Orelsan, Lomepal and Apple on the vegetarian menu of We Love Green

We Love Green starts strong on Friday night with Orelsan. The king of French rap opens an edition whose programming is solid. It mixes all styles of contemporary music: electronic music, independent, more pop sometimes, a little reggaeton and like any good festival of hip-hop and French rap. From June 2 to 4 in the Saint-Hubert plain of the Bois de Vincennes, fifty artists will share the five stages of the event. Among them are stars like Lomepal, Apple, The Blaze, Disiz or Agar Agar; others are more emerging such as rapper Jwles or the duo Sad Night Dynamite.

A French and international rap scene

The festival gives pride of place to rap, the most listened to genre of the French. Orelsan opens hostilities on Friday. Lomepal and Dinos will close the weekend. Disiz, he will go on stage on Saturday late afternoon. Some, less known to the general public, also have their place: on Saturday, Jwles and his particular flow, which borrows from American rap, will play with Mad Rey. 070 Shake delivers a delicious mix of post-RNB, rap and electronic music; or Gazo considered the French king of drill and recently rewarded at the Flames ceremony.

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This year, two heavyweights will tread the stages of We Love Green: the rock band Bon Iver and Phoenix, one of the most famous French pop rock bands worldwide. Pusha-T, considered one of the greatest American rappers of his time, will perform Saturday night. On the same day, rapper Little Simz, inspired by Lauryn Hill, will mix her soul, funk, hip-hop and African-American influences.

On the electronic music side, EDM superstar Skrillex will be on stage on Sunday night. The Blaze unmissable since the hit Territory, released in 2015 will enchant festival-goers on Friday night. A duo will also be present: Darkside. The latter, the result of the meeting between Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington, was born in 2011 in a Berlin hotel room. After four years of separation, the two artists reunited in 2018. This year, the duo returns with their hypnotic electro for a new project with new wave influences. The duo Agar Agar will also be part of the party with a last album The Rebirth, dark and mesmerizing.

Emerging artists

The founder of We Love Green, Marie Sabot, is particularly keen to give pride of place to emerging artists. Sad Night Dynamite is an English duo with both psychedelic and melancholic music. We recognize Gorillaz, Pink Floyd, The Avalanches. The two Glastonbury boys will take the stage on Saturday. Among the young talents, we can also mention Maureen, Guadeloupean artist and queen of dancehall, as well as the falsely naive and very sixties pop of Sofie Royer.

With its Think Tank, We Love Green places the awareness of city dwellers about nature. The stage "is intended to be a platform for committed personalities," describes the statement of the event. Debates will bring together scientists, journalists, activists and MEP Raphaël Glucksmann.

A sports area is being built this year. Named the Playground, this skate park is a reference to the 2024 Olympic Games. The organizers of We Love Green share their expertise in organizing more responsible events. This new space also hosts a stage on which the label team Ed Banger will play including his boss Pedro Winter.

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We Love Green holds to its image as an eco-responsible festival. A pioneer in its beginnings in 2011 - when it was still in the gardens of Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne - the event is now a reference in terms of environmental initiatives. This year, festival-goers are invited to bring back a gourd and a lunch box, the dishes are returned, a solar farm is installed and the fifty restaurateurs present will only offer vegetarian dishes. In an interview with Le Figaro in March, Marie Sabot, co-founder of the event, was delighted to present "a carbon footprint of sixteen kilos per festival-goer". This would be very low, if we believe the calculations by the association Shift Project which estimated at 50 kilos the carbon footprint of a festival-goer of the Old Ploughs for example.