Wood setting in the Parc of Bagatelle outside Paris
For its third edition, the We Love Green festival really kicked off summer in the Park of Bagatelle, North West of Paris on May 31 and June 1. Full nature and a mix of electro/pop and rock music was the perfect excuse to get off the streets and relax on the grass.
The green festival featured a high-quality line up: Cat Power, London Grammar, Lorde, Foals for the live stage and The 2 Bears, Pedro Winter & Riton and Lucine for the electronic stage. The stages were located at opposite sides of the field with the electronic stage hidden in the woods in a bucolic setting. The live stage looked more impressive, overlooking a large part of the field.
All were welcome to the We Love Green festival outside Paris
In addition to fabulous music, festivalgoers could feel the ecological spirit in every corner – huge solar panels next to the stage, reusable wood settings painted by local artists and big brown tipis beautifully installed next to Renaissance buildings and deep green fields.
Another good surprise was the accessibility of different animations from which you could get advice about crowd funding, not wasting food and growing plants. The funniest – or most exhausting – activity was probably charging your battery while pedalling a bike. And while at most festivals food usually means fast and not-so-good, We Love Green offered an amazing choice of delicious organic fresh and homemade food ranging from Vietnamese to yummy hot dogs.
On Saturday, the sun showed up but the music was quite melancholic with London Grammar, Asgeir and Cat Power. Little Dragon and SBRTKT showed more energy but unfortunately very bad sound spoiled both shows. London Grammar gave the best show of the day, thanks to the lyrical and religious voice of its singer, Hannah Reid, and scenic lights. As for the electronic stage, The 2 Bears shook up the crowd and warmed up the atmosphere earlier in the day.
Lorde’s concert was a fabulous feast of light and sound
Sunday was cloudy and cold but no one noticed thanks to the vibrant and energetic performances of Early Sweatshirt, Jungle, Lorde and the Foals. Fans had huge expectations of the Lorde concert and they were not disappointed. It was a wonderful magical show with a beautiful stage setting made of golden frame, red velvet curtains and a chandelier. Even Lorde herself admitted that this “was the most amazing festival she had been to”, confessing her appreciation of the solar panels and beautiful flower-crowned heads. The electronic stage, though, was disappointingly mind-numbing.
The festival wrapped up with the incredible Foals. Despite a chaotic start to the concert as the power supply tripped in a big “bang” – many people thought for a moment that it was part of the show – the English band finally arrived on stage with their hit “Do you have my number?” The crowd went crazy when frontman Yannis Philippakis jumped in among them, still playing guitar.
Overall, summer started in the best way possible with a nature-friendly festival of great music. We Love Green proved that nothing beats a good mix of ecological spirit and party time.
