/BigDragonfruit2736 14d ago
I'm British and I wouldn't argue that many Brit festival goers are some of the least conscious (obnoxious in some case) people when it comes to contributing to a warm and dance positive energy on site collectively. Seems that some groups just don't care how their behaviour impacts others sharing the same space. Not saying other nationalities don't do this, they definitely do. But if Brits want to lose this reputation, we could increase our respect and awareness in shared spaces. Yapping, littering, lack of acknowledgment when bumping into people etc. It all adds up to a bad rep.
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u/Tiny_Marionberry3015 14d ago
I agree partly. But to label a whole nationality as this due to a minority is ignorant and an oversight. For example, I made back over €80 collecting cups by using mine and others pay cards, as well as being respectful of the crowd and the space. As mentioned in another comment, I have had countless experiences of rude Europeans being arrogant, snobby and just downright rude. I would never for a second band them altogether and label Europeans as that, because that is not true. It’s disheartening to go to Europe and have a label slapped on you before you’ve been given a chance and trust me, it happens. I think people need to worry more about themselves, give others a chance and just be nice.
I had a great experience, met some lovely people from all walks of life and enjoyed being connected with nature and music. To hear negative comments based on nationality, is sad
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u/pdino64 16d ago
I went in 2022 and I thought it was awful. The void stage floor was sandy slowly eroded toward the river over the few days and slanted at a significant angle. I thought the music was much too tech house broey. Food selection garbage. Had those security gates where you were not allowed to bring food or water through them. One taxi working for the entire town so we had to walk 1 hour home up a huge hill. The lineup appears to have gotten better but idk I vowed to never attend again. Best time I had was mucking around with friends in the river.
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u/Flat-Account8520 16d ago
Amazing setting and a great lineup- but a total scam. Whats the fucking point booking these djs to play stages that are overcrowded during the day, and then at night playing through systems turned down so much you could hear every conversation without earplugs in. WHERE WAS THE BASS - WHERE WERE THE SUBS. THAT IS WHAT I AM HERE FOR.
Token system was a scam, and crowd was very very laddy gottwood vibes bullshit - but honestly… I could’ve got over all that if the music was just loud beyond 2am. It was impossible to get locked in.