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BobGSA
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What on earth were WOMAD thinking of changing the layout? The sound bleed between the Radio 3, Open Air, and Siam stages is awful.  They've created loads of pinch points making it difficult to move around. There is no where near enough room in front of the Open Air stage when there is a big act on.  I've spent most of the weekend getting lost! Why fix something that wasn't broken.  Please WOMAD, revert to what worked.

 

 

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Yes I agree, I know what they were trying to do but it didn't quite work. I loved the open access to the arboretum though. Relaxed and quicker access to and from arena but I mussed a few acts I wanted to see because of slow and restricted crowd movements between stages. There was a lit of sound bleeding I agree and who's idea was it to give the open air poets and story tellers close to ecotricity stage microphones. At one point all I heard when I sat right at the front of ecotricity stage during a performance was some idiot ranting on instead of the sedate singing and delicate instrumentation sounds of an incredible act. Even the singer had to stop and wince.

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2 hours ago, eFestivals said:

how? when??

I don't get this at all. It was busy, but not that busy - nowhere near that busy.

 

I only noticed it once but there was less room at the back of back of the main stage field and at peak times when there was a big crowd it was hard work to pass through at the back as you were hitting food queues as well.

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10 minutes ago, kerplunk said:

I only noticed it once but there was less room at the back of back of the main stage field and at peak times when there was a big crowd it was hard work to pass through at the back as you were hitting food queues as well.

there were people to navigate around, but not 'hard work' or anything else. I walked around each headliner crowd with no difficulties whatsoever.

Are some people expecting a Moses/Red Sea effect, with the crowds parting just for them...? :P

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5 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

there were people to navigate around, but not 'hard work' or anything else. I walked around each headliner crowd with no difficulties whatsoever.

Are some people expecting a Moses/Red Sea effect, with the crowds parting just for them...? :P

You asked how and when. I've experienced far worse people-jams of course but there was defo less room at the back of mainstage field this year which made it more difficult to pass through at peak times. That was the only thing I really noticed with the new layout, I thought the new bandstand & bar area was good new addition, I don't get the OPs sound-bleed comment cos the CG and Siam stage had non-overlapping set times with the mainstage.

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While I agree the old layout was much better, the only real difficulty I had getting around was during the George Clinton set and that was pure chaos all the way to the food stalls. The only soundbleed I noticed was when sets overlapped which was for a few minutes, so not too annoying. I did think we were short changed on the main stage with pop music headlining every night for the second year in a row. Why do we get so many headline acts from the USofA. Surely there are enough festivals for Western middle of the road boredom, Womad is the only one specialising in the rest of the world.. Come on Womad, lets get back to the good old days when headliners came from all over the planet.

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  • 11 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/8/2017 at 10:49 AM, scarletmist said:

Looks like there are a few changes for 2017.

Big Wheel and Bandstand have moved. 

Market areas near Siam tent have changed a bit too.

Glamping has shrunk.

Womad2016-17changes.gif

Not going this year but looks like the whole fairground set up as changed- my kids really liked Carters but looks like they're not there this year and the rides are spread out a bit more around the site too.

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you're right, it wasn't Carters.

It seemed like the number of traders has been reduced by around 25% - tho what was there was a big variety of food and from the best festie traders out there.

The beer selections weren't great this year - tho still better than almost all other fests.

They were quick off the mark to put down woodchip, which meant that the ground held up well with rain each day, and it wasn't till Sunday that it got a bit horrible.

And the music was great, as ever. For those whose tastes go beyond the same old sound, there's nowhere with as much diversity (not even Glasto).

Despite the weather I really enjoyed it this year. :)

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1 hour ago, eFestivals said:

you're right, it wasn't Carters.

It seemed like the number of traders has been reduced by around 25% - tho what was there was a big variety of food and from the best festie traders out there.

The beer selections weren't great this year - tho still better than almost all other fests.

They were quick off the mark to put down woodchip, which meant that the ground held up well with rain each day, and it wasn't till Sunday that it got a bit horrible.

