Even though it’s a few days post Oppikoppi I still feel like I buried my face in half of Colombia and Bolivia, Scarface style. But alas, this clogged up feeling comes from the mighty dust of the Limpopo Province and not some of Colombia’s.
That aside, in terms of the technical ability of all the artists involved, this year was the best Oppikoppi I have yet attended. Each and every band I saw put their all into it for the biggest crowd at Oppikoppi. There were a record 20 000 people there to watch the acts on the seven stages.
The theme was Sweet Thing and that is exactly what we experienced.
It was the first time many people had programmes and we raced between the stages to catch their next must-see band à la National Grahamstown Festival style.
On arrival, after setting up tent, I bumped into a legend of Oppikoppi, The Yellow Man. This red-headed guy became legendary in the 1990s when he dressed up in a yellow raincoat and proceeded to get more wasted than most of the waistoids at the weekend.
There were many memories of him staggering up to the koppi and that famous bar and there were many theories about who he actually was and what he did outside of that weekend.
Then he disappeared for a while. This year he was back in a yellow jacket, still no shirt underneath, but with the addition of mascara.
“I’m just a lot older,” he smiled after we hugged. He also seemed a lot more sober.
The introduction to the 18th Oppikoppi was via a superb performance by AKA. He pulled out all the stops with a live band and a highly interactive show. He thoughtfully explained the meaning of each song with wit and intelligence. He threw in those cool AKA moves and his band was incredibly tight, giving his music even more depth. His latest track is a dance hip hop track that is going to be huge. AKA is perhaps the most musical hip hop artist right now, and is riding high on his plentiful talent and sassy street smart attitude. Definitely one of the highlights.
I just managed to catch the last few songs of Southern Gypsey Queens who used the main stage to celebrate their 10-year anniversary. The audience was packed and they sang along to all their songs. It is quite amazing how popular this three-piece is without that much radio play. Of course Tidal Waves, who are a firm favourite of Koppi, rocked da house.
In fact, there was just too much going on and not enough time. I was in my element. The Black Cat Bones were phenomenal. Their anarchic blues attitude complete with rich guitar, gravel voices and harmonica always make The Black Cat Bones a great experience.
The Muffinz, who live to play live, had an awesome gig. They gathered new fans and confirmed their established fans.
Unfortunately I missed Oskido on the Red Bull Stage because he was moved to an earlier time slot because some DJ called Thulani the Warrior did not turn up. Grrrrr.
Durban’s Ewok and Blue Gene were the find of the festival. He is a fearless, agile performer who leaps on to the monitors when making a point. Blue Gene comprises a saxophone, a trumpet as well as the drums and bass. The mixture of socially conscious poetry and wind instruments can be, and generally is, pretentious and very annoying. However, Ewok and Blue Gene delivered their set with a punk attitude and damn the fairies and the hard-knock life.
Friday began with a slow breakfast before heading off to watch Jeremy Loops on the main stage. Again there was a massive crowd because of the fact that as a solo artist-cum-band, he performs magic on stage with his set of peddles, his voice and his guitar. Plus he actually has songs. And to see a solo artist, who is used to playing intimate gigs while controlling a crowd of 5 000, is impressive.
The godfather of Oppikoppi, Valiant Swart, appeared on the smaller Skellum Stage, just him, his guitar and his harmonica. It was as the sun had set and it was beautiful. Valiant is such a sensitive artist, having created such heart-wrenching songs over the past 20 years. He invokes memories of festivals gone by, and then creates more for us. This set was a spiritual experience.
Fruits and Veggies’ first time here was highly successful. The female lead singer of this Durban punk band is a mixture of Nina Hagen meets Busi Mhlongo. Oh, and she likes to kick a lot. A band to watch out for.
Albert Frost followed. His performance was so unexpected. Yes, we know him as the best blues guitarist in the country. But on Friday afternoon he showed us the true depth of his talent as he gave the crowd punk songs with lead breaks, hard rock songs with lead breaks and, of course, blues with lead breaks. The new and improved (if he could have improved) Albert Frost has entered a new phase in his career and it will be interesting to see what he does with it.
Later that night, Fokofpolisiekar attracted about 18 000 people to their performance. It was the biggest crowd I had ever seen for a band at the festival and it stretched all the way up the Koppi. People were perched on rocks just to catch a glimpse of the kings of SA rock. They and Seether had the largest audiences at the fest and for good reason.
Next year Fokof will celebrate 10 years in the industry. They came at a time when the Nude Girls had left a gaping hole in the industry and Francois van Coke and his band of wild players were just the tonic.
From being straight up punks with not much talent, but a lot of attitude and vomiting, the band just got better and better and created an empire of side projects. Brand Suid Afrika!
Come the final day of the festival and it was one of the best days. It started off with new artist, Tailor. This young singer is so emotional when performing she had members of the audience in tears (including myself). Think the emotion of Alanis, the anger of the riot grrril, the lyricism of Patti Smith enclosed around a vulnerable soul and that’s Tailor. She is set to be a big player on the scene if she doesn’t implode beforehand.
The Kongos should consider relocating to SA from America. They were another very popular band.
Then there were three of the most expected bands on the night – Jack Parow, Seether and Bullet For My Valentine.
Parow, like Fokofpolisiekar, is another god at Oppikoppi. Saturday night it was his turn to attract more than 15 000 people. While the crowds are fantastic and well overdue, it is a tad frustrating to be so far away from the stage after years of having easy access to the Oppikoppi stages.
Seether was the same. Yes, they played a fantastic gig with all their worldwide massive hits, but they were mere dots on the stage as I had spent too much time jumping to Jack Parow. By the time I reached the Seether stage it was packed to capacity.
Criticisms? If there are going to be 20 000 people attending the festival, they must increase the capacity of the entrance and exit gates. It is unacceptable that people had to wait for hours to enter and exit the farm.
Then there is that dastardly Standard Bank system with those irritating cards and the cashless society. Some festival-goers think they work well as they are hassle- free.
But if you don’t use all the money you have transferred then you have to go online to get it back, or they give that remaining money to charity, or well, no one really knows what happens to the remaining money. It’s all just another scam by banks to make money, to my mind.
But that aside, this Oppikoppi showed that the standard of SA music has taken a collective leap to the next level. In fact, it’s a quantum leap because every artist I saw was amazing. How it happened, one can speculate, but the fact remains it has happened.
And finally, congratulations to Vusi Mahlasela who celebrated 20 years in the industry. He invited Karen Zoid, Valiant and Frost on stage to celebrate with him. A very touching show.