Womadelaide

[The Scooter Guy]

WOMADelaide 2012 will be held from Friday 09 - Monday 12 March outdoors in Adelaide's beautiful Botanic Park.
WOMAD is the World of Music, Arts & Dance. WOMADelaide began in 1992 and has gone on to become one of Australia's favourite festivals; the 2010 festival attracted 81,500 attendances over four days (not including children 12 and under, who are admitted free).
The program features performances and workshops on seven stages by the world's best musicians, dancers and DJs, alongside street theatre artists and visual artists, the popular Taste the World cooking program, Artists in Conversations sessions and an All-Star Gala finale, plus around 100 food, crafts and display stalls and a KidZone.

http://www.womadelaide.com.au/

[Wayno]

After a break for a couple of years, this year I went to Womad with a friend from Sydney. Saturday afternoon & night, the place was pumping, and the hot evening just made it so much better. Many great acts, a couple of odd ones, and an absolute classic finish with 'tubular bells' played by just 2 guys - both the A and B sides of that iconic album. They were exhausted after and hour and a half of jumping between instruments every 30 seconds.

"Grand piano; reed and pipe organ; glockenspiel; bass guitar; double speed guitar; two slightly distorted guitars; mandolin! Spanish guitar, and introducing acoustic guitar, plus... tubular bells"

[Napier Leo]

I must say the music there was truly out of this world and the energy was something else to.

[The Scooter Guy]

This year, an inflatable attraction known as 'Exxopolis' made its first appearance!

[ghs]

A record crowd this year. Interesting that yesterday was Adelaide cup day but then there would have been
more people at Womadelaide then at Morphettville.

A record 95,000 people have turned out to enjoy the strong line-up at the WOMADelaide Festival this year.

The event was held over four days with Irish rocker Sinead O'Connor closing the world musical and arts festival on Monday night.

Festival director Ian Scobie said organisers were thrilled with this year's attendance.

"We've certainly broken all our previous records," he said.

"It's the best attendance at WOMADelaide yet, which we're really excited about."

Mr Scobie attributed the festival's success to the beautiful weather and the strong program line-up.

"I think the combination of a beautiful weekend - we couldn't have asked for better weather [with] mid twenties every single day - and I think we were really fortunate in managing to get together a really strong line-up," he said.

Sinead O'Connor performs at WOMADelaide Festival
PHOTO: Irish rocker Sinead O'Connor wowed the crowd at the 2015 WOMADelaide Festival. (ABC News: Malcolm Sutton)
"A number of the artists we have been trying to get over a number of years [were secured] and it all fortuitously came together and I think the public really responded strongly and our attendances over every day of the festival have been really strong."

WOMADelaide was first held in Adelaide in 1992, and became an annual event in 2002.

Mr Scobie said the festival's reputation helped attract stronger artists, bands and performers over the years.

"There is no doubt about it, the festival has got a fabulous reputation amongst the artists who really are very generous in their praise in the way they've been presented and the way they've been looked after and that sort of reputation is built over the years," he said,

"We have instituted a number of changes to the layout this year and it keeps the event really exciting for audiences to come back and I think overall the event has gone to another level this year, through a combination of that growth and development."

More than 400 musicians, artists and dancers from around the world performed at this year's festival including Neneh Cherry and up-and-coming Swedish folk band First Aid Kit.

The festival is aimed at all ages and encourages audiences to experience music from other cultures.

Organisers have already started work on next year's event and will once again work on enhancing the audience's experience.

"We go to a lot of trouble to think about how to enhance the overall festival experience for patrons by having a really different program, things that are challenging as well as some favourites," Mr Scobie said.

"It's always a challenge of course and work on the next one starts now."

The festival will be fully packed up and out of Botanic Park by the end of the week.

[Wayno]

I wish the ACC would dump a few gigalitres of water on the botanic park lawns in the weeks leading up to Womad. It's a dust bowl by day 1 late afternoon.

Notwithstanding, an awesome event again this year!

[The Scooter Guy]

I wish the ACC would dump a few gigalitres of water on the botanic park lawns in the weeks leading up to Womad. It's a dust bowl by day 1 late afternoon.

Notwithstanding, an awesome event again this year!

I really would've been to this event!
I've never been inside Exxopolis and I really do hope that it wasn't a 'once in a shooting star' appearance!

[ghs]

Any comments / reviews ?

How's the dust Wayno ? lol

The dust should be fairly minimal this year given that we've had a fair bit of rain Wednesday night / Thursday
morning.

[Norman]

From the pictures I have seen the grass was as green as it could be.

[Wayno]

The Womad event was fantastic again this year. I caught the free city loop bus to the event as chatted with a group of people from Singapore. They come every year specifically for Womad and attend a few fringe/festival shows while here. They are festival fanatics and cite Womad as the best of the best.

Re. the grass - I arrived Saturday noon and areas were already starting to suffer, and that's just from the previous evening. Same comments towards the ACC as per Clipsal. Core, fertilize, water, water, water. They are truly a bunch of amateurs.

[SouthAussie94]

The Womad event was fantastic again this year. I caught the free city loop bus to the event as chatted with a group of people from Singapore. They come every year specifically for Womad and attend a few fringe/festival shows while here. They are festival fanatics and cite Womad as the best of the best.

Re. the grass - I arrived Saturday noon and areas were already starting to suffer, and that's just from the previous evening. Same comments towards the ACC as per Clipsal. Core, fertilize, water, water, water. They are truly a bunch of amateurs.

To be fair, no amount of coring, water or fertilizer will help grass survive thousands of people trampling it over the course of 4 days.

[Wayno]

To be fair, no amount of coring, water or fertilizer will help grass survive thousands of people trampling it over the course of 4 days.

I was there Saturday noon. It had only been trampled for a few hours the prior evening. Simply not good enough.

Sure, some park lands sections looks green as you drive past at pace. But wander in and sit. Much of that green is actually an angular mirage. Grassy tufts are the norm. The dirt in between is hydrophobic from sun exposure and lack of care (or knowledge).

[monotonehell]

...They are truly a bunch of amateurs.

No they get paid for it. It's either professional incompetence or wilful neglect.

[rev]

It looks green but if they mowed it shorter you'll see how brown it is. Probably why they leave it as long as it is.

[Wayno]

...They are truly a bunch of amateurs.

No they get paid for it. It's either professional incompetence or wilful neglect.

More the former than the latter. Govt departments suffer from the Peter Principle. People get promoted above their competence, and stay there because they like the dollars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

I'll also offer a third category. Ignorance. They don't know what they don't know.