Near-record crowd at 2014 WOMADelaide

Festivals

Tuesday March 11, 2014 Comments

Comments Print article

Arrested Development. Photo: Che Chorley

Thousands of world music fans made the most of the idyllic weather at the 2014 WOMADelaide, with ticket sales over the four days close to record levels.

Organisers said a total of 90,000 people went through the gates at Botanic Park over the long weekend.

The Saturday program sold out for the first time in a number of years, and tickets sales hit a new record on the Friday.

The only bad news came at the end of the festival, with a fire early this morning badly damaging stage two. No one was injured, and a spokesperson said it was not yet known how the blaze began.

Shade offered by the park’s towering pine trees and Morton Bay figs was at a premium on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, but festival-goers still happily got to their feet front-of-stage to dance to bands such as Brooklyn jazz/funk/hip-hop eight-piece Red Baraat, French reggae outfit Dub Inc and Aboriginal band Coloured Stone, which celebrated its 35^th anniversary at the festival.

Fat Freddy’s Drop. Photo: Che Chorley

Night-time acts rocking the main Internode Stage included Kiwi dub/reggae/soul band Fat Freddy’s Drop, Grammy-winning US hip-hop act Arrested Development, energetic young Zimbabwean group Mokoomba, and Colombian/Belgian Latino-funk band La Chiva Gantiva.

Arrested Development. Photo: Che Chorley

There were plenty of more laid-back – and stripped-back – sounds across the park over the four days and nights, with the powerfully emotive voice of Portuguese Fado singer Carminho especially captivating.

Pokey LaFarge. Photo: Che Chorley

Among other acts that proved popular were Scandinavian singer Ane Brun; St Louis jazz/ragtime/blues artist Pokey LaFarge; Papua New Guinean born singer-songwriter Ngaiire; ARIA-winning Australian Megan Washington, who played two concerts showcasing new songs as well as favourites from her two albums; and UK singer and activist Billy Bragg, who played just once on Monday evening.

Billy Bragg. Photo: Che Chorley

For those seeking intellectual stimulation, the Planet Talks series canvassed a range of environment-related topics with national and international speakers, while Taste the World saw a number of this year’s artists showcasing their cultural cuisine and culinary skills alongside host chef Rosa Matto.

Slow Dancing. Installation by US artist David Michalek

WOMADelaide always incorporates a strong visual element, and this year’s giant moving-image installation by US artist David Michalek, Slow Dancing, was exceptional. Featuring super-slow-motion video projections of dancers from a range of cultures and genres – from ballet to hip-hop – in the tranquil after-dark setting of “The Pines” at the back of the park, it was hypnotically beautiful.

I Spy: WOMADelaide social photos

Make a comment View comment guidelines

Jump to next article

Support local arts journalism

Your support will help us continue the important work of InReview in publishing free professional journalism that celebrates, interrogates and amplifies arts and culture in South Australia.

Donate Here

Comments

Show comments

Will my comment be published? Read the guidelines.

. You are free to republish the text and graphics contained in this article online and in print, on the condition that you follow our republishing guidelines.

You must attribute the author and note prominently that the article was originally published by InReview. You must also inlude a link to InReview. Please note that images are not generally included in this creative commons licence as in most cases we are not the copyright owner. However, if the image has an InReview photographer credit or is marked as “supplied”, you are free to republish it with the appropriate credits.

We recommend you set the canonical link of this content to https://inreview.com.au/inreview/festivals/2014/03/11/near-record-crowd-at-2014-womadelaide/ to insure that your SEO is not penalised.

<h1>Near-record crowd at 2014 WOMADelaide</h1>

<address><a href="https://inreview.com.au/contributors/suzie-keen/" class="author">Suzie Keen</a></address>
											
