ROCK THOSE DAISIES
FOR those who have never experienced a large music festival before, now is your chance.
Held at Cloof Wine Estate in Darling, Rocking The Daisies is in its 12th year and claims the title of an award-winning eco, music, arts and lifestyle festival (the biggest of its kind in the country), with 25 000 people expected this year.
A festival of this magnitude takes time and manpower to create. There’s a choice of 250 acts performing on four main stages and 20 smaller stages over four days. The festival began yesterday and continues until Sunday.
George Avakian, managing director of Steyn Entertainment, says, “Rocking The Daisies 2017 is going to be bigger and better than last year. We are pushing the boundaries to make each one more epic.
“It’s become an institution where the whole country comes together for a party and we have such a diverse audience. There are also about 15 000 tourists who attend, so we are also providing a great platform for local and international acts.
“We want to grow the festival to be on a par with the big internationals. We actually plot a 3-D ‘walk-through’ model to design the festival and there are 4 500 crew on-site who make it all happen.
“A lot of work also goes into the choice and flow of the line-up.”
The line-up is superb this year. There are local acts galore including an album launch from Fokofpoliesiekar.
Selfmedikasie will be their first full-length album release in 11 years. Via a crowdfunding campaign, the band managed to raise over R1 million to cover the production and additional campaign costs.
Fokofpoliesiekar has also launched its own brand of craft beer to coincide with the album launch.
Guitarist, backing singer and lyricist Hunter Kennedy says, “We’ve been rehearsing intensely and are excited to be back at Rocking The Daisies. We’ll be playing a few tracks from the new album and we have some great visuals for the show.”
The band’s message is: “We are a band that only exists because of our fans and thanks for supporting five guys from Bellville for so long!”
Some cool new acts to discover are Cape Town bands Crosscurrent, Lucy Kruger and The Lost Boys, Mazula, emotive soul rock ‘n’ roll band Southern Wild and garage-punk band The Runaway Nuns.
The main stage today plays host to Cape Town pop trio Beatenberg, who have been making waves on the international scene. Drummer Robin Brink said: “Ross (bass guitar) and Matthew Field (guitar and vocals) studied music together. We all love jazz and classical music and I’m inspired by African music so we bring the three together.”
Beatenberg have won seven Sama awards, including best pop album and album of the year, and have just recorded their first album with Island Records in London.
Brink says: “It’s going to be great to play in SA again as we’ve been in the UK quite a while.”
Tomorrow’s main stage international headliner is New Zealand electronic indie act The Naked and Famous who have a melodic-pop and ’80s post-punk influence.
If you’re not into the live music then try the Electronic Dome, where you can expect to see electronic acts and deejays such as Tune Raider, Haezer, Sibot & Toyota, The Kiffness and Grimehouse.
If you are more into chilled electronic music, then the Corona Beach Bar is for you, with performances from Rebel Clef, Soulcraft, Lady M, Felix Laband and many more favourites.
There is also the Trap House stage, which will feature artists such as Uncool Luke, Dirty Skittlez, Kenzhero, Frank Casino and DJ Dimplez.
For the seriously environmentally conscious there is the Green Village with the Hemp Stage which will showcase great acoustic and up-and-coming acts as well as stalwarts like Trenton and Free Radical.
Additionally there will be fire shows, yoga, art installations and deejays.
The full line-up is available on the Rocking The Daisies 2017 mobile app, which also has a personal schedule creator so you can plot your festival entertainment.
Rocking The Daisies is cashless this year, so your money can be loaded on to your wristband pre-festival either online or at the festival on arrival, with top-up stations on the grounds. There will also be no ATMs at the festival.
For the Glampers (those not into the rough-and-ready camping thing), the Daisy Den is back where they can get their make-up and hair-styling done.
Event details: Where: Cloof Wine Estate, Darling. When: Now until Sunday. Tickets: www.rockingthedaisies.com