There has been an abundance of festivals in the co-called Festival State in recent times.
Over the previous weekend there were satellite events Nice Day To Go To The Club in Port Noarlunga, and A Day In The Gully in Tea Tree Gully as well as Pirate Life's Eleventh Birthday Party, plus the opening of Adelaide Festival featuring a concert by Pulp.
Those one-offs are eclipsed by the mammoth four-day slog that is the annual WOMADelaide (6-9 March) that sees an annual pilgrimage to Botanic Park and an exploration and immersion into a world of music and dance (a coincidental MAD anagram usually attributed to the wider range of Adelaide events occurring in March).
There is a degree of FOMO, but the programming is unfortunately always going to be problematic and you may have to forego the 'frills' (performative sideshows, extraneous talks and 'art'), but these subtleties add to the weekend as a whole.
Dressed in zebra-themed outfits, roving performers Born In A Taxi perform as pre-show entertainment before Jamie Goldsmith's Welcome to Country on Stage 2 precedes Sam Beam's sole performance as Iron & Wine.
Born In A Taxi – Zebras - image © Michael Selge
Facing the full glare of the sun, Beam looks out into the first big gathering of the festival, commenting: "Holy cow Adelaide. How's it going. Here we go." He doesn't waste the time he has onstage, starting with his cover of 'Such Great Heights' and limiting his in-between song commentary.
With a relative intimacy in this is endearing performance by an acoustic troubadour, it is an attentive audience he acknowledges with "you can't say a festival crowd will usually listen to a creepy quiet song about mum," following the measured pace of 'Upward Over The Mountain'.
'The Trapeze Swinger' is an epic performance and afterwards he comments: "A lot of words, I hope you caught every one." Latterly he gets looser, admitting that a new song ('Singing Saw') has not quite sunk in yet. After 'Flightless Bird, American Mouth', which starts a cappella, he tells us: "I'll do one more and set you free," and plays an earlier request of 'Naked As We Came'.
Iron & Wine - image © Michael Selge
On the Foundation Stage, Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca and his six-piece band (including horns, percussion and upright bass) perform 'La Gran Diversion' as somewhat of a tribute to his forebears, the Buena Vista Social Club, inviting audience participation during 'Mani Mambo' (a 'Hey Jude' sing-along).
This performance is a testament to Fonseca's and the band's improvisational skill. By the time they finished, it felt like they were only just getting started.
Ireland's Beoga were fresh from playing with Ed Sheeran in Adelaide the night before, although he wasn't the surprise guest some were hoping for. Instead we got Linda from the audience on cowbell in amongst a set of squeezebox and violin joy that included a cover of Sandy Denny's 'Like An Old Fashioned Waltz'.
On the other side of the festival site in the Frome Park Pavilion 6, Ukraine's (via Berlin) Ganna Gryniva's performance of beats, vocal loops and manipulation of sound was a dance party one moment, a wave of electronic ambience in the next, perplexing an audience pulled in by hardcore beats, but then treated to traditional lullabies.
Beoga - image © Michael Selge
As headliner on the opening night, Jovanotti did a good job of entertaining the Italian expats and community but his energetic onstage antics and inclusions of snippets of Men At Work's 'Down Under' and 'Blue Suede Shoes' amongst his Italian language back catalogue didn't manage to maintain a wider festival audience for his entire set.
The coincidental smooth, jazzy Brazilian rhythms of Alcides Neto on Zoo Stage 4 served as a more appropriate lead in to the final live performance of the evening on Stage 3 from minimalist stalwarts The Necks.
Jovanotti - image © Michael Selge
Tony Buck on drums and percussion, Lloyd Swanson on upright bass and Chris Abrahams on piano exercise restraint with a single, slow building improvised, shared composition, not perfect but in the moment and never to be repeated.
On Saturday, the sun is out but only just, a welcome change regarding the extreme heat of previous years that affected timetable and stage changes over the weekend.
This year is not without similar rearrangements stemming from recent conflicts in The Middle East resulting in artist cancellations and fortuitously additional performances being programmed for originally one-show-only performers.
Opening the early afternoon days proceedings on Saturday on Stage 2 is the self-proclaimed "skinniest Samoan", Bobby Alu interjecting humour between sweet vocal melodies and funky rhythms that serve as a joyous start to the day.
He regales us with stories of meeting an unknown uncle and family while on tour with Xavier Rudd in America and the speed with which this information reached his mother – "Samoan gossip is faster than the internet. . . whatever goes on tour goes online."
Bobby Alu - image © Michael Selge
French acrobatic company Cie Hors Surface performance of 'Home' is an incredible display of tightrope walking and trampoline navigation situated near Stage 3 before the performance on that stage by Ghana's Alogte Oho & His Sounds Of Joy.
The band win over the audience with a dynamic vocal and percussive showcase that, as we are told by a band spokesperson, takes us to Ghana without a visa.
Three piece My Baby fill Stage 2 and the surroundings with the Delta blues slide guitar of Daniel 'DaFreeze' Johnston anchored by the locked-in groove of drums and bass of brother and sister duo Joost and Cato van Dijick.
