WOMAD

          I was initiated into the world of music festivals in 1969 at the Isle of Wight. Bob Dylan was the main attraction for me, but there were many other favourites of mine on the bill. The following year I caught the ferry across the Solent again, this time to see an even more comprehensive roster of outstanding acts and, looking back, I’m not sure which was more incredible, the lineup* or the fact that the tickets cost less than a fiver.

           Memories become patchy and distorted, as we all know, yet such fragments as remain with me from those festivals are vivid to this day. Jimi Hendrix dazzled us with his guitar wizardry, building to a climax when he set fire to his instrument (literally) while still playing it. But what I remember most clearly about that was that he pulled from his pocket one of those little yellow tins of lighter fluid and periodically squirted it over the guitar to keep the flames going. The mundane, makeshift nature of this pyrotechnic device somewhat dulled the magic of the moment and drew a line for me between musicality and theatricality, hence my subsequent indifference to, for instance, Ziggy Stardust.

           For a few carefree years, I would catch up with the music I liked at similar multi-act, outdoor gigs, until I moved from London and grew into a different scene and phase of life, emerging at last into the light of jazz. I started going to jazz festivals (where the theatrical elements of performances, if there were any, were restrained so as not to distract attention from the musical artistry). But while I was preoccupied with my newly adopted genre, something happened to music festivals. They no longer presented themselves as extended gigs, but had become ever more complex, multi-stage, multi-interest events appealing to wider audiences.

          I began to fancy the idea of one of these new-fangled festivals that embraced literature, poetry, art and music – something for everyone – and, in 2016, I finally got around to attending Festival Number 6 at Portmeirion. One reason for the delay in making the decision was my astonishment at the effect inflation had had on ticket prices in the years intervening. Another can be laid at the feet of my Other Half, whose aversion to events such as these is as stubborn as it is unaccountable. I did persuade her, eventually, to come along, only to have my success blunted by the incessant rain which led to the total washout of the event, our early departure and the confirmation of her antipathy.

          Fast forward to this year and I made up my mind to give festivals another chance. The one I chose was WOMAD, World of Music, Arts and Dance (only later did I discover the irony of its nickname, World of Mums and Dads) and this time I went solo. The weather was perfect and there were tents dedicated to real ale and cider so, if all else proved disappointing, there was some solace to be found. But being alone is only fun for a while, so I hooked up as soon as I could with some friends, old and new, that I knew were there and the event subsequently took on a sociable, party atmosphere. I began to understand that I was in a sort of holiday theme-park, with a menu of entertainments at my disposal.

          I don’t need to go back to WOMAD. The ‘world music’ genre is a mixed bag, some of it too ethnically pure to be more than academically interesting, some of it too rhythmically focussed to go anywhere but trance-dance and some of it too mixed up to qualify as ‘fusion’. I could try another festival next summer – Love Supreme has been suggested as being more to my liking. Of course, what I’d really like to do is go back to the Isle of Wight and, this time, pay more attention. But time-travel is for dreamers.

* I.o.W. 1970.
Jethro Tull
Ten Years After
Chicago
Family
Taste
Voices of East Harlem
Arrival
Lighthouse
The Doors
Joni Mitchell
The Who
Sly and the Family Stone
Great Mother
Free
John Sebastian
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Mungo Jerry
Spirit
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Joan Baez
Donovan & Open Road
Leonard Cohen & the Army
Richie Havens
Moody Blues
Pentangle
Good News