On Saturday we went up to Croydon for the World Party, which is a one-day free festival. Jayne and I took Charlie with us – the first time he has been to any sort of concert – and met up with fellow Labour blogger Danivon and his girlfriend, and an old work colleague and his mate.

The party has grown considerably since I last went there in 2004. Still the same size venue, same size stage and everything, but much longer queues for the bar and the toilets so I am guessing it is getting more popular.

Its a very friendly event, with a real cross-section of society there. Not just the obvious racial mixture, but the range of ages too. There were families out having a picnic, hippies of all ages, big hairy bikers, muesli-wearing Guardian readers, seasoned concert-goers, young chavs,  several people in motorised wheelchairs, and half the Spanish ex-pat population of London. Right by the stage was a group of mentally handicapped people enjoying a day out with their carers. The police had a visible but unobtrusive presence.

If I had to sum up the atmosphere in a few words I would have to say: polite, safe and friendly. That sounds a bit like damning with faint praise but its actually quite refreshing.

I tried to see as many of the acts as possible, even though there were clashes.  I missed Bellagios completely, but saw Laxula (good on paper, but we found them a bit morose rather than the promised "fiesta of sound"), Size 9 (local band. Not bad but stayed on stage too long) and Mukka (Lively gypsy music).

I caught a bit of the dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra too – thats him in the photo.  Croydon has quite a large Nigerian and Ghanaian population, so he went down well.  It sounded similar to Fela Kuti or Sunny Ade, but with a much smaller band.  Afrobeat doesn't seem to have changed much over the years – it sounded a bit 70s to me. 

Over at the acoustic stage we caught a bit of CHI 2, the two Chinese violinists. They were very good, but they clashed with Mukka so we saw half their set then trotted over to the dance stage. Also I found them a bit ambient and trance-y for my mood on the day so I preferred to change to something more lively.

The main event for me was Ojos de Brujo, with their mixture of Catalan flamenco and hip hop – or scratchismo as they seem to call it. All of a sudden the field seemed to be full of Spaniards.

The singer, Marina, does not speak English  but does insist on speaking a lot, counting on the fact that enough of the audience will understand.  Although they went down well enough, something did not seem quite right. Afterwards I was talking to my friend who was right in the middle of the crowd and he said that the DJ/scratcher and percussionist spent the entire set arguing with the sound man so that might have something to do with it.

The problem for me was that I have seen them play a full set, rather than a truncated 45-minute set so it was always going to be a little disappointing.

The last act of the day, top of the bill, was De La Soul.  They really got the crowd going with lots of old-school call and response and hand-waving, but I was a little under-whelmed because of my expectations. To be honest, I thought De La Soul would be a bit different. I thought there would be musical instruments and not just one bloke with a couple of turntables and two others shouting a lot.  They were OK, but I actually preferred Snoop Dogg at Live 8. 

One big difference from Live 8  was the promptness of everything. Most acts started and finished at more or less the advertised time, and De La Soul were finished at ten to eight, at which point the majority of the crowd formed an orderly queue for the trams – possibly the best-behaved crowd I have ever seen.  As the park is surrounded by houses, some less than 50 metres from a stage, I guess its important to stick to the agreed times and reduce the nuisance if the organisers want to keep putting the show on.  I can remember from Crawley Council fireworks displays how important it is to not piss off the neighbours, becasue they remember when it comes up for permission the next year!

Croydon council's change of control possibly makes the future of the World Party and Mela  a little less certain, but I hope they continue. Its a great day out either for a group of mates or for a family. Apart from the music, there is a fairground, stalls, entertainments and loads of different foods from jerk chicken with rice and peas all the way to burgers and chips via doughnuts (mmm…) and satay. If its on next year I am resolved to taking a coolbox of drinks to avoid the massive queues at the bar, but otherwise it was fantastic. 

And on top of everything else… we got to travel on the trams, so my inner anorak was satisfied too. 

We have some similar events in Crawley, on a smaller scale, but I am increasingly finding the Hawth a bit claustrophobic as a venue and I would love to see the folk festival or mela move to Goffs Park, Southgate playing fields or Broadfield Park or somewhere like that where there is room to spread everything out more.