We Out Here 2024 - 5 Stand Out Sets

A triumphant return for the Giles Peterson curated festival, as it continues to deliver stand out musical moments across a rich spectrum of sounds.

The beginning of August and a return to long hazy days means it is that time of year again to make the pilgrimage down to Wimborne St Giles in Dorset for the 5th installment of We Out Here. The festival has made a name for itself with its unique blend of community feel and an eclectic programming mix, drawing on a tapestry of soul, hip hop, house, afro, electronica, jazz and everything in between.

2024 featured a stacked headline bill, with the likes of Andre 3000, Sampha, Kae Tempest, Floating Points and Mount Kimbie all gracing the stage.

This year, festival go-ers were treated to more than 300 acts spread across 4 packed days of music. Here, smaller stages pack just as big of a punch as the heavyweights, with a quality of programming that rewards a good going over the line up poster with a magnifying glass.

Special mention amongst the 15 stages goes as ever, to the iconic and pocket sized Lemon Lounge. Expect to find this packed with dancers day and night, with a fistful of papier-mâché lemons doing an effective job of warding off anyone taking anything much too seriously.

With far too much to pack into a short space of time, here is a run down of the 5 unmissable sets from the weekend:

Ron Trent

After setting the festival in motion with main stage duties on Thursday night with the deep groove of live project WARM, Ron Trent returned to The Bowl stage on Friday for a 3 hour set to kick things into an altogether higher gear. Famed as one of the architects of the Chicago House scene, Trent launched the audience on a journey of discovery deep into the crates with disco tinged rhythms aplenty.

The atmosphere is a unique one as night-time revelers descend into the natural amphitheater of The Bowl, with an almost mystical, quiet calm emerging. As Trent holds ceremony in the centre of the pit, there is a sense this is closer to Church than your average late night blow out.

Saturday

Here we go — brushing off my hangover and diving straight into the heavy hitters for Saturday's lineup. I might need to pop over to the Wellness area for some impeccably curated Harp Yoga, silence and recalibration. Maybe a Reiki massage?

News circulates that heavyweight headliner Roisin Murphy has dropped out (boo), but Bonobo has kindly stepped in to take the reins with a DJ set for the Saturday night slot.

We start, once again, at Lush Life, soaking up the rays while admiring the various festival outfits — think a woman in full silk pajamas with matching flamingo slippers, an inflatable willy costume (complete with a hood to ward off potential rain), cow print flying everywhere. The overall crowd is one of the festival’s selling points, always willing to help and look out for one another — in line with We Out Here’s community focus. After four years of running, there are mainstay guests who ride or die for the whole thing, and you can really feel that.

The Near Mint stage offers a record shop pop-up during the day, pumping out absolute gems in vinyl-only sets and providing a wooden dance floor to get you nice and warmed up. It's a nice break from the rush outside and always fun to do some crate digging from some of the best indie record shops across the land.

Saturday's standout (and in my view, the best set of the whole weekend) goes to Walsall up-and-comer Wesley Joseph — who electrifies the crowd and starts Saturday night with a bang. Ever-changing, genre-bending, rapid-fire bars over slinky beats that will have you bopping and crying in equal measure. His story, and the stories of many artists this weekend, is touching. Fighting hook and crook to make his way in a somewhat impossible industry, expect to see him on the biggest stages in the world very, very soon. A shoutout to next up 30/70, who furthered the energy with their high-impact jazz and stellar vocals, giving their body of work a disco flare with an improvisational slant that set the scene just right.

And so, night falls, and we find ourselves in The Grove and The Bowl — the two "club" offerings. The Grove is a stunning space, with the stage at the vanishing point through tunnels of trees, but when you can hear conversations more clearly than the DJ, it's time to leave. To The Bowl we go! Josey Rebelle fills the natural amphitheater, shelling out beats until 4am with flair and style. Again, it's too quiet, but at this point, I'm nine pints deep, so anything goes.

SUNDAY

Help! I am fine. Are we fine? I think we're fine. After a raucous Saturday, we're back for a relaxed Sunday vibe, and the lineup definitely reflects this. We swim in the lake on the grounds and listen to some Dub at The Sanctuary — a definitive hangover cure in my eyes. The Wellness area as a whole, I feel, is critically underused. Where is the bigger stage? Where are the art installations? The funky lighting! Attention to detail seems to be lacking here.

Joe Armon Jones gets the grafter of the weekend award with a supposed seven (yes, seven) sets on Sunday, flying around the site and pumping out all he's got on what seems like every instrument imaginable, with a passé flair that makes him the coolest kid on the block. South London forever!

Sunday headliner and Mercury Prize-nominated Ezra Collective follow the breathless hip hop legends Black Star with their immersive, fire-breathing jazz set that wraps everything up with a bang (literally). Frontman and drummer Femi Koleoso performs every audience interaction you can think of with aplomb — from saying hello to the person on your right, to taking off a piece of clothing and waving it in the air, to a group jump-up—you name it, he's making us do it. Joy is abundant as they stun us through dance beats, exhilarating solos and create a worship-adjacent atmosphere that is fitting for the final headline set of the night. The crowd and myself wished it was louder, louder, LOUDER!

Mr. Scruff b2b Aroop Roy as the festival closer was an inspired choice, following their closing of the festival the year before. And just like that, an incredible weekend of music and togetherness came to an end.

What a ride. The overall feeling of the festival and the lineup on offer definitely outweighed the flaws inherent to the site — it's essentially one big field, sound bleed was undoubtedly an issue and the toilets and seating left a lot to be desired (I couldn't find a bench if my life depended on it!). However, the weather held up, the crowd was eclectic, the lineup was stacked and there were some unmissable acts. It delivered that festival-specific euphoria where you wouldn't want to be anywhere else, multiple times. Here's hoping that next year the new site breaks in and the teething problems are sorted. I'll start camping for a front-left spot at Lemon Lounge now.