In between her siren-like vocals, Cato tells us "it's not about how good you can dance. It's about how fast you can dance," driving the audience into a frenzy as they up the BPM, transposing EDM to the Mississipi Delta resulting in a high-energy performance without the need for a remix that builds to a climactic peak. For some, it's definitely not too early in the afternoon for this kind of rave.
My Baby - image © Michael Selge
In contrast to My Baby's fast paced, hypno rhythms, on Stage 3 Derya Yildrim and Grup Simsek, perhaps dressed as they would have in the '70s, play music derived from that time, spaced out psychedelic Anatolian folk music, a form of late afternoon respite.
On the Foundation Stage, Japanese rappers Kojoe and Hikaru Tanaka collaboration with the Australian Art Orchestra yields a series of jazzy, exploratory improvisational pieces culminating in a variation on 'Moon River'.
A torchbearer for the late '60s soul sound, the charismatic Jalen Ngonda's performance on Stage 2 is a revelatory ,moment from the get go, which he acknowledges with: "We're just getting started. We're just pulling out of the driveway."
A standout is his solo rendition of Bacharach and David's 'The Look Of Love', which is a good indication of where he is coming from.
Jalen Ngonda - image © Michael Selge
There is great anticipation for the iconic Yothu Yindi on the Foundation Stage and their set opens accompanied by an opening text crawl (a la 'Star Wars').
The collective last played the festival in 1993 and this performance is a celebration of their groundbreaking second album 'Tribal Voice' more than 30 years on, with 'Treaty' being the undoubted song that everyone was waiting for.
If you wanted a good vantage point to see Grace Jones then you were going to have make sacrifices regarding other concurrent performances because a huge crowd was assembling a significant time before she came on.
The wait was compounded by a delayed start heightening the tension that was added to by a voluminous pulsing bass drone for several minutes before the black curtain dropped to reveal the stage.
Sat in a throne-like, high-back plush chair on a raised platform presiding over the band, Miss Grace Jones opened the final show of her Australian tour, a greatest hits run-through with 'Nightclubbing' setting the tone perfectly.
In between songs she remains on the mic, giving us an amusing stream of consciousness, running commentary while she changes costumes in the darkened backstage, a disembodied voice commenting: "I can't see sh.t."
Grace Jones - image © Michael Selge
The musical performances, including 'Warm Leatherette', 'My Jamaican Guy' and 'I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)', were exemplary with Grace getting piggybacked off the raised platform before the latter.
As charming and provocative as ever, even the non-musical portions of her show are entertaining as she makes playful demands throughout the show for wine and a spit bucket (at one point she lifts up some carpet at the front of stage, tell us not to look then spits excess saliva underneath before continuing the performance).
Following on from new song 'The Key' and 'Williams' Blood' from her 2008 comeback, there's an about turn with a delicate 'Amazing Grace' before a nearly unrecognisable radical reinterpretation of 'Love Is The Drug', a pounding, droning rendition during which she conducts an audience choir.
During 'Pull Up To The Bumper', Grace ventures front of stage and into the photo pit, straddling the shoulders of an unassuming security guard and 'rides' him along the length of the front row.
She returns to the stage and asks "you wanna go home?" to which the audience respond, "no!". She alters the question slightly: "You wanna go home with me?" and the audience gives a resounding "yes!" leading into the final song, an extended outro of her signature tune 'Slave To The Rhythm', Grace spinning a hoola-hoop for the entire duration, no mean feat for a 77 year old.
Even with two days left of the festival to go, we all know this is a performance that will not be topped.
On Sunday, on Stage 2, Meganesia give a West Papa New Guinean showcase of percussion-heavy song and dance including a heartfelt tribute to the late Archie Roach; their set includes cameos by court jester-like physical performers.
On Stage 3, Nusantara Beats' captivating performance is lead by the psych-surf guitar twang and alternating chicken scratch style playing by Jordy Sanger while the mesmerising Megan De Klerk sings dancing with vigour. It's a shame I would not be able to fit in a repeat viewing the following day.
The Dzambo Agusevi Orchestra were spread across the Foundation Stage, their horns buzzing energetically – on tubas, trumpets, drums and vocals – the players in jeans and white tees exuded a great sense of kinetic energy that came across as some kind of mash up of a marching big band and a crazed mariachi band.
Dzambo Agusevi Orchestra - image © Michael Selge
Over on Stage 7, Annahstasia's gentle vocals and solo acoustic guitar accompaniment was joined by the ambient noise of bat cries that she called her "chorus of bats". It was reminiscent of haunting, moody Laurel Canyon folk.
She informs us that 'Garden' is an unreleased song and appropriately pairs the songs 'Saturday' and 'Sunday' before ending with the deliberately self-reflective 'Villain'.
On the nearby Pavilion Stage 6, The Lazy Eyes win over their audience early on with joyous, psychedelically-charged noodling that echoes the output of both Tame Impala and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, but a cover of the Bee Gees' 'More Than A Woman' might give you a better indication of where they are coming from.
