Worldwide Festival @ Sete, France – 8 – 11th July 2010
photos by Pascoe Sabido and Lisa Zipper
Sorry for the plot-spoiler, so to speak, but Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Festival was pretty much exactly as I’d hoped and imagined in every single way. An intimate gathering of lovely people in breathtaking, inspiring locations, world-class live and electronic music, amazing food, blazing sunshine and blue skies and one of the best atmospheres that I’ve ever had the pleasures of helping create.
Now in its 5th year in the charming little fishing town of Sète (17 minutes on a train from Montpellier), Worldwide only came into my consciousness last year shortly before the event, by which time it was too late to really sort anything out. It’s definitely on a word-of-mouth vibe, and they’re not really interested in shouting about it anywhere they can. Peterson runs the festival with a group of French promoters who used to book him for parties in the region, who suggested during a boozy late night that they put on a bigger-scale event – with something like Montreux Jazz Festival as the musical inspiration.
The festival is spread over four venues, all excellent and unique in their own way, with a mixture of DJs and live acts playing sequentially. There’s only one stage at a time, which gives the festival that wonderfully cohesive, focused vibe which lack of choice engenders.
Thursday
Worldwide kicks off with a low-key free to the public street party in front of the canalside C.R.A.C. modern art gallery - a nice easy warm-up before the fun and games begin proper. KOKO laces the small but happy crowd with some sweet house music and deep grooves early on, before the beautiful soft folk-infused yearnings of live act Half Seas Over take to the stage. It’s all about synth wizard Dorian Concept though, who closes the day in his usual rambunctious way. The Austrian nutter skips from wigged-out dubstep to the 2-step meets P-funk craziness of Trilingual Dance Sexperience to rapturous response, and from humble beginnings whips the crowd up into a frenzy. The sun blazes hard – a world away from the downpour during his set on the beach here last year.
The “rave” part of the festival takes place on the other side of the water, under the stunning lighthouse of St. Christ, located at the end of a peninsula from the mainland. The harbour-side venue holds a good 2000 people, and it feels like the perfect size, with a nice big Funktion One soundsystem. Disappointingly, venerable headliner Gil Scott-Heron is AWOL – meaning that his band have to entertain us with a half-hour set of his music and only a little singing. They do an admirable job, and you can’t help but feel bad for them being left in the lurch. From here on however, the night is an absolute riot – Mala tears it up with his dark, gnarled dubstep, Foreign Beggars bring on mass rowdiness with their phattened-up Noisia-produced hip-hop and later some tear out D&B and dubstep that lay waste to the crowd, and Floating Points’ warm and woozy classically styled house set is a joy later on. Just a shame that his mixing is pretty off. Of the 3 nights at St. Christ, this is probably the most consistent.
Friday
The gorgeous daytime beach venue is a 15 minute bus ride out of town at Villeroy, situated around the classy bar-restaurant of ACD. We let some of the midday sun pass before heading down (it’s open from midday ‘til 6), and find ourselves greeted by some absolutely wonderful funk and old disco flavours for Ouifonk and Klub Des Losers. People are dancing in the temperate sea and along the vast sandy beach, looking deliriously happy, there’s plentiful bars and good food, and another big Funktion One rig to keep us sweet. It’s beautifully chilled, but as the afternoon wears on more and more people come to the dancefloor until it’s a fully-fledged funk jam. By the end of the session it’s a full-on rave, with jungle classics like General Levy feat. M-Beat’s Incredible setting us up for the evening.
But between the Beach and the lighthouse raving comes the wonderful Theatre De La Mer; three-and-a-half hours of world-class live music in a seaside amphitheatre which is situated at near the start of the peninsula. Tonight we’re treated to Gilles Peterson and Roberto Fonseca’s stunning Havana Cultura project, blending the sounds of Cuba with dope hip-hop beats and some such, and featuring Fonseca’s legendary piano playing and vocalist Danay’s stunning range (from a nectar-like signing voice to a feisty, fierce rap style).
It’s Benin’s 10-piece Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou who absolutely bring the house down though, blending afro-beat with Latin flavours with their joyous, life-affirming brass section and hugely infectious singing and dancing. It’s very refreshing to hear what you might term “real” music in a pure form and seeing everyone going crazy to it down at the front of the open-air venue. It’s even more refreshing when the heavens open during their last track, completely drenching the crowd and sending them into a frenzy while the stage crew manically try and cover all of the group in plastic sheets. They carry on playing, to their immense credit – even the poor trumpet player who doesn’t receive any shelter! It should also be noted that collecting three empty plastic beer glasses at this venue and taking them back to the bar nabs you a free beer. Nice.
