> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.ilesanglo-normandes.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # VEF 50: 'Whole Lotta Love' The Dynamics, soul reggae funk musicians from Lyon, headline Castle Stage, with a sunset gig in St Malo on the way. - URL: https://www.ilesanglo-normandes.com/festivals-vef-50-whole-lotta-love-the-dynamics-soul-reggae-funk-musicians-from-lyon-play-at-guernseys-vale-earth-fair-festival-with-a-sunset-gig-in-st-malo-on-the-way/ - Published: 2026-08-27T10:31:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-08T14:33:42.000Z - Description: Celebrating half-a-century of concerts in a castle, and 20 years of the Vale Earth Fair inviting bands from the closest land, The Dynamics play at St Malo's sunset spot, Au Bains des Dames beach café, on their way to Guernsey, on 29th August. - Author: îles - Tags: VEF 50, Bretagne ***Editor: this gig had to be cancelled due to weather conditions in St Malo, while the Vale Earth Fair festival had to move indoors.*** Blending soul, reggae, funk, and dub, and genre-defying covers, The Dynamics have played festival stages including Glastonbury, Lovebox, Reggae Sun Ska, Garorock in France, Fringe and Waterford Festival in Ireland and opened for names such as Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Toots and the Maytals, The Chemical Brothers, and Lady Gaga. Their very first festival abroad was Guernsey's own Vale Earth Fair in 2007\. "It was our first actual concert outside France," recalled frontman Steve Levi. Formed in 2006, when their first album Versions Excursions came out, the group had started to gig in Lyon and elsewhere in France. Steve was working in Bristol at the time with special needs children and a colleague, Anne, turned out to one of festival organiser Rob Roussel's best friends. The rest is Earth Fair history. "The Dynamics have played two memorable sets in the past, 2007, and were invited back again in 2016 on the strength of that performance for our 40th anniversary," said Roussel. > "they straight away got what the Vale Earth Fair stands for and bought into the community spirit of the festival" Rob Roussel, VEF collective "What do we love about them? Well they put on a great show, but also they straight away got what the Vale Earth Fair stands for and bought into the community spirit of the festival - they came to be part of the festival rather than just going on stage and performing," said Roussel. "After a period of inactivity we were aware that they had reformed and were gigging again so it made sense to ask them back to help celebrate our 50th anniversary." "We're so happy to be invited back again, and to play at 9 p.m, the place will be rocking, then there's The Orb!" said Levi. "I’ve got my first Earth Fair t-shirt ready – with Oxfam, Tibet, the other charities on the back. I'll make sure I’ll wear it." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/c7/d1c79ccb-3da4-4ed2-8fda-9b60db236f61/content/images/2026/08/VEF-2007_1-1.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/c7/d1c79ccb-3da4-4ed2-8fda-9b60db236f61/content/images/2026/08/VEF-2007_2.JPG) The Dynamics, in the castle ramparts at Vale Earth Fair, 2007 ©The Dynamics With the group's live sound now complete with a new base player and drummer joining from Red Rockers Sound System- "we’ve found the sound we really wanted live," Levi added. "We’re really looking forward to it. It’s a very unique place, this old fort up on a hill, all around you the view of the sea, a beautiful place to play." ### Vale Earth Fair partners with Le Bain des Dames: The Dynamics in St Malo! Le Bain des Dames, the sunset apero spot opposite the bathing pool on the beach in St Malo, run by Yann Cahue et Thibaud Lhomer, hosts live music all summer long. On Sat 29th The Dynamics will play before jumping on the Brittany Ferries service to Guernsey the next morning. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/c7/d1c79ccb-3da4-4ed2-8fda-9b60db236f61/content/images/2026/08/IMG_20260804_201907_9.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/c7/d1c79ccb-3da4-4ed2-8fda-9b60db236f61/content/images/2026/08/The-Dynamics.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/c7/d1c79ccb-3da4-4ed2-8fda-9b60db236f61/content/images/2026/08/IMG-20260826-WA0004.jpg) Le Bain des Dames, plage de Bon Secours, St Malo "Le Bain des Dames is happy to collaborate with the Vale Earth Fair of Guernsey! For its 50th anniversary, this Guernsey festival is stopping off with us ❤️ On Saturday evening starting at 7p.m. with an exclusive live performance by the Lyon-based band The Dynamics. A reggae soul dub set that we love, which might just make you want to take a boat to Guernsey? So? Are you coming?" > [View this post on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DceA7DTsMKu/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by ☀️Au Bain Des Dames ☀️ (@aubaindesdames\_bonsecours)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DceA7DTsMKu/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/c7/d1c79ccb-3da4-4ed2-8fda-9b60db236f61/content/images/2026/08/The-Dynamics-2026_3-1.jpeg) ©The Dynamics #### The Dynamics latest album Drag'nFly: Rolling Stone France: "We're blown away." READ MORE The band emerged in 2006 from the vibrant nightlife scene of Lyon’s Croix-Rousse hill, where DJs, producers, singers, and musicians bonded over a shared love for soul, funk, reggae, and all music that moves the heart, soul, and feet. Starting as a vocal trio with a lo-fi sound system, they quickly gained traction with DJ-friendly 45s, including reggae-infused covers of Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up and The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, first released on Favorite Recordings. Still based in Lyon, with members from Cameroon, the U.S. and the UK, frontman Steve is from Bristol. Don Letts has been a big champion of The Dynamics from the start, regularly playing them on his Radio 6 show - and he included their cover of Whole Lotta Love in his set when he played at St James, Guernsey's cultural centre, a few year's back. ### "We were forced to drive on the wrong side of the road, but it was so worth it!” 20 years inviting bands from the closest land. Since 2006, Guernsey's longest-running music festival has invited musicians from the land you can see from the castle. In the same way as the event is a showcase for the local music scene across all the islands, Vale Earth has given French indie and alternative acts from Brittany, Normandy and the Paris region, a stage outside of France. "We were forced to drive on the wrong side of the road, but it was so worth it!!!” said Nicolas Levasseur, of the post-rock band from Normandy, Porcelain, who played the same year as The Dynamics at VEF's 40th anniversary in 2016\. “What an atmosphere! Relaxed, surrounded by good people, both the volunteers and the festival-goers, the Vale Earth Fair is unique, and will remain one of our best experiences.” "With Hitchcock, it was out first experience of a line check," recalled Guillaume Roche, who came to the festival with Hitchcock Go Home in 2006 and returned with Blackpool in 2012\. "You plug in, you play. We weren't very used to it. But it was huge to play on the big stage in front of a lot of people. And the accommodation in the yurt, unusual but brilliant!" "The Vale Earth Fair feels like an important show to us being our first outside of France," said Tranzat drummer Thomas Coic, when the metal band from Brest, Brittany played the 2018 festival. "It gives our music the opportunity to be appreciated overseas." --- [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d1/c7/d1c79ccb-3da4-4ed2-8fda-9b60db236f61/content/images/2026/08/ILES-ANGLO-NORMANDES-UPDATED-1.png)](#/portal/signup) The Bain des Dames x Vale Earth Fair partnership was supported by îles. [Become a subscriber ](#/portal/signup)