overview

WOMUD, as everyone decided to christen the 25th year of the festival, did indeed suffer from the torrential rain which fell just hours before the gates opened for 'Early Bird Thursday' but despite the conditions the festival at its new home at Charlton Park unfolded into one of the best of recent years. With stages that were easier to reach and a diverse programme the new site is a winner, on a better year it will receive accolades from those crestfallen by the sight of mud.



WOMAD's new home is better than its last; it feels more relaxed to be out in the countryside and as long as you don’t attempt to arrive at the same time as everyone else, there’s less congestion, than being located in a city. I can only imagine how great it will be on a year where it's not wet and the Meadow Stage and its surrounds are open too. That was the downside, a whole stage went from the bill and the conditions meant some acts start times had to slide on the Friday, but the organisers coped as best they could with the sudden problems created by the elements and accidents on the M4. Overall there were far more upsides than ones that would make you want to go home – unless you had small kids.

Despite the forecast and environmental issues attendance this year was good and the site was awash with colour and an arena carpet of brown (is it just me or is this true of most WOMADs since they moved off the sand dunes?). Flags in abundance this year and the new site meant a new layout. Suddenly it was easy (regardless of the mud) to reach all the stages. Saddlespan, Open Air and Siam Tent were all side-by-side in the main arena drag. Then at the back of the flag regaled arena the Big Red Tent and Little Blue Top were in easy reach too. All offering a variety of music this year and a more diverse programme than previous years, as energetic as the days of my teens (could it be WOMAD has looked at little sister Wychwood and taken note?) and not forgetting nestled beside the Siam was the 'Asian Drum n Bass Tent.'

It wasn't just live acts there was lots of late night revelry, comedy, films and bars that stayed open til the small hours. There were even a few tents where despite the more quiet volume, the music went on until dawn for those night owls wanting to party, party, party out of the rain and attempt staggering back to their tent in sunrise. Rain incidentally which fell primarily at night while we were there apart from one evening (Saturday) when we holed up in the Siam Tent.



WOMAD's arena and Open Air stage was pretty much similar to the old Reading site. But take a wander around the Siam and through a gate and behold WOMAD's hidden jewel in its crown! The approach might have been rather muddy but above it there was green lush grass, sunshine, happy faces, kids, trees and the triumvirate of Taste The World, Under A Tree and BBC Radio 3 stages. These were set amongst the healing and relaxation areas of the Arboretum which was scattered with wooden sculptures, flags and what had been created here to rest feet from boots gave a wonderful feel to the place.

As we sat there, wellies off on the grass while the sun blazed upon us, we discussed the merits of the place, trying to decide if it should have been the site for the Organic Bar (gone due to flooding) to provide a beer as the nearest bar was a muddy trek away. Personally I agreed that the vibe would have changed but conceded at night a Chai Tent would have been lovely to sup a brew and listen to the human faces projected onto the trees (wow!) as they sighed to each other. (Any other festie organisers reading this – these are awesome!)



Bars however were pretty plentiful elsewhere on site and Festival Gem Ale wonderfully priced at £2.60, but they run out of the Bath Ales (early on the Sunday I add) and hid the WOMAD favourite, Mulled Cider up a horrendously muddy path (please organisers return it to the arena). However sloshing through mud to the other bars wasn’t so difficult. The arena area had more toilets and no queues, well except for those who like queuing and ignore the proliferation of toilets behind the main blocks.

Food choices were plenty too, with the tastiest bargains to be found in local produce vendors from nearby Malmesbury and of course loads of delicious ethnic delights. A gourmet heaven, well worth repeatedly eating well, a main meal priced around £6 for a filling meal. With lots of vegetarian options as well and festival favourites like Le Grande Bouffe, Pilton Porkers, Pieminster and Manic Organic. Plenty of Chai tents also proliferated the site and of course the Tiny Tea tent was there.

Good causes were there in force as well from Oxfam and Greenpeace to SOAS and Survival and many others, all staffed by friendly people you could stop and chat to. There were arts and crafts stalls from around the globe selling quality items to regale tent or house. Stalls were selling a multitude of musical instruments. There was even a stall where like Mr Ben you could go in and be transformed into fancy, I don't normally do shopping but at WOMAD it's irresistible especially with Songlines and the WOMAD Shop there to cater for music lovers – made more appealing by CDs for sale of performances on the Saddlespan available within half an hour of them coming off stage, many signed by the artists. There was merchandise available with reasonably priced WOMAD shirts too.



The music on offer was much more varied than ever before (I can’t remember a more diverse year) with something for everyone and Club WOMAD re-housed in the Red Tent meant no more queues to get in. Of course there were loads of highlights like Peter Gabriel, Toots and the Maytals, Lila Downs, Balkan Beat Box, Isaac Hayes, Mari Boine, Candi Staton (a stormingly good set), Vieux Farka Touré (son of legendary Ali), Seth Lakeman, Steel Pulse (an extended set), drum master Bill Cobham, Mr Scruff, The Dhol Foundation, Tinariwen, Mariza, Taj Mahal Trio, Hocus Pocus, Baaba Maal and the new special project The Imagined Village, a highlight of the weekend with a plethora of folk stars and my personal star Benjamin Zephaniah (please tour this at festivals it was fantastic!). I even enjoyed Jamie Callum I must have been drunk!?

All in all an incredibly strong and diverse line up and far too good to make many notes of their performances all weekend, if I'm honest I spent more time enjoying the line up than I have in the last decade at my favourite haunt Glasto, but this was down more to the stage presence of these artists I’d not seen before than me knowing their music inside out and backwards. It became less about individual performances but more about a shared experience in the ankle deep toffee ice cream mud. I never walked away from a performance bored, although I did move sometimes cos I heard something else a little way off I liked even more. The advantage of having all the stages in listening distance of another resulted in an aural feast for music lovers like me.

Anyway despite one of the grooviest line-ups in years, I should also discuss other aspects of WOMAD like the facilities in the campsite. Now these were good where we were, no toilet queues in the morning, bliss! Nearby our pitch, which was an easy jaunt from the car park down a leafy avenue were late night hot drinks, beers and dead pig based breakfast options. But, by all accounts in some areas there weren't many loos and the flat ground also meant that there was flooding in the family area.

Talking of which, our almost teen daughter and festival veteran was happy enough with the music and the mud, but for those with very young kids I can sympathise that they would have had more of a problem, kids might love mud but their parents don't and the workshops were hard to reach and the parade much reduced which was a great shame. This combined with no 'WOMAD Nomads' meant WOMAD, despite adding a skate park, had too little to keep young minds active. 2007 was not an easy WOMAD to have young children at I’d have thought (buggies are these days designed less easy to carry over mud then when ours was a nipper) which was a pity, as clearly the organisers had high hopes of a packed children’s programme. Hopefully everything will be back on course next year with better weather.

Overall the new site is so much nicer, no crime waves (okay there were some thefts on Thursday I hear), no drunk chav teen gangs and a much mellower vibe, back to the old days of WOMAD. What a great birthday party! Although I was amazed it took until late in the early hours of Sunday for birthday boy N'Faly Kuoyaté to actually sing 'Happy Birthday', while we sang along spangled and mulled cidered up.

Thanks for the happiest of muddy weekends to all the organisers who worked so hard and the rich geezers (The Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire and The Viscount Andover – come the revolution they’ll be spared) whose land it was. Guess their airstrip is a bit muddy now! But they should be heartily pleased in such climatic adversity they put on a great knees up. It was unexpectedly the best line up I've seen in a long time and the best muddy festival since Elephant Fayre.

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