Iain Grandage has had a relationship with the Perth Festival for as long as he can remember but there is one event he will never forget. It was 1993 and African musician Salif Keita was performing a midnight show at the festival club, at the University of Western Australia’s Undercroft, that didn’t finish until well after 3am.

“It’s seared on my memory as one of those moments when an artist is just in the zone and the entire place was heaving, dancing, sweaty and ecstatic,” says Grandage. “Moments like that feel like the beginning of my relationship with the impossible carnival that festivals can be.”