The second hottest Womadelaide ever opened on Friday with record ticket sales and some spectacular performances from both local and international acts.

After that scorching forty-plus weekend some years back, the festival was moved from February to early March, where the weather was expected to be cooler and the festival could capitalise on public holidays in both Victoria and Adelaide. Now it is faced with the hottest spell of autumn weather in more than half a century and most likely a record spell of consecutive days over 35C. If global warming continues at such a pace expect the 2020 Womadelaide to be sometime in June.

In fact, at the media launch on Friday morning, Premier Mike Rann who took (and deserves) credit for the success of the event announced that there would be another Womad festival on the Fleurieu Peninsula in regional South Australia in October, starting next year.

Fortunately, the festival setting in Adelaide’s Botanic Park somewhat ameliorates the effects of the heat with hundreds of trees offering a protective canopy to many festivalgoers. That is just one of the many marvellous things about Womadelaide. The only bad news was that Cape Verde diva Cesaria Evora had suffered a minor stroke after a show in Sydney and could not be here. Her band, however, would arrive to provide an instrumental tribute on Saturday evening.

After a greeting from the traditional owners of the Adelaide plains area, the Kaurna, the festival got into full swing with Burkina Faso’s Farafina, Japan’s Jo Ji Hirota Trio and Russia’s Terem Quartet. Soon after, Zach Condon’s Beirut delivered an intriguing hour of music that somehow seamlessly blends pop with gypsy and eastern infuences.

If there is a hero for this year’s event it has to be John Butler who drew what would have to be one of the largest ever crowds to the main stage on Friday evening and repeated that on Stage 2 the following night. Butler’s appeal to audiences, young and old, comes down to not only to the message behind many of his songs but also to infectious nature of his music. Hear him do an extended version of ‘Better Than That,’ from his latest album, Grand National, and you cannot get it out of your head for the rest of the night. On Friday the trio was assisted by a keyboard player and on Saturday pedal steel player (and MC for the weekend) Lucky Oceans guested.

John Butler also made a guest appearance for The Black Arm Band, collaboration between many indigenous musicians and others such as Shane Howard. It turned out to be one of the most inspiring events of any Womadelaide Festival to date. Narrated by Rachel Mazza, the performance featured songs from the likes of Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter, Kutcha Edwards, Stephen Pigram, Lou Bennett, Jan Chandler and more. This was augmented by video footage shown on the large video screen to the left of stage. By the time Archie Roach delivered ‘Took The Children Away’ and the cast gathered for a rousing finale of ‘Treaty’ there was hardly a dry eye anywhere.

Mavis Staples delivered an equally powerful missive about racial discrimination in the USA. Performing many of the songs from her acclaimed latest album, the Ry Cooder-produced We’ll Never Turn Back, Staples stunned the crowd with her enormous voice. Accompanied by a small ensemble of musicians and three backing singers, Staples was strident and her stories entranced the audience. Staring with Buffalo Springfield’s ‘For What It’s Worth,’ Staples and her crew ran through a dozen songs, including the Staples Singers classics ‘Respect Yourself’ and ‘I’ll Take You There.’ Highlights included The Band’s ‘The Weight’ and a version of ‘Why Do They Treat Us So Bad’ that segued into Creedence’s ‘Born on The Bayou.’ Spine-chilling.

The searing heat presented a challenge on Saturday afternoon but Mojo Webb on the Zoo stage managed to rise to the occasion by running out into the audience for a long guitar solo that was the highlight of his set. Later, on the same stage Bob Evans (Kevin Mitchell from Jebediah) provided a charming set that probably drew the largest crowd that venue has seen.

Perhaps the most spectacular performance of the weekend so far was that of Toumani Diabete’s Symmetric Orchestra on the main stage on Saturday evening. This ‘Pan African’ band (as Diabete calls it) comprises the leader on kora, along with an array of other traditional African and modern instruments. The epic song ‘Toumani’ allowed the eleven-piece group to even venture into what Diabete says we might call ‘jazz’ (he doesn’t). The hypnotic African rhythms entranced the audience.

With a day to go we are holding out well in the heat and expect a wrap of the final day tomorrow morning – if we survive!