We Love Green
31 June + 1 May | Parc de Bagatelle, Paris
The ‘eco-friendly’ tag can be a somewhat exhausted, and misused, paradigm in the festival world. We’ve all seen the occasional dance mat powered by a bloke on a push bike, or paid over the odds for a rain poncho made of old forks. But by placing sustainability at the forefront of their ethos, We Love Green succeed in making their eco-friendly nature an effortless pleasure rather than a chore.
Every time we made our way through the technicolor gates of Parc de Bagatelle, we couldn’t help but notice the attention to detail. From the circular tins handed to smokers to stop ash getting on the grass, to the strip of solar panels that ran beside the main stage keeping the festival alive. Having soaked in some initial waves of the event’s unique atmosphere, organiser Emmanuel de Buretel (founder of Because Music and the man credited with signing Daft Punk) showed us round his additive-free wonderland and got us all familiar with the grounds for this scenic celebration of food, music, art and nature. Aside from that, the courtly surroundings played host to a weekend of thrilling live sets against a truly inimitable Parisian backdrop.
Our Saturday started with an acoustic set from Cat Power. Having experienced a turbulent few years in the industry, she performed with a refreshing carelessness and liberty. Her off-centre balladry and distinctive singing voice sounded more human without some of the decoration that covers it on record, and the crowd were treated to a mixture of covers and originals. After that came Little Dragon, who brought cuts from their latest studio offering Nabuma Rubberband to life with a great deal more spark than on record. Their breezy melodies suited the peak of the weather perfectly, and we merrily ventured to the DJ stage before our evening’s headliner. Having decided he was having too much fun in Ibiza, Numbers bossman Jackmaster parred us off horribly, leaving Pedro Winter and Riton to pick up the pieces, including a mid-set rework of Metronomy’s Love Letters to get the twilled cotton donning city-folk at fever pitch. The duo handled proceedings till the sun went down, but Crack dipped out slightly early to catch the main stage headline offering from SBTRKT. Bringing out Young Turks label mate Sampha for a mixture of tunes new and old, he also called up soloist Denai Moore a day ahead of her own set to provide vocals for a tune from his forthcoming sophomore effort. The new tunes sound like a continuation of the genre-bending ear worms that filled his debut and he’s certainly found his feet as a live performer, dragging Wildfire out for all it’s worth and rounding off Day One in true super-producer fashion. We then bundled back into a car while our driver (who we identified through his pink top hat) insisted on playing Wild For The Night by ASAP Rocky and Skrillex at full volume as we headed back to the hotel. True story. Awful song.
With the drilling remnants of Skrillex’s production strategy ringing in our ears, we ventured back to the paradisal festival site for its second and final day. Fresh from her stint with SBTRKT, Denai Moore’s serene voice and radio ready melodies had the Paris crowd hypnotised. She’s clearly a young artist with good taste, and with the headliner’s seal of approval already in the bag, there could be a bright summer ahead for her.
Then came a solo set from Earl Sweatshirt, who is continuing the ride of his debut LP Doris flawlessly, not missing a bar on tunes like Hive or Whoa and calling out a fan on the barrier for using the BasedGod’s name in vain. He harked back to the mixtape pandemonium of Odd Future’s first generation by playing Orange Juice and Drop before sauntering off stage like it was all really nothing. Having seen one of his very first live shows almost a year ago in New York, it was clear that with an LP under his belt, Earl is learning how to be an actual working musician who can no longer rely on his presence alone to get people going nuts.
After that, it was time to come to a conclusion about Jungle. Since their carefully executed inconspicuousness began a couple of years ago, the collective have inked a high-profile record deal and are gearing up to release an actual real life album. Like many others, we were trying to reserve judgement on the disco regenerators until we’d seen them live – and they did a winning job of sealing the deal. The smoky vocals on The Heat and the all-conquering horns on Busy Earnin’ sounded almost hyperreal thanks to the band’s unfailing, incredible tightness. It’s the live music equivalent of watching Django Unchained on blu-ray. With bongos, backing dancers and a rainforest soundscape prelude in tow, Jungle are going to travel festivals this year and show people that now and again it’s OK to believe the hype.
Co-headliner Lorde then bounded on stage for Glory and Gore and almost stole the entire weekend, showcasing triple-distilled icy pop numbers from her LP which nearly got eclipsed by the whirlwind success of lead single Royals. She jitters and shakes as she sings and the bare bone production of tunes like Tennis Court and A World Alone shake the grounds of the park before she swings her suit jacket back on and calls it a night. Channeling the bewitched performance style of Kate Bush with the stark creative approach of Majical Cloudz, it was a truly remarkable pop show. Then, after a minor technical hitch (don’t blame the solar panels) Foals opened with juggernaut single My Number and played through the kind of heavyweight headlining set that comes so naturally to them. As one of the most enduring British guitar bands of the last decade, they’ve earned their spots at events like this one, and they close with a rousing 2 Steps Twice then retreating to their tipi/dressing room before jetting to the next colossal show.
As we headed back to the car (hoping that Skrillex’s number 1 fan had called in sick), we really had seen a glimpse into a different kind of festival. Their approach to keeping clean was both carefully controlled but totally in the hands of the punter. Their line-up was curated on the basis of who’d had a good few years rather than who’s prepared to reunite if the price is right (see: Hyde Park on 5 July) and they had utilised a spectacular space created on behalf of Marie Antoinette in 1755 but now creates a playing field for how events could and most probably should be run. Starting our 2014 festival season off with We Love Green might make us wiser to the tired blueprints of other events, but that’s what made the weekend so fascinating – an event that is still exploring possibilities, something far too many festivals fail to do.
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Words: Duncan Harrison
Photography: Yulya Shadrinsky, Thomas Lavelle, Cyril Gourdin
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