Over to St. Christ and we’re greeted by more cancellations.- Flying Lotus and Joy Orbison have both failed to materialise, with no apparent explanation to the promoters. Very disappointing and downright rude considering how much love and support he’s shown both artists. More disappointing still is how utterly terrible The Gaslamp Killer and Gonjasufi’s sloppy, discordant set is – the crowd is booing in disapproval throughout, and their energy-sapping is not what’s called for. Luckily some line-up reshuffling means that we get Sunday’s special guest Laurent Garnier playing a thumping set that dashes between techno, rowdy dubstep (George Lenton’s immense Sorry) and tearout drum & bass, culminating in Rolando’s classic Knights Of The Jaguar – getting more energy going than either of the absentees could muster. SBTRKT & Sampha roll out some nice beats later on, although there’s some suspect mixing here too.
Saturday
Down at the beach once again and Hugo Mendez serves up a lively selection of salsa-fied Latin flavours while we play some bat & ball and drink beers in the sea, before all-girl crew Ladybugz smash it with a wonderful set of hip-hop (Snoop Dogg, Beanie Sigel, Jay-Z), old electro funk and soul (George Benson’s Gimme The Night) and disco flavours, with a welcome bit of chat on the mic. The session at Theatre De La Mer sees Damon Albarn’s favourite American 10-piece brass brothers (10 of 22 siblings, they later inform us), Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, show off their considerable parping and crowd hyping skills, before England’s very own Quantic shows what he’s been up to in Colombia with his Combo Barbaro – another absolutely stunning set that once again flits between flavours from South America and more afrobeat rhythms. These more laidback sessions serve as the perfect breather between roasting on the beach and dancing hard later at night – although by the end of each evening, you’ll find it hard to stick to your seat.
That night at St. Christ, we’re hugely disappointed by dOP’s much-hyped live set – finding little of the smokey, jazzy loveliness and deepness that we love from their productions and mixes, and instead monotonous, dull thumping techno and house. There’s a few better moments in the latter half of their set, but it’s a real let down for us. Singer Joe decides to get naked, and it seems like a bit of a cheap and unnecessary move. Never mind, Josh Wink’s here to do his ever-dependable thing, and he plays the most versatile set we’ve ever heard from him – kicking off with trademark chunky house and techno rhythms, but moving immaculately into dubstep towards the end with tracks from Martyn and Ramadanman (the huge Work Them) taking his set to another level. Gilles is evidently blown away, expressing his amazement over the mic. His presence throughout the festival is a really nice touch – it’s great to see him interacting with the crowd and feeling that we’re all sharing the experience.
Sunday
What better way to finish off than with a 16-hour beach party? We arrive to the sounds of Detroit’s incredible Jeremy Ellis – unassuming with his long ginger ponytail, pale skin and short frame. He plays one of the most mesmerising sets we’ve ever heard, using 3 MPC-style samplers to construct tunes on the fly in their entirety, wowing us with expert piano playing, and even showing his vocal skills with a tribute to the absent Gil Scott-Heron. This man is unbelievably talented and you need to hear him at any costs. And that’s not even mentioning how dope his music actually is – skipping from hip-hop to housey stuff to funked-up gear. Amazing.
Norman Jay does his usual party thing, working his summery magic in an ideal setting, from jungle remixes of R&B tunes to big house anthems, while Laurent Garnier later on fulfils his original role as special guest, playing a very similar but still highly enjoyable set to his set from Friday night. The three-way back to back between him, Norman Jay and Gilles Peterson for the final hour is something really special, cramming in the anthems likes Joy Orbison’s Hyph Mngo and Cee-lo’s I Want You (Peterson’s favourite track of the year). The 45-minute walk home isn’t so fun (there’s a disco bus but we don’t have faith and getting on), but it’s been such an incredibly special finish to a fantastic festival that we don’t really care.
We met countless lovely and hilarious people at Worldwide, with none of the hideous messy vibe that other European festivals are based around. It’s all to do with the small scale, the beautiful surroundings, and the balance of music – it isn’t all just mindless, “disposable” dancefloor grooves, instead a blend of a bit of that functionality with richer and more complex and organic styles. And all the DJs and acts we caught but didn’t mention killed it too – the general standard of music was sublime. Stunning locations, reasonable costs, wonderful people, excellent programming for the most part – what else do you need? One of the best weeks of our lives and without a doubt one of the most perfect, hassle-free, fun festivals on the planet.
www.worldwidefestival.comfor more details – more events coming soon including Worldwide Singapore in August.
Some tips:
- Book early! Flights can cost as little as £50 return from London to Montpellier, early bird gold passes for the festival (access to ALL events) are cheaper earlier, and accommodation fills up fast.
- Be prepared to spend lots of time researching accommodation. You can get a hotel but if you want an apartment or villa, many only take bookings from Sat – Sat. As the festival is on from Thurs – Sun, you may have to book for up to two weeks.
- There are very few taxis in Sète and the buses can be unreliable. Plan in advance and if you can, hire out a bike.
- Eat lots of seafood! The place is crawling with it (literally) and almost every restaurant has an affordable set menu (we ate half a lobster, the fattest king prawns we’ve had in Europe, monkfish and more with a starter and a desert for 9€50 in one great place).