Jem’s Project #greentheme

Photo by Refiloe Mokgele (allzuri.blogspot.com)

Photo by Cara Richmond (find her on Instagram https://instagram.com/cararichmond_za/ )

Live Music

Hi all,

On Friday I finished my first half of a semester of University. (I wish I could paste sound effects into my writing – here I would place that cheesy clapping cheer that is played in old TV series). It was a great relief and I am very much ready for a break. I flew home on Saturday surrounded by many of my peers relieved, like me, and most, unlike me, hungover (which lead to amusing expressions on their faces when turbulence hit).

My first job as I got back was to be sent off as a chaperon for my sister and her friends to the One Direction (minus one) concert. I’m not a fan, there music isn’t aweful and they certainly aren’t ugly, but their music is just not my type of music. Regardless I went along and I was excited because a concert vibe is always cool and I hadn’t spent time with my sister in about two months and I was thrilled that I would get to party with her for the whole evening.

We were seated in the very back row at the very top so if you squinted you could sort of see the little men running around on stage and, based on the colour of their t-shirts, guess who was who. The concert for me was average. The vibe was average (I think the screaming teenage girl factor put a dampen on the evening). The performance was average. After watching Bon Jovi, a man with great experience, on the very same stage it was hard for the barely-more-than-teenage boys to live up to him. They also seemed a little stiff, understandably, after losing their fifth member. If I am honest they weren’t that bad and the ‘directioners’ had a ball but it just wasn’t my type of music.

Cape Town I have discovered makes live music far more accessible than it was in Joburg and I have been able to watch a couple of live shows since arrving. These are South African bands who sing good, interesting, natural music that sounds like once upon a time it was practiced for hours in someones garage. So far I have seen Beatenberg, Gangs of Ballet, Desmond and the Tutus and some smaller bands including Early Hours, the Pranks and others. This has been a far more enjoyable experience of music than with the masses at FNB stadium watching a franchise on 8 legs.I watched some of the bands at a Kirstenbosch Summer Sunday Concert (a regular event in the Early months of Cape Town set at the incredible botanical gardens). You take a picnic and pick a spot on the lawn and then listen to the music while admiring the beauty of the Gardens. Beatenberg is a band I have liked since I watched them live at the Bastille concert at the beginning of last year and Gangs of Ballet was an added bonus. Because both bands are still relatively small, they have to rely quite heavily on their live performances and because the setting is more intimate their sound ends up being more natural and to my ears more beautiful. I even got to meet Beatenberg (who are very cool in person) and I took a Polaroid with them. I would just reflect on this…. I TOOK A POLAROID WITH ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BANDS (and I think they may have been more excited about it than I was) now do you think you could say that about One Direction?

The other bands I saw at a club/venue place in town called ‘The Assembly’ which hosts live bands and seems to be hipster watering hole in Cape Town. It is also relatively small and we got pretty close and personal with the performing bands (and afterwards managed to do some creepy fan-girling and met a few members). Desomond and the Tutus are crazy and incredible to watch because the lead singer is insane on stage. Maybe they have this luxury because they aren’t performing for 90000 people at a time but they also appear to have a different care-free attitude while on stage.

Since arriving in Cape Town I have had so many opportunities to watch and experience live music and I think this helping to keep my soul content (and balances out the excessive maths my brain is being harassed with)

I hope you are enjoying your week so far.

x J