LUSH

The hills around Clarens will echo with the sounds of music over the Easter weekend when the Lush Festival hits town. The festival has attracted a wide spread of bands and artists — more than 50, in fact, including Wonderboom, Fokofpolisiekar, Jack Parow and Clout — yes, they of Substitute fame — for four days of tunes and jollity. American rock band Bowling For Soup will play as well, as will Dave Depper from Death Cab For Cutie, The Mynabirds’ Laura Burhenn, Australian band Pierce Brothers and Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio.

South African acts include Anton Goosen, TiMO ODV, Goodluck, Dewald Wasserfall, Monark and Albert Frost.

The acts will be spread across four stages to cater to different tastes at the same time.

The venue is pretty special too — a guest farm called Linwood, which lies in the protective embrace of a sandstone mountain and is shaded by forests.

“The farm, after three years of grooming and infrastructural support, is becoming an incredibly beautiful gem,” says festival organiser Damon Forbes. “It’s somewhere beautiful to just be with friends — next to the river, under all the willow trees or in the poplar forest.”

Accommodation is in a luxury tent hotel on the farm, with rates starting at R695 per person. There is also a classic oxwagon “motel” although beds were selling fast at the time of writing.

An outfit called Harambee is putting up the tents. Banish from your mind the idea of a sort of AfrikaBurn “survive-or-die” ethos — these tents have beds, power points and such luxuries as private showers. There’s also a restaurant that serves a proper breakfast, and a private bar — because every festival needs a private bar.

And if you can’t — or won’t — stay on the festival grounds, Clarens town has a vast array of accommodation offerings, from tiny B&Bs to the four-star Protea Hotel by Marriott Clarens.

For a break from the music, there are plenty of other distractions — see our list on these pages.

The festival kicks off on Thursday March 29 and runs until Sunday April 1.

Don’t say we didn’t tell you. Now go! lushfestival.com.