Cuttings

The East of England has not been served well by New Order. Only one gig in Norfolk ( Pennies in Norwich in 1982 ), none in Suffolk, only one in Kent ( Margate Winter Gardens in 1984 ), and this, their sole appearance in my own county of Essex. I wonder if in part it's proximity to London, although that logic can hardly be applied to part of Suffolk, Norfolk and Kent that can easily be two hours away. WOMAD itself has had a nomadic existence, although unlike some of its venues, Mersea Island was not repeated. Mersea Island sits a little way outside of Colchester in North Essex, and is reached by a causeway that can flood at high tide (and the official programme for the event included high tide times to help with that). This meant that getting to and away from the venue was not an easy task. On the Saturday in question, there'd already been plenty of thunderstorms rattling around, so a late July festival was not likely to be as pleasant as the season would s...

Page 6—New Musical Express 27th July, 1985 IT'S A WOMAD, MAD, MAD WORLD GAVIN MARTIN and ADRIAN THRILLS return from ‘The Mexican Embassy’ and other vantage points at last weekend’s WOMAD Festival in Essex to declare — hey, some of these events are good! First, second, and third world pictures by FOUR EYES . IT STARTED late, of course, and stayed that way the whole time I was there. The crowd didn’t seem to mind, they arrived gradually in painted charabancs and buses —weekend campers, the festival freaks, alternative entrepeneurs, purveyors of mind-altering stimulants, women carrying their children in kangaroo pouches, squaddies from the nearby army camp, kids with outrageously painted faces. They set up home in a cross between a Saxon village and a Morrocan street bazaar. The easygoing frugality extended to the backstage area where the changing rooms were a collection ofsmall marquees (no limo entrances and hasty Glastonbury style exits here). Flanked on one side...