Florence and the Enchanting Machine in WOMADelaide

Major Act Florence and the Machine performed a magical cosmic set at WOMADelaide Festival.

Singer Florence Welch shouted during her ritual exhortation to the crowd to put down their phones.

It’s been four years since the band toured Australia and on Saturday night, fans in Adelaide were more than willing to welcome them back, even if it meant putting away their devices.

There were some great, intellectual moments as the crowd raised their arms to Welch, who dressed in an ethereal white outfit and left the stage to perform directly over the barriers.

Her powerful vocals were evident throughout the night, including on crowd favorites What Kind of Man and You Got The Love.

“It’s an angel!” exclaimed a fan. But what happened next was perhaps even more bizarre and wonderful than Florence Welch’s.

As the lights went out on the main stage, crowds looked up to see performers dressed in white Gratte Ciel from France on zip lines high above them.

More angels or astronauts? They began to let out handfuls of white feathers, at first slowly, then in such quantities that they became a lit blizzard of changing colours.

“It was unbelievable, so exciting, we’ve never danced in Feathers before, I’ve never seen anything so crazy and cool,” said an audience member.

But where did all the feathers come from? Another joked, “All the Woolworths roasts have been smothered for the past 12 months.”

They were actually a by-product of duck farming, from farms that met Animal Welfare Standards.

Nearby, above the grass strewn with these feathers, was Luke Jerram’s huge installation Gaia – an inflatable luminous earth hanging in the sky.

Seven meters wide, it was designed to recreate the astronaut’s sense of seeing Earth from space – a sense of environmental responsibility and a sense of awe for the planet.

Earlier in the evening, neo-soul trio Eazy also inspired dread, with a witty set-up that culminated in some extended improvisation.

“It was a beautiful time, it was great to see the kids dancing,” musician Izy Maru Nitor Zamatarro told AAP.

But he admitted the jam was actually because the band, who are originally from Cairns, ran out of material with 15 minutes left on their set.

Anyway, another member of the trio, Warrigo Terrell, simply loved playing for the crowd – even after they ran out of songs.

“It’s fantastic, it’s been a time since we’ve been around so many people, you can just feel this community energy,” he said.

As for the Gamblers, Norwegian alternative pop icon Aurora was a favorite with Melbourne-based Raf Clement. He said the Proclaimers were fun too, but admitted he wasn’t born when their anthem I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) came to be. In the charts in 1988.

“I went with my aunt,” he told the AAP, “she loves them.”

Traveling from Gympie in Queensland for her first WOMADelaide, Barbara Moore picked Billy Bragg’s Friday set as a favourite, along with Australian folk-rock musician Grace Cummings.

“Trying to mix different nationalities, that’s all there is to it, it’s a world of music,” she told the AAP.

The diversity for which the festival is famous was on display late into Saturday night: Ridwan Moazzam Qawalis had one audience hypnotized by Sufi devotional singing.

A short distance away UK DJ Jaguar played a cracking electronic group, and they were having just as much fun as the crowd.