Image: Saige Prime
WOMADelaide has dropped the first taste of its 2027 lineup, revealing three major international acts set to take over Adelaide’s Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla as the festival celebrates its 35th anniversary.
Grammy Award-winning American singer Leon Bridges, legendary British ska-pop band Madness and Grammy Award-winning Malian group Tinariwen are the first artists confirmed for the four-day festival, which returns from March 5 to 8, 2027.
The early announcement comes ahead of the full WOMADelaide program reveal and brings together three very different sounds spanning soul, ska, pop and Saharan blues.
Leon Bridges will arrive in Adelaide with his new Happiness Anytime tour, named after his forthcoming fifth studio album.
The new project marks another shift for the genre-spanning artist, drawing inspiration from Jamaican dancehall culture, funk and Afrobeat while placing movement and dancing firmly at its centre.
Bridges first broke through internationally with the vintage soul sound of his 2015 debut Coming Home, before exploring contemporary R&B on Gold-Diggers Sound and country influences on his 2024 album Leon.
For his WOMADelaide appearance, Bridges will be joined by a DJ, horn section and backing vocalists.
British favourites Madness will also make their way to Botanic Park, bringing more than four decades of music with them.
Formed in Camden, London, the band became one of the biggest names to emerge from the British ska movement and has amassed 10 UK top-ten albums and 15 top-ten singles throughout its career.
Their catalogue includes some of the era’s most recognisable tracks, including Our House, It Must Be Love, One Step Beyond, House of Fun and Baggy Trousers.
Completing the first announcement is Tinariwen, who will return to WOMADelaide more than two decades after first performing at the festival in 2004.
Formed in northern Mali, the Grammy Award-winning group is renowned for blending traditional Tuareg music and storytelling with electric guitars and blues influences.
Tinariwen began performing together in 1979 and has since taken the stories and music of the Tuareg people to stages around the world.
The 2027 event marks 35 years since WOMADelaide began bringing international music, arts and dance to Adelaide.
Since launching in 1992, the festival has grown into one of the city’s most anticipated annual events, drawing tens of thousands of people to Botanic Park each year.
Festivalgoers will also have greater flexibility when planning their 2027 weekend, with one, two, three and four-day ticket options available alongside payment plans.
The complete WOMADelaide 2027 lineup is still to come, but with Leon Bridges, Madness and Tinariwen kicking things off, the festival has already given Adelaide a major first taste of its anniversary program.
WOMADelaide 2027
Where: Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla, Adelaide
When: Friday, March 5 to Monday, March 8, 2027
Tickets: First Release tickets are on sale now via WOMADelaide
