ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Australian event can be read as a deliberate and self-conscious re-enactment of the spirit of a reimagined utopia. It also argues that the main appeal of Womadelaide, particularly in the twenty-first century, is its nostalgic yearning for an imagined experiential community – a return to the Woodstock dream, if not the reality. The legacy of the original Woodstock, the United States quintessential music festival clearly still reverberates in time and space, far from its original source. The corporate nature of any music mega-event, such as Womad(elaide), tends to lead to criticism that the commercial involvement takes away 'the selflessness of its motivation'. Of course, mega-events can have their own political impact and power through a wide range of interrelated activities, including the harnessing of the media itself. Womadelaide enables the players – musicians and audience alike – to experience the myth of 'communitas', to embody a freedom and a shared political imagination.
