Costa Rica's BPM Festival brought the heat and didn't disappoint – Mixmag

Shining a light on Costa Rica in 2020
BPM Festival Costa Rica came in hot and heavy. With 140 artists and 30 showcases across five days and nights, it was bound to be a wild rendition of the world-renowned underground dance gathering.
Sharam said it best: “I gotta tell you, my favorite BPM memory is this time because I feel like nobody knew what to expect, and then when you saw it all click in together, you were like: “WOW, this is amazing!”
Every BPM Festival is the best BPM Festival.
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Day one immediately put us in deep waters. Grammy award-winning duo, Deep Dish banged out a five-hour set, marking their first stop in Costa Rica in 15 years and the pair, consisting of Dubfire and Sharam, filled the atmosphere with the spirit of deep, progressive house. When night time rolled around, Dubfire’s Sci-Tec showcase pulled out a surprise b2b set from Art Department and Carlo Lio at the Pod Stage. Meanwhile, Detroit Love brought in the sounds of Motor City techno as Kenny Larkin and Stacey Pullen took over the Dream Catcher stage.
With day two came the true beauty of a b2b as Hector’s Vatos Locos combined a collective of like-minded individuals together to build a cohesive set. At the Dream Catcher in The Jungle, festival goers were graced with a one-of-kind b2b2b2b, meshing the sounds of David Gtronic, Hector, Javer Carballo and Mahony.
Hector spoke up about the reason behind the special night explaining, “tonight is a special night for us because it’s our fifth anniversary of Vatos Locos and Vatos Locos was born at BPM.”
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House music bled through the veins of the hefty production on day three as the legendary Masters at Work aka Kenny Dope and Louie Vega took over the Canopy with Felix Da Housecat, Jojo Flores and II Faces. Elaborating on the connection they built with the audience that day, they noted “the crowd was really into it, there was energy, it was amazing. You feel that emotion and today we felt a lot of that.”
Although Masters at Work was indefinitely one to catch, Nicole Moudaber and Paco Osuna went b2b at the Pod in The Jungle taking attendees on a journey towards sunrise at the Mindshake vs. MOOD showcase.
It’s a surprise anyone made it to day four after three full days immersed in a jungle of soulful dance selects, but as ever, there was much more to see.
Day four pulled through with NBA star, Rony Seikaly as he enveloped the crowd in deep house to introduce his new event brand, Majaninia. Back at the Howling Monkey stage, Stacey Pullen and the Italian duo, Neverdogs showed off another surprise b2b set.
And then, it was closing day. As always, the This is the End event brought BPM Costa Rica to its final hours. Sasha and Sharam hit the decks at The Canopy and Skream and Michael Bibi worked until sunrise to ensure a transcendent finish.
Until next time, Costa Rica.
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[Photos: Alive Coverage, Menbar Photos, Sarah Heaton, Tania Hauyon, Elena Yec | BPM Festival]
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