Reviews / We Out Here
Review: We Out Here 2025, Wimborne, Dorset
Sold out for the fifth year in a row, We Out Here returned to strengthen its reputation as one of the UK’s finest music festivals. Programmed by maverick broadcaster and label head Gilles Peterson, it reflects the variety and impeccable taste familiar from his radio shows for 6Music – a mix of jazz, hip-hop and forward thinking dance music from all over the world.
Despite this global approach, this year’s festival had a distinctly Bristol flavour, especially on Saturday when our flying visit left us wishing we’d been able to stay all weekend. Everyone from scene godfathers Smith & Mighty to current boundary pushers like Sam Binga and Fracture were on this year’s lineup, as well as Roni Size, Addison Groove and DJ Nature (aka Milo from The Wild Bunch).
It was Bristol music all day at Rhythm Corner thanks to a stage takeover by the Trinity Centre celebrating 40 years of the Bristol Sound. Kahn and Pinch were an early highlight, their arsenal of dubstep and related low end weaponry creeping up in volume and intensity as the sun dropped below the trees. Limbs were well and truly loosened in time for their surprise set closer – The Prodigy’s Firestarter – which resulted in absolute scenes. Saturday night was well and truly on.
is needed now More than ever
Pinch (L) and Kahn (R), photo by Harry Burrows
We Out Here takes full advantage of its location at a beautiful estate in the Dorset countryside. It’s large lake is the focal point of a chillout area called the Sanctuary, which offers a range of treatments along with boat hire and free swimming. Meanwhile, the second stage, which hosted a blistering set of Fela Kuti-style afrobeat from Bukky Leo, sits incongruously in front of an elegantly imposing 17th Century manor called St Giles House. Later this stage featured an outstanding performance from UK rap veteran Bashy, whose 2024 comeback album Being Poor Is Expensive was well worth the wait. The emotional and political seriousness of Bashy’s message was balanced by energetic, grimey beats and the showmanship of a man who has spent more of the last decade acting than making music.
Bashy, photo by Lauren Burrows
Returning to our Bristol theme, we made a first visit to the Grove to catch a deeper-than-deep set of dub-inflected house and techno from Peverelist and Yushh. Later, Rhythm Corner was in full on rinse-out mode as drum & bass heroes DJ Die and Krust performed consecutive sets to devastating effect.
Saturday’s main stage headliners were the brilliant Rotary Connection 222, a large ensemble from Chicago created to pay tribute to the legacy of psychedelic soul pioneer Charles Stepney. Featuring Rotary Connection numbers alongside other Stepney productions like Les Fleur, California Soul and Woman of the Ghetto, the group’s performance was warm, joyful and musically complex. Following a cameo from original Rotary member Shirley Wahls and a video tribute to Stepney himself, they concluded with I Am The Black Gold of the Sun, whose soaring soaring choral harmonies were stirring enough to raise the consciousness of the most hardened cynic.
Rotary Connection 222, photo by Adam Burrows
With everything from a giant, interactive Roland 909 drum machine to a roller rink whose soundtrack was seemingly beamed in from Studio 54, the festival provided some wonderful nooks and crannies to keep music fans of all ages entertained. Our last stop was at the Grove, where Objekt played a typically iconoclastic set. The Berlin-based DJ and producer is having an incredible second wind at the moment and we couldn’t miss another chance to see him in action after witnessing last week’s heroics at Houghton Festival. His sets have that rare ability to satisfy both mind and body, exquisitely blending deep, pummeling techno and rave-fuelling breakbeats. For the second week in a row he blew our tiny minds.
We Out Here is a festival with a rock solid identity and it’s gone from strength to strength since debuting in 2019. If you love music that pushes boundaries in both live and club settings, you’d better grab a ticket for next year before they sell out.
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