The wonderful part of a boutique festival is how up close and personal it all is ! this could include having an intimate dinner with Diplo, Gilles and the organizers of the Worldwide Festival at the beachside venue the night before it all kicks off. This also includes then getting to know the plane load of Gilles Peterson listeners and fans of WF that flew in with you from Gatwick to the magical coastal town of Sete for the many imminent coastal shenanigans !
and so it begins to go off !! hearing 5 years of insider stories from DIPLO on his journey upwards to the DJ, production dynamo he is fast becoming is one thing but later experiencing him Mad Decent-ly blow up the sea surrounded lighthouse spot is way another ! He drops his sh*z hard and you know it’s gonna be 3 hours of twisted boomin’ jump up – from kuduro to booty bass to baile funk to major major lazer bizniss and back out to ‘Jacko’ tribute funk ! he’s deep in it and all of us journey with him non-stop till he eases out with Animal Collective and lets Vienna’s Stereotyp in on the decks.

Diplo opens up - photo by Alex Stevenson

Yeah it may have been the wantin’ the full-on bass after following Theo Parrish’s deep soulful, classic filled Detroit set which sadly suffered from a defecto mixer problem BUT i predict it’s just cause it was Diplo living up to his deserved rep ! and killin’ it to give Day 1 a proper proper Worldwide send-off

London girls loving Theo Parrish - photo by ALex Stevenson

Other highlights you ask ? well GP shouting out the multi-countried crowd and the ocean population was one – the stars still shining bright just before sun-up – Diplo being asked what’s next in onstage interview and he answers breakfast – the adoring and adorable London girls up front for Theo’s set – the fresh tuna straight out the Sete waters and onto the grill – and um the hillside villa we’re staying in

Photo by Alex Stevenson

Well looking forward to Day 2’s live sets at the sublime Theater de la Mer (you guessed it overlooking the ocean) from Elan Mehler, newbie (to me at least) Sebastien Shuller and the mighty Soil & “PIMP” Sessions plus dancefloor sets from wunderkind Dorian Concept, Martyn and Carl Craig – zut alors it’s only day 2 !

Worldwide traveller and stellar documentar Lefto was up all night giving us his Day 1 vid – check it and check Lefto DJ’ing on the beach this Sunday

More WF blogs at Brownswood site