- If there is one thing to take from the latest edition of Weather Festival, it is the scale electronic music has reached in 2015. Forgetting the dinosaurs and EDM upstarts that pack out arenas the world over, music that was once consigned to intimate spaces and niche crowds can now command five mammoth stages simultaneously. As one local at Weather Festival put it, "I’m a little confused about this techno rock festival thing."
The size of the event, which peaked at a crowd of 20,000 on the Saturday night, was a little befuddling, but it didn't detract from the quality of the music, the setting or the organisation. At the opening concert on the Thursday evening, Derrick May, Dzijan Emin, Francesco Tristano and the Orchestra Lamoureux provided the perfect widescreen cinematic spectacle for such an occasion. Motor City melodies soared and swooped, perfectly suited to the power of a full size orchestra and side-stepping any pitfalls of pastiche. Herbert's latest live incarnation suited the big stage as well, with a brass section, arresting vocalist and songs that swerved between house perfection and predictably obtuse diversions.
The times when the monolithic Autumn and Winter stages felt at odds with the music were rare, but it was definitely noticeable on the Friday evening. Juan Atkins and Moritz Von Oswald threw down an immersive set of crystalline dub techno, while a maelstrom of lights remained turned up to eleven throughout. But that's a minor complaint. The arboreal surroundings of Bois De Vincennes were a perfect step up from the somewhat uninviting tarmac of Le Bourget at the previous edition, and the crowd was more enthusiastic and gregarious than last year. Even when the rabble were craving just a little more volume for Jeff Mills' sunny Saturday morning throwdown, the mood never showed signs of turning sour.
Some of the most thrilling musical moments came on the Saturday night at the Modular stage, not least thanks to the jaw-dropping power of In Aeternam Vale, whose sound was so overwhelming it proved instantly why people harp on about the beauty of an analogue source. Blawan was also on stunning form as he aired one of his first solo live performances under the Ternescan Chambers moniker, marking a dynamic, expressive step on from his more rigid techno work, while Steevio & Suzybee took a tender early morning approach with swinging, jazz-inflected minimal techno.
In the end, the more formulaic sets fell foul of the gluttonous lineup, which felt evident when DVS1 and Rødhåd, Marcel Dettmann and Collabs 3000 (Chris Liebing and Speedy J) were all occurring within close proximity of each other. Any one performance in the right setting would have been appropriate, but such a wealth of heavy-hitting names is always bound to leave less of a specific impression. That said, it feels churlish to grumble when the overall festival experience was so smooth and enjoyable. After [a:rpia:r] rounded off the Spring stage with such serene gems as Ricardo Miranda's "Urbanism," it was impressive to watch how the organisers guided the crowd out, turning off each stage consecutively so the placated masses simply drifted toward the next audible bassline. When it too faltered, they carried on out of the gate.
Photo credits: Brice Robert Photographe (Stage, Steevio), Jacob Khrist (Orchestra, Jeff Mills)