And the music was great, as ever. For those whose tastes go beyond the same old sound, there's nowhere with as much diversity (not even Glasto).

Despite the weather I really enjoyed it this year. :)

I wouldn't disagree with any of that. Saturday night was a bit bleak (is Toots cursed this year? :lol:), but we still had a good time. Managed to miss most of the other heavy rain showers. 
I said to my family that the food offerings at Womad are consistently better than those found at Glastonbury. Sure there are plenty of good food outlets at Glasto, but they are spread amongst the standard burger fare. You struggle to find a bad meal at Womad.

Some great music to be found this year. A soggy Toots, Spooky Men's Chorale, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Seu Jorge, !!! and lots of good old fun dancing in Molly's Bar were my highlights. Hell, I even managed to sort of enjoy Loyle Carner - for a miserable old rock lover like me, that's quite an achievement!

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17 minutes ago, elias said:

I wouldn't disagree with any of that. Saturday night was a bit bleak (is Toots cursed this year? :lol:), but we still had a good time. Managed to miss most of the other heavy rain showers. 

I was really disappointed with Toots. That band was so very pedestrian, and far too quiet. :(

I was disappointed with Benjamin Zephaniah, too ... great band, shame about him.

And i was pissed off that Inna De Yard cancelled as i'm loving the album.

Got my proper reggae(ish) fix late on Sunday from the Ska Vengers - who were excellent.

 

Quote

Some great music to be found this year. A soggy Toots, Spooky Men's Chorale, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Seu Jorge, !!! and lots of good old fun dancing in Molly's Bar were my highlights. Hell, I even managed to sort of enjoy Loyle Carner - for a miserable old rock lover like me, that's quite an achievement!

I missed most of them, tho caught a little of Ladysmith, and !!! were fabulous as were Goat, too. I was going to see Seu Jorge - he was on my list - but after hearing a few tunes on Womad Radio I quickly lost interest with that one.

Weirdest thing I saw was Ifriqiyya Electrique in the Red tent, which was North African drummers with "post industrial" guitar and bass. I'm not entirely sure it worked, but it takes all sorts to make a world I guess. :P

Loved Bigixa 70, and really enjoyed Tom Middleton (who can be a bit iffy, from when i've seen him in the past).

Oh, special shout out to the House Gospel Choir. Not the world's best singers (soz), but the energy, OMFG! That's how you get a tent jumping!

Edited by eFestivals
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52 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

was really disappointed with Toots. That band was so very pedestrian, and far too quiet.

I thought the same at Glastonbury although had put the lack of volume down to the state of my ears after the Dead Kennedys and the fact that Toots holds his microphone down by his stomach.

Time to break my Womad duck next year though i think.

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52 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

I was really disappointed with Toots. That band was so very pedestrian, and far too quiet. :(

I sort of know what you mean, although it was loud enough where we were close to the front. I don't suppose the weather helped.

53 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

Got my proper reggae(ish) fix late on Sunday from the Ska Vengers - who were excellent.

Yeah, we had great fun at the Ska Vengers. Being a bit ignorant, I hadn't realised they were Indian and so political. A fun way to finish the festival for us. The band before them were great too - The Gypsies of Bohemia.

56 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

I missed most of them, tho caught a little of Ladysmith, and !!! were fabulous as were Goat, too. I was going to see Seu Jorge - he was on my list - but after hearing a few tunes on Womad Radio I quickly lost interest with that one.

We started at Afro Celt Sound System, but thought it might be worth checking out Seu Jorge. I really enjoyed it, although it was a bit weird having him sing Bowie songs in Portuguese while the crowd sang along in English! This was the one time that I thought the sound could have been louder, you could here the general murmur of the crowd during the songs. 

1 hour ago, eFestivals said:

Oh, special shout out to the House Gospel Choir. Not the world's best singers (soz), but the energy, OMFG! That's how you get a tent jumping!

Damn. Shame we missed them. 

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18 minutes ago, tjamest said:

Time to break my Womad duck next year though i think.

you really should.

I spent all weekend thinking "why isn't this more popular" as one of the longest running and best-run festivals (no cutting corners).

