L I V E Y O U R T R U T H
Every year Nature Loves Courage Festival hits the translucent turquoise waters of Sougia Bay.
Ever since the festival started in 2019, the tiny village of Sougia, with its secluded nudist beach and the free spirited hippie legacy it carries since the 60s, has become a yearly heaven for a diverse group of artists, music lovers and curious vacationers.
Nature Loves Courage creates a space for collective manifestation, esoteric self-exploration and profound togetherness in the spirit of freedom of being and inclusivity. It is a journey into psychedelia where the arresting beauty of the landscape sets off cathartic auditory escapades. NLC was described by many of its artists and attendees, sometimes through tears of joy, as a once in a lifetime experience.
2025
In 2025 Nature Loves Courage invited CDMX-based Colombian selector and cultural architect Rosa Pistola, all-encompassing NYC-Berlin designer diva FASHION, playful provocateur peachlyfe, Brooklyn-based deep digging dance historian DJ Miss Parker, reflective São Paulo rhythmic transformer RHR, Jamaican-American dance allure DIME, sensorial shapeshifting DJ-rapper Honey Dip and Athens-based heavy-hitting folk experimentalist kvadosh. Resident DJs Juliana Huxtable, Kilbourne and Abyss X joined once again for our extended family affair.
Photos of sun-soaked euphoria at Sougia’s queer festival
Photographer Dani D’Ingeo captures the bodies raving on the Cretan shoreline at Nature Loves Courage – a radical alternative to Europe’s dark club basements.
2024
NLC 2024 celebrated 5 years of ecstatic music bonding with a group of sonic shamans from all corners of the world. The line up included Jamaican born New york based sonic disruptor Shyboi, raging Greek-Australian legend Jensen Interceptor, Colombian-born New York nightlife fixture Sausha, Spanish born dance music genre bender JASSS, Chinese pop slash rave futurist Rui Ho, Cretan bloomer Raed Raees, adventurous and bubbly music curator via Mexico Derre Tida and London-born psy+trance summoner DJ Skin. For another year the audience immersed itself in the spellbinding music selections of its Resident DJs Juliana Huxtable, Kilbourne and Abyss X.
Trippin 50 Cultural Calendar 2024
Each year a small community of regulars and visitors alike gather to enjoy playful electronic music within the natural setting... tucked away behind wild gorges in the Mediterranean.
2023
NLC 2023 hosted a group of sonic shamans slash bountiful producers, including Berliner dance genre bender JASSS, hybrid style DJ mentor LINNÉA, playful Paris sensation Urumi, trance evoker Cunt Remember and Istanbul based via Beirut hi-energy rhythm melding DJ Phiroza, Greek newcomer pink.wav and Athens fashion designer slash DJ Rebe and NYC underground legend Via App. Anyone who has participated in the festival’s earlier clubbing rituals is no stranger to the spellbinding music selections of its Resident DJs Juliana Huxtable, Kilbourne and Abyss X.
In Conversation: Abyss X reflects on Nature Loves Courage Festival
"Nature Loves Courage Festival is a lowkey social experiment - bringing these cutting edge line-ups and a sense of freedom to a village like Sougia is very brave, it requires a lot of finesse"
2022
The festival kicked off its full moon edition with a Reggaetón, Salsa, Merengue and Bachata infused set by Greek- Latina newcomer Foxy, followed by a body-snapping set by Athens legend, Astytekk. The lead then took Bogotá-born high-energy summoner THC, followed by the festival’s Resident DJs Juliana Huxtable and Abyss X with their eclectic genre twisting selections. Saturday night welcomed Egyptian avant-pop trailblazer Nadah El Shazly. Followed by a tone-setting groove-popping set by the founder of the record label PAN, Bill Kouligas. Beat experimentalist Deena Abdelwahed and dance music sensation Lolsnake followed with their electrifying sets, right before our resident DJ Kilbourne, tore the dance floor. And finally, Terenor Records founder and French psytrance don Egregore closed 2022 edition under the first rays of the sun.
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2023
...Nature Loves Courage really does tap deeper into the free-spirited, erm, nature of its home with each new edition.
2021
Drawing from the rich, sonic channels of the African and Arab world that run through the tip of Southern Europe where Crete is located, Nature Loves Courage, with the support of Kampala-based collective Nyege Nyege and Radio Al Hara, summonsed the ancient winds resurfacing from the native terrain. Nyege Nyege, a game changer in the electronic music landscape, bringing African-based music excellence to the world, presents some of its artists including DJ Diaki, De Schuurman and Moesha 13 to this idyllic point, alongside Juliana Huxtable, DJ LOSER, Abyss X and more NLC friends.
Nature Loves Courage is a Dance Muisc Oasis at the End of the World.
Never could I have envisioned such a nourishing festival experience, but Abyss X had the audacity to bring it to life.
2019
In June 2019, the first Nature Loves Courage festival transformed Sougia, Crete, into a radiant haven for queer freedom and sound. Curated by Abyss X, the debut brought together visionary DJs and performers including SOPHIE, Juliana Huxtable, Aurora Halal, Nkisi, Rabit, Ziúr, Gabber Eleganza, DJ Paypal, Debonair, Aquarian and Kilbourne to completely redifine what one can anticipate from a festival in Greece.
'What it's like to rave on a Greek Island'
Nature Loves Courage was striking proof of what I’d already suspected: that the future of raving lies in nature, where you can feel the wind in your hair and the earth under your feet.
ACID CRETE
An intimate electronic music festival in the shadows of the Cretan mountains asks whether rave culture offers a space to defrag our cognitive hardware and imagine livable alternatives to our blighted present.
With the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports for editions 2021-2024
With the financial support of the Region of Crete for editions 2019 and 2025
With the support of Hellenic Red Cross for FIrst Aid Services.
