- It's no secret that Paris's electronic music scene is in excellent shape. Ask any local at the second edition of Weather Festival and they will proudly tell you the same thing. In fact, it's not a stretch to suggest that this weekend-long event represents the high watermark for machine music in the French capital.
This year's Weather Festival got off to a grand start with the opening concert on the Friday evening, set at the striking Institut du Monde Arab under a balmy summer sky. Mount Kimbie led the charge with their indie-electronica crossover sound, before The Mortiz Von Oswald Trio (with Afrobeat legend Tony Allen on drums) brought things down to a captivating, hypnotic murmur, possibly at odds with the lively crowd of 20-somethings. Underground Resistance's Timeline rounded out the evening with their curious blend of foundational techno and smooth jazz instrumentation.
From there emerged a range of possibilities, with Apollonia holding court at Concrete and Shackleton and Appleblim sharing the bill at Rex Club, but it was the staggering lineup at Le Machine du Moulin Rouge that was most appealing. DJ Stingray dropped rock-solid Detroit electro, DMX Krew and Mix Mup played live hardware sets, XDB and Jane Fitz delivered masterful DJ sets in the boiler room—and all this before the festival proper had even started.
Soaring temperatures prevailed on the Saturday, so the tarmac sprawl-turned-aircraft museum at Le Bourget was buzzing from the early afternoon. Split into four seasonal stages—two indoors, two outdoors—the options were daunting from the start. The cavernous arena spaces rumbled to full throttle techno, but the lure of the sun and more soulful sounds was more naturally appealing. On the Summer stage, Hold Youth eagerly threw down bumping house, while at the Spring stage [a:rpia:r] Soundsystem presided over five hours of their trademark minimal. Motor City Drum Ensemble dished out an exemplary cocktail of pure disco and more modern fare, which blended smoothly into Floating Points' era-spanning selections.
Back on the Spring stage, Ricardo Villalobos was on superlative form, playing to the best of his abilities and commanding a mammoth crowd without diluting his oddball tendencies. This set the tone for the evening: Sonja Moonear and Cabanne followed suit with their typically subtle approaches, beefed up a touch for the hordes of avid (and dare I say addled) Parisians.
Inside, the tough thrust of the Winter and Autumn stages took on a greater allure as the sun went down and the temperature cooled. Luke Slater excelled with a Planetary Assault Systems live show, and Ben Klock did a typically expert job of pounding out king-size techno.
There was still time for Moodymann to deliver a focused and fluid set of disco, soul and house before Zip took things in a more pumping direction with his usual flair. Deep into the night, however, some unexpected rain drove many revellers inside.
While the Winter stage rolled along to the somewhat monotonous tones of Adam Beyer, Chris Liebing and Len Faki, there were greater fireworks at the Autumn stage as DJ Deep showcased the tougher side of his impeccable DJ style. Then it was time for Surgeon and Blawan's hotly anticipated set as Trade. Theirs was a mesmerising performance, brutal without being brutish, although it was criminally cut short by a minor drama when one over-enthused reveller decided to scale the heights of the hangar and had to be rescued by a cherry-picker.
This rundown represents just one perspective on Weather Festival's gut-busting lineup. There was a justifiable sense of Gallic pride amongst the lively, up-for-it crowd, and they gave back to the event as much as they received. For such a hard-partying 20,000 strong rabble, there was little evidence of things turning ugly even into the late morning—the organisation of the event kept the experience smooth and buoyant throughout. If all this could be achieved in just the second year of the event, Weather promises to give other European festivals a run for their money in the years to come.