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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Evening Standard rating
Reader rating
This was the 27th WOMAD Festival and the third in its new rural location in Wiltshire. With more than 60 acts, from Australia to Zimbabwe, it can be a bewildering array — but the perfect opportunity to see some star names and encounter something new.
The biggest crowd was for a rare concert by Peter Gabriel, one of the founders of WOMAD in 1982 and a star in his own right.
He strode around the stage like an elder statesman, using hand gestures and a light show to reinforce the gist of his back catalogue of songs.
His closing number was Biko, one of his most powerful anthems about the death of the anti-apartheid activist at the hands of South African police in 1977.
Gabriel mentioned recent troubling events in Chechnya, underlining the way world music and WOMAD are often concerned with human rights around the world.
Youssou N’ Dour, who joined Gabriel on the Human Right Now! tour in 1988, played a powerful set on the main stage last night despite a downpour of rain.
And one of the new discoveries — Gochag Askerov, a singer and small group from Azerbaijan — appeared on the Radio 3 Stage. They played music of extraordinary sophistication, with both passion and reserve that made it all the more powerful in a beautiful garden setting.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Not sure why Mark is writing a review of this if he thinks music festivals are all awful (btw: "£3.50 for a cup of coffee"??!! - i think he counted his change wrong; "average entertainment?" i'm guessing he doesn't like world music then). Anyway, i had a fantastic weekend. Of course it is expensive but here is 40 or more hours of varied, inspiring and surprising music - twice that if you move between stages during sets. Even in steady rain on sunday, Ba Cissoko and Youssou N'Dour played two of the best sets I have seen in years. I thought the site was excellent, the facilities as good as it is possible to achieve when catering for tens of thousands of people (until the monsoon arrived), the food stalls provided a great variety of snack meals, the bars were well organised and generally it was such a pleasure to be in a crowd that (Mark excepted) loved their music and enjoyed the whole experience (there was so much going on besides the music) and, for example, taking part in the many workshops. I did spend several hundred pounds this weekend (partly blame my 'exclusive' podpad accommodation) but I also had one of the best, life-affirming weekends i've had for years (and I do get out quite a bit). I'll be back next year.
- Bruce, Brighton, UK
Far be it from me to be an apologist for Womad, but it's just irritating to read bitter, ignorant commment like that above. It's £125 for the weekend, coffee is £1.80 (still a lot!) and like all festivals, it won't please all the people all the time. I've been going for 10 years and Womad is still a stimulating and surprising event every time. The atmosphere restores your faith in (the majority of) humanity and you come away with memorable experiences and often new musical discoveries.
Frequently magical, sometimes irritatingly worthy. But never average!
- Zomble, marlow, UK
Music Festivals seem immune from criticism in the press. There's little motivation for them to consider good facilities or value for money as they will get excited, drooling coverage prior to the event.
Womad is as awful as any other despite the BBC branding. I remember the tent playing dance music from underground Bombay turning out to be an amateur DJ from Hounslow who plugged his clubnights all evening.
Womad extracts as much money out of you as possible, with £3.50 cups of coffee and charging a fortune for an event-listing. You've picked out 2 events that most attendees won't get into. All attendees will however have shelled out at least £200 per person for a weekend of average entertainment
- Mark, Hammersmith