							<p>Thousands of world music fans made the most of the idyllic weather at the 2014 WOMADelaide, with ticket sales over the four days close to record levels.</p>
<p>Organisers said a total of 90,000 people went through the gates at Botanic Park over the long weekend.</p>
<p>The Saturday program sold out for the first time in a number of years, and tickets sales hit a new record on the Friday.</p>
<p>The only bad news came at the end of the festival, with a fire early this morning badly damaging stage two. No one was injured, and a spokesperson said it was not yet known how the blaze began.</p>
<p>Shade offered by the park’s towering pine trees and Morton Bay figs was at a premium on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, but festival-goers still happily got to their feet front-of-stage to dance to bands such as Brooklyn jazz/funk/hip-hop eight-piece Red Baraat, French reggae outfit Dub Inc and Aboriginal band Coloured Stone, which celebrated its 35<sup>th</sup> anniversary at the festival.</p>
<div id="attachment_17150" style="width: 730px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Fat-Freddy-crop.jpg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17150" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-17150 " alt="Fat Freddy's Drop. Photo: Che Chorley" src="https://indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Fat-Freddy-crop.jpg" width="720" height="480" /></a></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-17150" class="wp-caption-text">Fat Freddy’s Drop. Photo: Che Chorley</p>
</div>
<p>Night-time acts rocking the main Internode Stage included Kiwi dub/reggae/soul band Fat Freddy’s Drop, Grammy-winning US hip-hop act Arrested Development, energetic young Zimbabwean group Mokoomba,  and Colombian/Belgian Latino-funk band La Chiva Gantiva.</p>
<div id="attachment_17152" style="width: 490px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Arrested-Development-vertic.jpg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17152" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-17152  " alt="Arrested Development. Photo: Che Chorley" src="https://indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Arrested-Development-vertic.jpg" width="480" height="720" /></a></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-17152" class="wp-caption-text">Arrested Development. Photo: Che Chorley</p>
</div>
<p>There were plenty of more laid-back – and stripped-back – sounds across the park over the four days and nights, with the powerfully emotive voice of Portuguese Fado singer Carminho especially captivating.</p>
<div id="attachment_17151" style="width: 730px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Pokey-LaFarge-crop.jpg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17151" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-17151 " alt="Pokey LaFarge. Photo: Che Chorley" src="https://indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Pokey-LaFarge-crop.jpg" width="720" height="480" /></a></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-17151" class="wp-caption-text">Pokey LaFarge. Photo: Che Chorley</p>
</div>
<p>Among other acts that proved popular were Scandinavian singer Ane Brun; St Louis jazz/ragtime/blues artist Pokey LaFarge; Papua New Guinean born singer-songwriter Ngaiire; ARIA-winning Australian Megan Washington, who played two concerts showcasing new songs as well as favourites from her two albums; and UK singer and activist Billy Bragg, who played just once on Monday evening.</p>
<div id="attachment_17153" style="width: 730px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Billy-Bragg-crop.jpg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17153" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-17153 " alt="Billy Bragg. Photo: Che Chorley" src="https://indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Billy-Bragg-crop.jpg" width="720" height="480" /></a></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-17153" class="wp-caption-text">Billy Bragg. Photo: Che Chorley</p>
</div>
<p>For those seeking intellectual stimulation, the Planet Talks series canvassed a range of environment-related topics with national and international speakers, while Taste the World saw a number of this year’s artists showcasing their cultural cuisine and culinary skills alongside host chef Rosa Matto.</p>
<div id="attachment_17154" style="width: 490px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/SlowDancing-Nejla_Yatkin.jpg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17154" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-17154  " alt="Slow Dancing. Installation by US artist David Michalek" src="https://indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/SlowDancing-Nejla_Yatkin.jpg" width="480" height="672" /></a></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-17154" class="wp-caption-text">Slow Dancing. Installation by US artist David Michalek</p>
</div>
<p>WOMADelaide always incorporates a strong visual element, and this year’s giant moving-image installation by US artist David Michalek, <i>Slow Dancing, </i>was exceptional. Featuring super-slow-motion video projections of dancers from a range of cultures and genres – from ballet to hip-hop – in the tranquil after-dark setting of “The Pines” at the back of the park, it was hypnotically beautiful.</p>
<p><a href="http://indaily.com.au/ispy/2014/03/12/2014-womadelaide/">I Spy: WOMADelaide social photos</a></p>
<p> </p>
							<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://inreview.com.au" target=_blank  rel="canonical">InReview</a> under a Creative Commons licence. Read the <a href="https://inreview.com.au/inreview/festivals/2014/03/11/near-record-crowd-at-2014-womadelaide/" target=_blank  rel="canonical">original article</a>.</p>
							<link href="https://inreview.com.au/inreview/festivals/2014/03/11/near-record-crowd-at-2014-womadelaide/" rel="canonical">

<p><a href="https://inreview.com.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">InReview</a> is an open access, non-profit arts and culture journalism project. Readers can <a href="https://artists.australianculturalfund.org.au/s/project/a2E9q0000008PVN/inreview-sa-20222023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">support our work with a donation</a>. Subscribe to InReview’s free weekly newsletter <a href="https://inreview.com.au/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p>
							<img src="https://inreview.com.au/pixel2.png?cc_article=near-record-crowd-at-2014-womadelaide" width="1" height="1">

Copied to Clipboard