Siblings Xylourides on Zoo Stage 4 give their second performance for this festival and it is a chance for those seated at the first show to really get into the groove, the audience down the front dancing in a style it would not be entirely accurate to call a 'circle of death' (as this is folk and not metal).
The Lazy Eyes - image © Michael Selge
Unfortunately the full glare of the sun was bearing down on Stage 2 and Ganavya, but her performance accompanied by harp and upright bass was flawless as she lead us through a series of devotional-styled pieces, announcing along the way that she is 12 weeks pregnant and explaining the changing meanings of these pieces over time in her life.
This was spiritual jazz with a conversational delivery, and in between her vocal contributions she takes in the performances of the instrumentalists as much as any audience member might.
She ends with a moving recitation of the poem by Marcellus Khaliifa Williams, 'At Last ... Another's Heartbeat', a fine example as any of her tradition of making songs out of the poems of today.
On Stage 3, Orange Blossom's set consists of intense and dramatic, densely layered cinematic music, the band members characters in an undefined narrative. The violinst, PJ Chabot, is constantly pacing the stage waiting for the moment to release his pent-up energy.
Their penultimate song is a pounding cacophony, singer Hend El Rawy giving a banshee wail while drummer Carlos Robles Arenas holds aloft a Palestinian flag for the first half of the song. They rein it in for their final song, bringing it full circle by returning to the filmic style they commenced with.
Orange Blossom - image © Michael Selge
Oumou Sangre, while not exactly a wind down from Orange Blossom, gave an enjoyable, more traditional styled performance that was appropriate to cap off International Women's Day.
On Monday afternoon, on Stage 2 Annie & The Caldwells kick off the final day of the festival with some gospel for "y'all", their weathered, soulful vocals bringing God to Botanic Park with a fitting, funky instrumental accompaniment.
Stage 7 is possibly not the most appropriate setting for the performance by the Nordic choral a cappella group Akervinda, given the ubiquitous squawking bats but over the course of their set regaling us with spells, the bat chatter gradually becomes ambient background noise.
Annie & The Caldwells - image © Michael Selge
On Stage 2, Obongjayar is another artist suffering the full glare of the midday sun, but he weathers it well and gives his all with the energy and dynamism of James Brown and Fela Kuti.
There are calls for 'Adore' through his set and he leaves this ballad to nearly last before treating the audience to one final burst of energy.
On Stage 6, Georgia Knight addresses the issue of the bats early on: 'It's so crazy. . . all these songs are about bats," during a performance of autoharp, whispered little girl vocals and spooky pump organ.
It's no surprise when she exclaims "I never play in the day". Her unsettling delivery pivots into rock & roll briefly during the set and she tells us afterwards: "I love guitar!"
In introducing the band, she singles out her bass player playing live FM radio between songs. With an old telephone hand set cradled between head and shoulder, she takes up the autoharp again to perform a more upbeat tune while the bass player hangs a circle of bells from his bass head to perform a somewhat more celebratory song to bring their set to a close.
Georgia Knight - image © Michael Selge
Stage 2 is where Fantastic Negrito makes his return to the festival, playing a self-styled set of blues that can be described simply using his words "where the Gods of Africa meet the ghosts of Mississippi".
A woman in the audience calls out "we love you," to which he immediately responds: "I love most of you." A thoroughly entertaining on-the-fly performer, he acknowledges his diverse musical output, "Fantastic Negrito is a marketing nightmare".
During a rendition of the traditional 'In The Pines' he praises his guitarist – "It's only his second show with us. I'm beginning to think he might be alright," before asking the young man's last name then admitting "I only met him two weeks ago".
On the Foundation Stage, Marlon Williams and the Yarra Benders take the opportunity, given his exploration of his Maori language in song, to bring a Kapa Haka group Nga Matai Purua to the festival; and for the second half of the set they come onstage to essentially play the whole of his 'Te Whare Tiwekaweka' album.
Before that he plays through some older material including the gothic blues of 'Vampire Again' and the hauntingly beautiful 'Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore'.
Marlon Williams - image © Michael Selge
With only a few hours left until the festival is over, Monday proves to be a day in which the programmers have shoehorned in some artists to play havoc with audience movement between the Foundation Stage and Stage 2.
On the latter, BADBADNOTGOOD put on show demonstrating their exceptional musical prowess, drummer Alexander Sowinski acting as MC while the band play "giving positivity and joy".
After their set, it's a scramble to get as close as possible to pole position for the final performance on the Foundation stage, Arrested Development. Having had a roll call of membership over the years, Speech still fronts the band along with One Love.
The set they perform is dominated by their debut album, the 'big' songs from that album held back until last after a 'Jump' medley (Kriss Kross and House Of Pain).
Arrested Development - image © Michael Selge
Initially with few 'names' to pull a wider audience to the festival, it appeared this year WOMADelaide was going to be little more relaxed, but early headliner Grace Jones (the undeniable highlight of the whole weekend, although appearing at the midpoint) drew all and sundry with no real competition during her set time.
However, as always there were acts you went to by whim or wandered by that drew you in during their performances. This was yet again another successful year.
