WOMADelaide 2016 began with a record breaking crowd on the first day of the four day festival.
The annual festival of world music, dance, art, food, and ideas opened on a gloriously warm afternoon in the Adelaide Botanic Park, and people flocked to it in their thousands.
There was excitement in the air as the milling crowd flowed through the villages of food and clothing stalls, some searching for their favourite vendors, others stunned by their first experience of the phenomenon that is WOMADelaide.
Infants with painted faces in backpacks and pushers shared smiles with old men leaning on canes under shady trees ready for the festivities to begin. This is a very inclusive event that offers far more than most music festivals. From the KidZone to Speakers Corner, Taste the World to the Planet Speaks, there is something here for everyone.
Every year there is a new interactive installation to offer visitors the opportunity for fun and play and, this year, the enormous inflatable structure based on Stonehenge was offered. 'Sacrilege' is the biggest bouncy castle I have ever seen and, while its Druidic reference may have been lost on the children, they bounced all the same, along with a great many larger people.
Seven performance stages allow an endless smorgasbord of acts and entertainment but, with up to four stages hosting acts at any one time, the audience needs to be selective and mobile.
In 2015 an estimated 95,000 people attended the event and that record may well be broken as ticket sales continue to grow.
There had been some set up difficulties this year as the recent torrential rain across Adelaide hampered the site preparation but Festival Director, Ian Scobie, noted that the inclement weather had just made Botanic Park even more lush and beautiful. He's definitely a 'glass half full' man.
Hazmat Modine opened the musical offerings on the main stage, after the traditional Kaurna Welcome to Country, while The Cat Empire were busy in the kitchen tent of Taste the World, and Belly Dance Amethyst held the Zoo Stage.
If you want to open a festival with a bang Hazmat Modine can provide. Cab Calloway met Leon Redbone in Tom Waits house before attending a St Louis street party and it was brilliant.
The Violent Femmes offered their one and only festival show on Stage 2 while the Spooky Men's Chorale harmonised on Stage 3, All Our Exes Live in Texas played the Novatech Stage, and ex Lowrider front man, Joe Braithwaite, presented Ripley on the Moreton Bay Stage for one show only.
I chose to see the Violent Femmes and have been kicking myself ever since. I found them rather dull and wish that I had positioned myself under a Moreton Bay Fig tree to witness what I am told was a great show from Ripley.
The Cedric Burnside Project performed their only show on the Zoo Stage but I was waiting to see Angelique Kidjo's performance on the main stage. I was not the only one.
The 20,000 strong sell out crowd seemed to all be there for this exclusive performance and the seated mass of devotees stretched 150 metres back from the stage.
Such an enormous audience really requires quite a big band and Kidjo brought one. Her backing group was the AdelaideSymphony Orchestra, conducted by Gast Waltzing and with guest guitarist David Laborier.
Records were being smashed everywhere on this Friday evening in Adelaide. The biggest Friday crowd ever at WOMADelaide, the biggest band ever on the main stage and, when Kidjo broke into some favourite songs, the biggest group of back up singers since Woodstock, as the entire audience joined her in song.
It was utterly monumental.
It was with some surprise that, as Kidjo's final song had lifted everyone to their feet to dance, I realised that it was still only 9.30 and there was a lot more yet to come tonight.
Djuki Mala took to Stage 2, Orange Blossom to Stage 3, the Jerry Cans were setting up at the Moreton Bay Stage, and DakhaBrakha were ready to go on the Novatech Stage.
Djuki Mala offer an extraordinary amalgam of traditional and modern dance and their energy is beyond belief. The Elcho Islanders leapt around the stage like men possessed and held the audience in the palm of their hands from the first beat.
I was exhausted just from watching them but their stamina seemed boundless and was aptly juxtaposed by the projected footage of the more sedate imagery of elder women retelling the stories of this most ancient of cultures.
WOMADelaide has often showcased artists from our First Nation People and this year promises to be no exception.
The Cat Empire worked the Foundation Stage before a huge crowd while Debashish Bhattacharya held a seated concert on the Zoo Stage. The Cat Empire offered familiar pieces as well as new material that seemed to be heading into jazzier waters. The audience adored it.
These are great musicians but the keyboard player's timing was unbelievable as they switched from reggae to jazz, from Latin to hip hop in a high energy performance that had everyone dancing.
As opening nights go this was a big one and if this level of artistry, diversity and energy is going to be maintained, we are in for quite a weekend.
