Feb 28th-March 2nd -1997 
 

The Botanic Park in Adelaide is the setting for the biannual, " Womad-elaide " festival, which has been held in Adelaide since 1992. The Adelaide bash is the only Australian Womad and very fine it is too, with its absolutely stunning setting of Adelaide park land , studded liberally with giant Morton Bay Fig trees and many Australian natives and exotic pines. Nestled in amongst the trees are a multitude of clothes tents, eats tents , conservation tents,civil rights tents, and most importantly, drum tents, but more of that later.

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Why write about a Australian Womad in a Dead web site ?. Several reasons, 

1. there were many artists who played this year who would interest deadheads, 

2.Womadelaide is a great gig and we want some of you to come to the next one and 

3. there are already a few deadheads who do come to Womadelaide and we thought you'd all like to know that , yes, we are everywhere and that we all had a REAL GOOD TIME.

  We are then entertained by some great jamming from the Justin Vali trio from Madagascar , who are a class act and who almost get into some dead like spaces at times( even though their sound is very different to the Grateful Dead) but nothing has prepared the crowd for the humongous Pa of Midnight Oil, the final act of the night. They must be at least twice as loud as any other act, even Shooglenifty. The Oils still retain much of their fire, although In my opinion they hit their peak when they throw them selves into their older material, such as "Beds are Burning" and "Read about it."They take this gig as an opportunity to showcase a great new song, about racist politician Pauline Hanson, called "White skin, black heart", which is a real powerhouse , as well as being sodding true, racism STINKS.
Get stuffed Hanson. 

The Oils play one of the longest sets of the weekend, over 90 minutes. Peter Garrett admits to the crowd that he does feel a little out of place amidst all these acoustic acts , but the Oils go down real fine, IMHO still one of the Great Australian rock bands.......and still well worth seeing . 

   Richard Thompson goes down well on the main stage in his first ever visit to Adelaide, getting the crowd singing along on Jimmy Shands and giving a fantastic version of Two left feet to finish his set. African Salif Keita, finishes off Saturday night in fine style with a more laid back stance than in his previous visit in 1993- which is a pity , as I really preferred the fire of his previous band, who rocked prodigiously . Thats not to say this is a bad band, just different and its good to see Salif not standing still, the music has changed, become more cerebral and hypnotic. We still are not sated, we want more music, so after this we mosey on over to the drum tent and finish the night grooving to an impromptu drum circle which seems to go on forever. At the end the head drummer grins and sez " you just had a lesson in the power of the drum" - and that says it all- it is in some ways the highlight of the day.

    After this I am at the beer tent when I am accosted by no less than TWO deadheads simultaneously, neither of whom knows each other at all- weird coincidence!. One is a local, Phil Rolston, ( an old bastard like ourselves) . The other guy, Christopher, is a young dude from Oregon. We gab on about the usual , Jerry dying, new releases , lack of deadheads in Australia, etc and exchange addresses. This is great, three new Deadheads in two days !- I just cannot believe it.

T shirted trio

    Back to the main stages and Richard Thompson is stunning, he and Danny Thompson on acoustic bass brew up a huge storm and their jams are massive , definitely the set of the weekend. (see Rt review of the show elsewhere on the site) Likewise for Loudon Wainwright, who is happier playing in the twilight as the sun doesn't shine on his bald spot. He also covers his legs which is a bonus for everyone. He finishes with "the acid song "and gets a cheer from about four people when he mentions the Grateful Dead . Local hero Paul Kelly lays down a mean reggae number and finishes his set with Aboriginal songster Kev Carmody to a huge reception,-I'm converted.At one time they bring a bunch of Aboriginal children onstage and get them to sing along, which is fun. Once again we meet Phil Cotterill and Jenny to discover that they have met more US heads , from Pittsburgh and Ohio- the t shirts strike again !- we pose whilst Jenny takes some shots of us shouting " We want Phil " to the total mystification of the crowd around us. We part with pledges to send Phil copies of the radio broadcasts and to get together again sometime soon. 

   The time before the final act soon passes , with a splendid set by Fundamental, who mix just about every musical influence you can think of and spit it out mixed with found sounds, beats and a kick ass attitude. They go down really well with the younger elements of the crowd . I lose Ian and Kim , who wanders off to catch the techno/psychedelic mix band Luna Drive who feature an American Indian singer. Other notable acts were Tenores de Bitte,Telek and Radio Terife .Also, various members of the bands played solo sets in the small tent over the weekend as well.Really , there is so much diversity at Womad that it is impossible to cover the whole event , but everyone plays at least twice, sometimes three times over the weekend, so its possible to catch almost everyone if you plan it right. 

   Salif Keita delivers a majestic set to round off the weekend, but this only really becomes evident afterwards as during the show I am bugged by the talkative audience. No matter where I move there are people constantly gabbing. I move four times in all and finally find a quieter spot near the PA . As it turns out the talkers spoil much of the show for me at the time. To compensate, we again dig the drum tent, where the drums groove on. This time I quietly sing " Fire on the Mountain " which I had been drumming to in the morning and the drums somehow shift into a beat that synchronizes perfectly for a time. Magical. 

   Later on we get together and hold a Womad wake and listen to the ABC broadcasts . As we groove to the hypnotic Salif set, I can't help wishing that there were more heads aware of this great venue, as Womadelaide is the closest large scale gathering that gets near to being like a dead concert in Australia, without the overcrowding and heavy police presence. The vibe is fantastic and this year the total attendance over the three days was around 65, 000, which is just right. Overall its an incredibly cosmopolitan crowd, ranging from two year olds to eighty somethings,with a good size 18- 30 yr old portion as well as a fair sprinkling of Aborigines ( unusual and very welcome in a city gig ), old sixties relics, ferals, freaks,very nice policemen, professionals, drummers, Rasta's , artists, babies and dogs. Children under 14 are free so there's lots of kids present, most of whom seem to spend the weekend chasing a huge rubber inflatable of the world through the various crowds .

   I know that Deadheads would love this event and heres an open invitation for those of you planning backpacking and holidays that include Australia. Come in 1999 and get involved in the drum circles, grok at the epic setting and have yourselves a cooool time, but above all wear your Dead T shirts so we can identify you and talk - cos remember, we are everywhere- but down under there are very few of us and we need to see new faces occasionally to recharge the psychic batteries - hope to see you in 1999. !. 

aiko, aiko.......

Mr G