WOMAD is as much a tradition as a festival, according to people I met there - people who had returned to the Wiltshire world music festival year on year since it began over 40 years ago.
“I’ve had a really good WOMAD”, said one with a wine glass of whisky, curled up in a yurt listening to a sitar.
He was showing us a picture of himself with Shane McGowan at a nineties WOMAD, who got so drunk that evening that he could not complete his set.
You often ended up somewhere you didn’t expect to be here. Partly the quantity of new and unknown music meant you soon gave up on choosing bands.
Partly because everyone was so friendly. Never have I seen children having such a good time at a music festival, next to teenagers equally enjoying themselves. There seemed to be something for everyone.
The six stages are separated between the main arena and a shady, grassy, wellness area that also contained various teepees - each telling your fortune with a different part of your body.
Stages broadly specialise - some feature more traditional folk bands, others more upbeat bands or electronic.
The wellness area highlight was the Ecotricity stage, set back in woodland with a good balance of relaxed and more danceable music in the cool shade - Islandman was a personal favourite.
It was in the wellness area that you could see artists cook their favourite food, alongside poetry, physics and spoken word stages.
The main arena had larger tents and audiences. The Soundscape Stage aims to bring the best sound quality to a festival tent, and hearing Romare play there was the best a festival has sounded.
There is a lot going on at WOMAD. We were surprised at the number of stages, and even staying at one you could see a huge geographic and stylistic range.
The lack of big headliners takes the emphasis off individual bands and places it instead on the festival generally.
The fact you probably have not heard of most of the groups means you are more willing to just wander around and see what you find.
This does not mean WOMAD does not nail the headline experience - Gogol Bordello proved that - but it gives that big stage to smaller groups.
People do not return for WOMAD to see the next headliner. People returned for the festival.
WOMAD hits all the clichés with ringing accuracy - the yoga, long hair and cushions on floors - but this safe-space welcomes them with so much enthusiasm you cannot help but join in.
It is also beautiful. If you are looking for Instagram-ready snaps to trick your friends into thinking you had the best summer, WOMAD would be a great backdrop.
People spoke about it as more like a festival in the traditional sense rather than a festival in the modern usage.
Talking of “having a good WOMAD” is like having a good Christmas, or Sunday - something these people know comes round every year and they would be at.
“See you at the next WOMAD”, people said - this had a place in people’s lives more than just a piece of entertainment.
What makes traditional festivals good is not headline moments, it is just being there with everyone else in good company. As well as excellent music and production, WOMAD had this in abundance.
In that way, WOMAD succeeded in a way that no other festival I have been to has. It has formed a new tradition, and a tradition I will be sticking to.
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