The Tribes
Cite Du Cinema, Paris | 20 – 21 June
Last weekend was a particularly good weekend to be in Paris. The sun shone all day and the locals were unusually chirpy – thanks, in no small part, to a certain sporting event. Also the city was hosting a huge array of music as part of it’s annual Fête de la Musique. Amongst the chaos a new techno festival was being born in the outskirts of the capital. We gave The Tribes festival’s debut year a look with nothing to go on and apart from a formidable (if a tad safe) line up of DJs and a healthy dose of joie de vivre.
As soon as we arrive at the site it’s evident the organisers are not lacking ambition. The main Fire Stage is a huge glass construction, comfortably big enough for a couple of jumbo jets and the VIP area alone is the size of most clubs, but then there are also enough egos around to fill it. A little taken aback we head for the smaller Earth Stage. Andre Crom opens proceedings but fails to excite, delivering a cold and uninspiring performance to a sparse assembly. Jus Ed on the main stage swiftly remedies the situation, playing a native classic in the form of Stardust’s Music Sounds Better With You followed by a bunch of feel good Balearic and Disco records.
Suitably invigorated, we tuck into some overpriced vodka in the VIP and catch some of Magda who brings something way more deep and heady. Looking out across the crowd, the reception and the numbers aren’t bad but are dwarfed by the cavernous space. The building doesn’t do any favours to the sound either. A lot of money has clearly been ploughed into the rig and the stage but it ends up echoing down the hall and ricocheting off the glass roof. Down in the second room the sound is fuller and the feel cosier. This works very much in Tobi Nuemann’s favour whose trademark, expressive electro-house, is a huge hit.
Saturday at The Tribes runs throughout the day but we take the time to check out what Fête de la Musique has on offer. Basically for one day a year, the whole city is allowed (even encouraged) to make as much noise as possible. We stumbled upon Golden era Hip-Hop in the Marais, a plethora of tiny bars playing deep house onto the boulevards and a 20 strong samba drum ensemble at the bottom of Montmartre. Tribes’ daytime line up can’t really compete with citywide celebrations and street beers but it’s a good place to finish up and Saturday’s turn out is expectedly double that of Friday’s. We catch live sets from Benoit & Sergio and Julien Bracht who peddles some seriously heavy techno with some token live cymbal crashes over the top. It is kind of refreshing to see some sort of live performance but for us it’s not enough to be consequential. DJ Koze down in the Earth Stage is much more our cup of cafe au lait with an energetic set of upbeat house. The guy’s sheer enthusiasm and gratification on stage is a joy to watch and we even get a kiss on the cheek as he exits.
We head up top again to catch Guy Gerber, hoping to hear some of his baffling new collaborations with P Diddy. Unfortunately someone has spilled a drink on Gerbers Laptop trackpad (perhaps they weren’t so keen on the Diddy), so one of the organisers gets to play DJ for a few minutes while a minion scurries off to find a mouse. Gerber eventually gets going but is still scuppered by technical problems. Soon after, Nina Kraviz bursts on stage downstairs with huge amounts of energy, grooving in front of the decks as a huge crowd naturally arrives from upstairs. The evening is topped off for us by a set from Minneapolis’ DVS1 who benefits hugely being in the small room and takes us on a journey from the depths of house through to some very hard techno. On the way out it’s only right we catch a bit of Sven Vath on the main stage but it’s soon time to head outside and beef with a few taxi drivers before accepting a raw deal and heading back to the hotel.
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Words: Jack Dolan
Photography:Benjamin Loyseau
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