Travel
Originally published on Wednesday, 31st July 2013
WORLDWIDE FESTIVAL 2013, SÈTE, FRANCE
In a Sentence
They Say: "Experience the best of today's inspired artists, bands and DJs in the most unique environments".
We Say: Gilles Peterson and friends having a laugh in the South of France.
The Town
Situated on the Languedoc-Roussillon side in the South of France, the small, Mediterranean town of Sète at first seems like an unlikely candidate for a Gilles Peterson-curated festival of “world music”. In fact, when we got off the train, there was little sign that any festival was happening at all. It’s a small French town with a main canal, sleepy squares, popular fish market (cuttlefish is a speciality here), boat-lined banks, small waterside restaurants, a pier and an 8-mile stretch of beach that backs onto the Thau lagoon. You can see why Gilles picked it back in ’06, when the festival started. In terms of access, Montpellier and Nîmes are the nearest airports. Montpellier is one stop away from Sète by train; Nîmes a few more.
Where to Stay
Joy to our ears: this is a non-camping festival. Most people stay in rented houses and flats, but where’s best is debatable. The two main stages are the beach (by day) and St Christ (by night). If you stay in town, St Christ is easy to walk to but it means getting to the beach in the day can be quite the trek, considering the bus (number 9) service is approximately once an hour and taxis are few and far between. On the flipside, if you stay near the beach you can get to the day party sans problème, but you’ll be faced with the 5am walk back home after a string of big nights. For a luxe upgrade try Le Grand Hotel, a classy, 19th century grand house on the waterfront.
The Party
The overriding sentiment we got at this festival is that it’s civilised! Everything from the venues, to the crowd, to the loo queues, to the drinks served (our drink of choice was rosé) was much more civilised than anything we’ve seen at a festival before. The venues really make this festival. Our favourite, Théâtre de la Mer, was an old amphitheatre set high above the sea – it had great acoustics and we saw the likes of Chris Dave & The Drumhedz and LA’s J Rocc. The beach stage (which has performances throughout the day) is a great spot. Those with sore heads can lounge in/by the sea and listen to the music from there, otherwise you can get right into the action. Beach highlights include Alex Patchwork’s fun remixes (especially his Mayer Hawthorne one, which we can’t find anywhere!) and the incredible last-day set from Gilles and friends. It was the soundtrack to summer. Then for St Christ, the main stage. Set up at the end of a pier on what seemed to be a glorified car park, it gets busy here, but not so busy you’re crushed/covered in other people’s beer/knocked out – like we said, civilised. Our favourites included Todd Terje, Kenny Dope, Omar, Jets and Bonobo. The biggest disappointment of perhaps the entire festival was the fact that DJ Marky and MC Stamina failed to play LK…
The Crowd
There was a healthy mix at this festival. It wasn’t completely Brit which was refreshing, though the presence of a few London bloggers and a sighting of a MIC was interesting – Worldwide is no longer the undiscovered festival it once was, but it still is relatively small. The hipster contingent was contained but there were a few too many flatforms on the beach for our liking.
Other
As we said, seafood is big here. Dine at one of the restaurants near St Christ, such as Le Tilapia (the cuttlefish was incredible), as these are the ones that use the freshest produce, we were told. Alternatively, head to one of the fishmongers on the Quai de Bosc for the catch of the day, mussels, sea snails and some of the best oysters we’ve tasted (at about €2 each!).
Top Tip
The cab situation here is really quite bad. Our suggestion is do your best to find a cab driver, befriend the cab driver, get his card and have him on speed dial. Otherwise, expect to walk.
