Okay. Back to it… so last night before heading home we stopped by this fine establishment…
… and while the boys were waiting for their LSD’s (Latte Soy Dandes), my sugar cravings kicked in and these cocoa nuggets with guarana in a clear jar called Buzz Balls were looking really appetizing. As I placed my order the dreaded, tie-dyed, natural beauty leans in and very seriously goes “have you had these before?”.. startled, my brow furrows and cautiously I reply “…..noooo”. Giving me my buzz ball and holding onto my hand at the same time “well, take half now and if you are okay after an hour take the other half!” she heeds… WHHHHAAATT is in this?! Feeling more freaked out than any girl should before indulging in chocolate I broke off a crumb and went home hoping that I could sleep that night. Well nothing happened… booooo, this girl obviously underestimated my caffeine addiction and family history with guarana. So this morning I scoffed the whole thing down and got busy…
…Two days down and one more to go (going to Future Music Festival tomorrow), this is what I have learnt so far; bring a shawl, sitting on moist grass or dusty earth is not ideal in a cream dress. You can happily spend more money on food then you can on booze at WOMAD (think I’ve just solved the nation’s binge drinking problem) and if you’re going to try to jump the fence make sure you’re wearing fake dreads and fisherman pants and they’ll lose you in the crowd…
Notes to refugees coming into Australia…
…There is no better way to kick off the Sunday with the smooth soundings of the (so-called French Jeff Buckley) Tete. His set was delightful acoustic Chanson, sounding like a mixture of Tracy Chapman, Ben Harper and Keziah Jones it was the perfect bluesy-soul-for laying back in the grass, eyes closed, ignoring the sunburn and taking it all in…
…Like Keziah Jones he adds delightful elements to most of the songs by including percussive guitar slapping. Tete got comfortable with the crowd and spoke in French and English, admitting that he comes from a village in France with the lowest IQ rate in Europe, explaining why he wrote a simple song titled ‘Love’…
…He gave a great rendition of ‘Blister in the Sun and said the crowd had sexy handclaps which is always nice to hear…
Yeah can’t say I’ve heard that before and not going to lie.. pretty flattered it’s an awesome compliment.
…Roaming around were Ireland’s ponydance theatre company decked out in chav tracksuit attire complete with side ponytails, tilted caps and overtly gay flourishes. They were talented and hilarious performing routines and dividing up the crowd for a dance-off. One woman who unfortunately took a phone call during the crowd participation got picked out by dancer Neil who camped it up and singled her out; ‘YOU… get off the phone what’s more important than this?!” which I thought was hilarious (hey, as long as it’s not me)…
…The Latin, Afro-Cuban, rhythms of Diego Guerrero y El Solar de Artistas had beautiful tango, flamenco and salsa elements but I felt like they would be better seen in some dark, underground red-lit seedy bar in Spain where the passion and vocal power could really be appreciated…
It was really cool seeing this dad dancing with his kids.. listening to Frigg and taking in the gay (as in happy, joyous) vibe as people linked arms, swinging around, hair flying, beards blowing in the wind and…
…Finding a nice spot in the shade we watched Frigg a band of Fiddlers from Norway and Finland who were absolute folk powerhouses of extreme skill, precision and gaiety on their fiddles (with a few other fretted instruments and one stand-up bass). We had a smoke just before they played and it was great to watch something that stems from Anglo-culture for a change, having a touch of tradition which we can hold more of an affinity towards…
…This was the true definition of folk-rock, Nerdy-cool (like the Star Wars of the music world) with all of them in pop colours playing energetically and with amazing precision smiling and dancing at the same time. It was music for the community with people linking arms and dancing around, leaping and spinning. Everyone from the stage to the crowd looked like they were having so much fun; families and friends alike this was the perfect music for jigging. I swear at one point they were playing Supertramp’s ‘Pumping on your stereo’ but I’m told that was not the case…
They totally did I know it!
