Few festivals have escaped the summer of 2023 unscathed. Before the sun blessed Womad with a rare guest appearance, the Taranaki festival got a drenching too. 

According to my pink and blue wristband, we were partying like it was “2022”. That was the first sign that things haven’t been going to plan for Womad, Taranaki’s World of Music, Arts and Dance festival. In 2019, it ploughed on after Christchurch’s mosque shooting, leading to the bizarre sight of armed police disturbing the festival’s chill family vibes. In 2020, it was the final public event held before Covid lockdowns were enforced, a time when superspreader events were becoming a major risk.

Then, in 2021 and in 2022 – the 20th anniversary of Taranaki’s biggest annual event, which brings 15,000 people to see a who’s who of world music perform around a moat that’s currently under threat, nestled among the lush bush of Pukekura Park – it was cancelled because of closed borders and lockdowns. You can’t hold a world music event without inviting the world to come. Those out-of-date wristbands passed to punters this year were a reminder of years of delayed Covid-fuelled disappointment.

But things haven’t been going to plan for most music festivals and events lately. Laneway was cancelled after its new venue Western Springs was flooded. Fatboy Slim moved indoors when Auckland Domain also reverted to a lake. Elton John didn’t even make it on stage at Mt Smart, though many intrepid concertgoers still made the “fucking traumatic” trip. Splore became a mudbath, and Shapeshifter’s Facebook page includes three apologies for cancelled festivals, the summer icons struggling to get a single show across the line.

So, as Womad began preparations for its first event in three long years, it rained – because that’s all it’s done for what seems like months. On the Friday drive down, it poured all the way from Auckland to Hamilton, then through Piopio, Te Kuiti, Awakino and Waitara. It rained on the lengthy drive down Taranaki’s coast. It was raining as artists checked into the Plymouth Hotel, greeting each other like long lost friends as water dripped over guitar cases and settled onto dreadlocks. 

It was still drizzly and overcast as, inside the hotel, a Womad publicist was heard muttering “for fuck’s sake” under her breath after learning several Friday night Auckland flights to New Plymouth had been cancelled because of the weather, stranding some of Saturday’s performers without a ride. She needed urgent rental cars to get them on site, but many were already booked out. “I do not want to deal with this,” she said, staring down tab after tab of weather-induced problems to solve.

Down the road at the Bowl, it was still raining as Womad kicked off with an official welcome at 6pm for the 15,000 up-for-it punters surging through the gates then muddying up the site’s grass fields. Things soon got slushy around the festival’s five stages, white sneakers becoming caked in mud. If that moat seemed just a tad fuller than normal, that’s because it probably was. “Please don’t drink the moat water,” the on-stage announcer warned, as if anyone would. 

Then, miraculously, the bad weather disappeared. Despite a forecast of heavy rain for the entirety of Friday evening, the stars popped out for Meute, the German orchestra, as they delivered a Kraftwerkian kick to get Womad’s party started the right way. With their cover of Flume’s ‘You & Me’ they proved the festival still means something after all those missed years. Where else can you see a German marching band cover an Australian DJ’s remix of a British dance duo while punters dine on Jamaican jerk chicken and Dutch pancakes?

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses on that first night. With the ground slippery underfoot, a stop-start main stage headlining set by Fly My Pretties felt flat, dated and uninspiring, proving it might be time to put the festival faves to bed for a bit. After a mooch around the art trail, and a drink at the gin bar, things perked up with Rizwan Muazzam Qawwals, a Pakistani duo (nephews of the legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) who perform traditional chants that are equal parts hypnotising and haunting.

Despite more heavy rain overnight, things got even better on Saturday. Finally, summer had a festival worth shouting about. Rubi Du delivered an upbeat blast of reggae rhythms, local MC Mazbou Q showed he’s got a promising future ahead of him, a second Meute performance as the sun set was even better than the first, and you could, if you wanted to, reminisce about your parents’ 90s record collection with a main stage set by Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour – anyone remember ‘7 Seconds’ with Neneh Cherry?

Then came Tom Scott. It’s unclear whether Womad knew exactly what it was in for when organisers booked the antagonistic performer and his jazz-rap troupe Avantdale Bowling Club for their first Womad show, but Scott refused to calm down. With volumes at deafening levels, he screamed out lyrics, threw his microphone stand around the stage, splashed water over the front rows, joked about Womad standing for “World of Middle-Aged Dads”, and sparked a petty (but I’m here for it) beef with Fly My Pretties. Charismatic and chaotic in equal measures, Scott was riveting viewing, even if his set occasionally veered outside the boundaries of Womad’s carefully curated family-friendly vibe.

It didn’t rain on Sunday either. With many artists performing two sets across the weekend, that gave punters the chance to  stretch their wings and explore. You could take in a slam poetry contest, which also required selective editing for any kids within earshot. You could cook with the stars in the food tent, where main stage performers prepared traditional food from their home countries. There were talks, debates, art shows, stand-up comics, and a very popular kids zone to try. At one point late one night, I stumbled upon a secret slow-dance class in the dark and slowly backed away in case I was invited to take part.

If you didn’t have to leave early to drive back to Auckland, you could also enjoy the festival’s big get, Zambian MC Sampa The Great, then score dosas, mushroom dumplings, roti butter chicken pies or pizza for dinner, before taking in Rizwan Muazzam Qawwals delivering another hypnotic set. Even after a soggy start, Womad still feels like a festival like no other.

And yes, it rained on the way back to Auckland, because of course it did.