WITH matriculants ending their schooling in just a few weeks, what better way for them to de-stress than by partying at the Rage Festival which takes place from November 28 to December 6?
Known as one of the biggest year-end student parties, Rage is brought to you by G&G Productions together with Samsung.
And this year, Rage features a line-up of 17 international DJs and 30 of South Africa’s best acts. So partygoers can expect some talent like Nervo (Aust), Chuckie (Neth), Borgore (Isr), Adventure Club (Can), Yves V (Belg), WolfPack (Belg), Congorock (Ital), Felix Cartal (Can), Wankelmut (Ger), New_ID (Neth), Prok & Fitch (UK), and let’s not forget our locals like Goldfish, PH.fat, Pascal & Pearce, Crazy White Boy, Das Kapital and more.
Tonight caught up with Rage Festival director at G&G Productions, Will McIntyre, to learn more about the line-up and what can be expected from the fest. Rage has been immensely successful over the years and seems to be one of the most anticipated student parties each year. What makes it different from other fests in the country?
“I think it’s the energy of the market. These kids have spent their last 12 years studying and being enclosed and kinda not free. Now they’re 18 and come to Rage and pretty much explode. Their energy that comes across… is great and …and there’s just so much freedom that comes out during the party. It’s also special for them because for most of them, it’s their first time away from their parents and for the first time in the lives, they get to be left alone for a week to celebrate responsibly and enjoy the end of their school years,” he explains.
Of the line-up, McIntyre says it grows each year: “The Rage line-up has never been one where we try to get the big names. We prefer to build around a line-up for the different types of ears. I think, for me, Rage is about what we can do with the different clubs that are running simultaneously. It’s a week with matrics and I like to book artists the kids have never heard of before so once they see them, they can open their minds to that. We like to book three big names, but we also got a lot of smaller names in dub step, techno, deep house and so on. That helps us… cater for different segments. And the locals… there’s amazing talent and different genres, so we bring them all into the fest and create that education process. A lot of our market has come out of matric and never really clubbed, they pretty much only hear commercial music, so we like to get different genres and construct our line-up. If we wanna grow as a brand, it’s important to diversify.”
• Catch Rage Festival from November 28 – December 6 in Durban and Ballito. Rage passports available at www.ragefestival.co.za.