…This day seemed to be going so, so fast as we were already heading to the main stage to see Gurrumul for a seated performance. This was another moment where you could just lie down with the best of them in the grass with your eyes closed, soaking in the gloriousness…
…His voice was so penetrating and they kept it from being a too serious affair by having Barry Morgan debut with craziness and Natalie from Blue King Brown also came onstage after and sung a duet…
Good people. C**** a guy who paints his nails, has feminine tattoos (including one seriously bad superhero tat), plays gigs in a dress, breaks the mould, makes hipsters uncomfortable, gets laid frequently and is more man than many men I know and J***** who I only met the day before but seems pretty cool and open-minded
…After hearing my companion bag out Blue King Brown throughout the day (he apparently hates being preached to in music), it was great to watch the band and enjoy their music, their messages and their lyrics. The crowd was huge and the vibe was cool but nothing too inspiring…
…or overtly impressive considering all the hype I’ve been hearing about the band over the past two years. Coolest thing was when two newly accepted asylum seekers from West Papua came onstage in traditional garb and danced to a thundering tribal beat before talking about their plight and the 50 year reign of human rights abuses they fled from in West Papua…
…They asked everyone to show solidarity for their cause and raise a fist so they could take a picture to as a beacon of hope to those in West Papua. It all reeked of disingenuousness not from the two men, not from Natalie who asked that the crowd head to the tent and please sign the petition but from the crowd…
…They are calling this moment ‘the biggest public display of Australian support for West Papua’ but how many of this supposed 10,000 went to the tent and actually signed the petition? It’s easy to raise a fist doesn’t mean you can pat yourself on the back and call that your good deed for the day, the people of West Papua can sleep easy knowing that Australians at a music festival flexed some muscle. If you actually do care head to http://www.rizeofthemorningstar.com/ and do something meaningful by signing the petition…
This is the image they took for the movement (sourced from the link above)
I’m to the right somewhere =P.
Thinking about what my friend retorted when Natalie stated that ‘WOMAD was for the people..”
Him: “…yeah the people who can afford it”
Cynical and true. It’s funny how a festival promoting changing the world, caring for the planet, humanity and all fauna alike is only privy to those with money – and it is mostly the people with a lot of money who are f*cking it up. But there are two ways to change the world; with the people, fighting hard and struggling hard from the ground up or educating yourself, making money, gaining status & position and fighting from the inside using capital as power like the arseholes do. If you can have both then that’s wonderful.
…Going for a wander I managed to catch Finnish Kimmo Pohjonen aka alternative accordion playing Viking. It was the most hypnotizing, mesmerizing yet freaky performance I had seen all festival. And by freaky I mean bizarre, amazing and unexpected…
…Involved in numerous musical and creative projects including accordion wrestling (??) this was him, a stool, an accordion and mood manipulating lights. He had the accordion making sounds I didn’t even know could be produced; electric drills, motorbike exhausts and creating sonic theatre music. It was dark, twisted and hallucinogenic, the kind of music that would go with those old German fairy tales that have sinister meanings. Awesome…
…A large crowd was already starting to form by the tiny Zoo stage and we managed to manoeuvre through to be somewhat near the front. The Barons of Tang had played two days before and word had spread like wildfire that they were a band to watch. Don’t know how out of control the first gig was but security was already positioned WITHIN the crowd and when they came out to thunderous applause they announced before playing; “We do not condone crowd surfing and The Barons of Tang have officially sold out”…
…The Barons of Tang are a gypsy death-core band of misfits who are aesthetically pleasing even before they start playing. All of them cut a different figure, four out of seven of them have semi-shaved heads and individual old school punk style, Jules the guitarist looks like he would be suited in Manu Chao’s band with his skinny frame and tumble mop of dreads and Aviva on the bass clarinet with a metallic turban and sensible attire looked like a snake charmer making up this eclectic group…
…Their music was a riotous mix of vaudeville gypsy, tango, rockabilly and punk rock. Julian on the double bass and Anna on the saxophone were powerfully energetic and captivating and when Annie came out from behind the percussion and sang lead vocals the crowd loved her. It was bedlam from the beginning, two songs in people were crowd surfing you just couldn’t control the crowd and when they had finished the set the loudest encore commenced up until the point where the compare was telling people to leave and getting plastic bottles thrown at her…
…With nothing else as good on and hoping for a different setlist, our prayers were answered when the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain kicked off another amazing performance this time catering for those who may have seen them previously and played Talking heads ‘Psycho Killer’, ‘Rock Around The Clock’, ‘Born This Way’, ‘Le Freak’, ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’ and to my utter elation ‘Life On Mars’ again. Stupidly happy we finished the night, dancing to the deep, atmospheric trip-hop of DJ Krush.
Seriously, this amazing weekend of multi-cultural music, bare-feet frolicking, dreadlocks and fishermen’s pants galore was uber cool and a refreshing change from the cookie-cutter festivals. I know it’s a high price point but if you put away a dollar a day, it’ll totally be worth it I promise*.
So now you can imagine the f*cking awful time I had the next day going from WOMAD (and missing the last day) to Future Music Festival aka Bogans Gone Wild, that’s my next post and my words will not be kind.
P.S. Plus how can you beat a festival where I heard Bowie every single day?
*My review for The Mouth Adelaide interspersed with extra opinions