But then I remember how too many people only like mono-durge while believing themselves to have diverse tastes. Ho-hum.

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12 minutes ago, elias said:

I sort of know what you mean, although it was loud enough where we were close to the front. I don't suppose the weather helped.

It wasn't the weather, it was like listening to your home stereo even before it started raining.

 

12 minutes ago, elias said:

Yeah, we had great fun at the Ska Vengers. Being a bit ignorant, I hadn't realised they were Indian and so political. A fun way to finish the festival for us. 

I knew they were Indian. That was part of the attraction in seeing them for me, because I couldn't quite imagine what an Indian ska band would be like, whether they'd be 'Indian' or 'western' ... turns out they they encompassed both and neither, just perfectly. :)

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43 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

you really should.

I spent all weekend thinking "why isn't this more popular" as one of the longest running and best-run festivals (no cutting corners).

But then I remember how too many people only like mono-durge while believing themselves to have diverse tastes. Ho-hum.

Yeah, it really is a great festival. It goes down on our list of 'must do's' every year. Of course, it helps that it's just 5 miles down the road from where we live! :D
I reckon we may have to miss it next year though. My nephew has decided to get married that weekend, the selfish git. :rolleyes:

It does sometimes amuse me how people think Glastonbury is so diverse and I suppose it is to an extent, but you get so much more at Womad. I like the crowd too (generally), even the youngsters seem to be fairly chilled. On the Sunday evening we were walking out behind a group of young lads and they were enthusing over what a great time they'd had and how they were definitely coming next year.

I did hear someone saying that the festival runs at a loss each year. I hope that's not the case. It would be a real shame for it to stop.

Edited by elias
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10 minutes ago, elias said:

I did hear someone saying that the festival runs at a loss each year. I hope that's not the case. It would be a real shame for it to stop.

I'm not entirely sure what the score is nowadays, but I know they felt a big hit when they moved from Reading to the current site, as Reading Council used to give them some funding (and the new council doesn't, or at least didn't).

They've just agreed a new contract for Charlton Park till 2030, so hopefully it's viable enough to keep going.

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7 hours ago, eFestivals said:

It wasn't the weather, it was like listening to your home stereo even before it started raining.

Lack of a brass section I reckon.  When you're headlining, a keyboard fill in just doesn't cut it, bit shoddy.

Edited by Kizzie
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Yep, great festival. The best music of all festivals for me. It would be good to see Glastonbury take more acts like this on but don't see it happening.

Toots was okay but I was expecting more, probably the expectation that let this one down.

I watched The Ska Vengers on Sunday afternoon and thought they were a bit crap, reminded me of Brand New Heavies., just not my thing obviously.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by jamesrain
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  • 1 month later...
On 8/2/2017 at 11:30 AM, elias said:

 

I did hear someone saying that the festival runs at a loss each year. I hope that's not the case. It would be a real shame for it to stop.

I have heard that too, and that Peter Gabriel foots that bill.  Not sure if this is true.

I have been three times.  Cambridge Folk Festival is my favourite festival, so when they clash I skip Womad.  Next year they will be on subsequent weekends, so can go to both!

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17 minutes ago, Watergirl said:

I have heard that too, and that Peter Gabriel foots that bill.  Not sure if this is true.

It's not true - at least, it's not entirely.

There were certainly a few lean years when it first moved to Wiltshire, because it had been getting given some money by Reading Council when it was in Reading, and the Wiltshire council didn't do the same

I'm just looking at the directors report for WOMAD Ltd dated 31st Dec 2015 on the companies house website, and that states a profit for the year after taxation of £275k. They show a similar profit for 2014.

The directors report for WOMAD Festivals Ltd for the same years shows losses of an average yearly loss of about £150k.

The directors report for WOMAD Music Ltd shows negligible losses (a few k's)

The directors report for WOMAD International Ltd shows losses of around £40k

It doesn't look like anyone is going to get rich (tho it's never been about anyone getting rich), but it does look like it's paying its way OK.

Edited by eFestivals
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