Day 3 was the best day of WOMAD yet by far. It was the day with the acts that I was most excited to see, and the day with the best surprise acts that I happened across. It also was the first day that I ate a Byron Bay Organic Doughnut, so ya know…

The highlights:

First Dog on the Moon
Walkley Award winning First Dog on the Moon gave a Planet Talk address about how to survive the impending apocalypse. It was an absolutely full house, people spilling out of the tent and covering the lawn. Disappointing as one of those people that I couldn’t see the projected content, most of the jokes were there, but it was still as enjoyable as a talk about how the world is going to hell could be.

Ephemeral City
After a few days of building the pieces, today the Ephemeral City was constructed! Sitting at 24m high, this structure was built mostly by kids and parents from the ground up. It was so impressive to see it rising over the day. The Deconstruction will be tomorrow!

Silkroad Ensemble
Made up of a collection of artists from around the world, the Silkroad Ensemble played a lovely set on Foundation stage. With most people seated the music added to the relaxed vibes. It finished up with a standing ovation.

Fatoumata Diawara
Oh my god Fatoumata was absolutely amazing. She has one of the most stunning voices I have heard so far this WOMAD and her stage presence is absolutely commanding. She talks between songs about the need to re-think Africa and improving education, taking every opportunity for activism. She and her guitarist are both incredibly talented, and then they shed and it’s insane. Amazing act.

Julia Jacklin
Julia Jacklin is from the Blue Mountains and has just released her second album, Crushing. She and her band were tight, her voice as perfect as ever. With somewhat awkward, but absolutely endearing bat small talk, she wooed all of us with her songs of love and loss.

BCUC
This 7 piece band from South Africa had every person in the audience moving for their whole set. With a contagious energy and excellent percussion and vocals, this was a really fun set.

Compagnie Bilbobasso “Amor”
Amor is a story of a couple, who start off so in love but ultimately end up spending the rest of the show fighting… but with fire. With huge fire balls and delicately painted fire, it’s stunning to watch and an absolute treat.

Lord Echo
WOW. This was insane. Lord Echo played live in a six piece band, with extraordinary vocals from a vocalist whose name I didn’t properly catch. It is absolutely fantastic. Everyone in the crowd does not stop moving for the whole performance. Every part of the songs is captured perfectly and all of the musicians are having as good a time as any of us. It blows me away.