Gabriel back on stage at WOMAD

Peter Gabriel came out of retirement last night to perform for the first time in many years at the Wiltshire WOMAD festival. Despite two days of heavy rain immediately before the start of the event on Friday, thousands of people braved the mud and busy roads to take part in the 25th World of Music and Dance Festival which came home to Wiltshire this year after many years located in Reading. Gabriel, a Box resident and founder of the festival took to the stage at 9.30pm on Friday night under a clear sky that had miraculously cleared over the Charlton Park venue.

Addressing the cheering crowd, and with his daughter Melanie on stage to support him, he said: "I want to thank you all for coming to the festival and overcoming the problems with the weather and the roads. WOMAD comes home to Wiltshire this year and my artistic director thought it would be a good idea for me to come out of the cupboard, dust off and perform for you tonight."

With that he began a two-hour set which included new material and classics from the Gabriel back catalogue including Sledgehammer which got a rapturous reception. The audience may have found it difficult to move their feet, stuck as they were in the quagmire in front of the stage, but that didn't stop them signing along to the music and cheering Gabriel and the musicians who joined him on stage.

The Seckou Keita Quartet, a set of performers from the UK and Senegal, concluded Friday evening's performances on the Saddlespan stage accompanied by a female acrobat tethered to a large helium-filled balloon traversing the clear night sky.

WOMAD continues throughout today with performances from Asian Dub Foundation and folk act Seth Lakeman and finishes on Sunday with Palestinian act Le Trio Joubran and Frigg from Finland amongst others.

For more information visit www.womad.org