La Nature: Getting Lost in the Belgian Woods

A 10000/10 view, as TikTok would put it.

Once we’re settled in, we set off to explore the festival. And before the music even registers, it’s the setting that pulls us in. Half carved into a sledding run, half swallowed by forest, the site looks dressed for its finest night out, as though the woods themselves had put on costumes to welcome the crowd. Nothing is left to chance, and the details are everywhere, leaving us wide eyed by day and by night, when the lighting design brings the whole environment to life with a spellbinding atmosphere.

The music echoes that same spirit. Since last year, La Nature has paid tribute to the collective behind it, NoName, by revealing no lineup in advance. It’s a way of leaning into the festival’s community spirit and deepening the trust the audience places in it. The lineup itself is carefully curated by some of the finest names in Belgian electronic music curation: the collectives and labels NoName, Whispering Signals, Maloca, Rebel Up, Moojo, Crépite, and Dub&Dal, alongside local selector Simon Médard and Italy’s Katatonic Silentio.

Five stages, five atmospheres
Whether you’re into minimal techno, dub, experimental sounds, breaks, or something else entirely, you’ll generally find what you’re looking for. We were dazzled by the sets at La Clairière, often stretching long enough for DJs to build real narratives, and above all by the energy the crowd gave back as they let themselves go. La Chapelle, the other forest stage, carried us through stunning musical journeys and moments well outside the ordinary, like Arsenal Mikebe’s live set in the middle of the afternoon, whose percussion whipped up a collective trance.

La Ruche, one of the stages outside the forest, was the setting for some of the festival’s most memorable moments. As a storm hit and much of the crowd took shelter there, DJ Kaâm delighted in feeding us UK garage, broken techno, and other treats between power cuts. It’s also where we watched drummer Bothlane join Liège native Haumea for a wild duo set, alongside gentler daytime live sets that kept playing on that same contrast between day and night.
At the very top of the festival, overlooking the whole valley, we spent a good stretch of time at the Moonlodge stage, run by the Moojo collective. One moment you might catch an electronic didgeridoo live set that could make Aphex Twin jealous, the next a tender acoustic performance. Above all, this stage often serves as a refuge for anyone looking to step away from the techno humming from the other stages.

Where many festivals lean on an “after” party to keep the crowd going once the day winds down, La Nature does things differently. Head to the Hypnose Room, the home of ambient and downtempo, where you can generally hear the same artists from other stages reimagined in a much quieter, different register.

It’s hard to put into words what you experience at La Nature. A small corner of paradise where kindness, celebration, and sharing all meet, and where everyone finds their place. If we had to pick our best moments, we’d naturally think of Andy Martin’s sets, who played several times, including one wonderful Sunday morning slot. But also Bobbi Watson, Basic Channel, Forbidden Fruit, Separat, O.M. Theorem, and Mike Parker, to name only a few.

But La Nature is about far more than music. It’s an enchanted forest where, between the notes, performances unfold that can question you, unsettle you, invite you to reflect, and, in every case, at every moment, hold your interest.

We like to think there’s something mystical about it, as though the planets align for events like this one. Does the length of the solstice days make the nights more intense? Maybe. Either way, our whole lives seemed to pause for four days, leaving us free to dance, to enjoy, to experiment. To simply live.