Woodstock is dead. Long live Lucky Fish! This year, the production company behind Woodstock, Authentic Ideas, introduces the inaugural Lucky Fish Festival, with over 80 bands and 50 DJs.
It takes place from Thursday October 2 until Sunday October 5 at the brand-new Route 28 Resort just outside of Westonaria, Gauteng - about 50km from Joburg central. People from the Free State and KZN will also attend.
Party up a storm to top bands like Cassette, Fuzigish, Josie Fields, The Narrow and Myepic. Also on the list are old timers Dave Owens, Pestroy as well as Paul E Flynn and The Seeds of Doubt.
Aside from the music, the fest will feature several other seeds of fun: comedy, live anime screenings, playstation trailers, beer gardens and The Bose Dance Village which is billed as a festival within a festival.
Dance fans can expect "to find the best underground music Joburg has to offer". There will be everything to keep a trance hippy happy: a main dance floor, a chill zone, bonfires, fire breathers, jugglers, a flea market and DJs with names such as Seb Otage, Digital Dream Killer, Twelv & Thesis and Tek*Tonal. The people will trip up a storm in that area.
Then there is the Castle Rock Bar hosted by the Rock Bar in Melville. The Durex Ultimate Battle, with 10 top local bands, will take place there. The winner will headline a slot at the fest and receive R10 000. Here the more hardcore bands will perform: Misericord, Haggis and Bong, Juggernaut and Thunder Fist 2000 are just some of the entertainment for the metal masses.
For comedy fans, Lucky Fish presents the Durex Live to Love Lounge, featuring Mel Miller and rising comedian Vittorio Leonardi, among others.
Hip-hop heads are welcomed with the Urban Entropy Precinct, which will be situated in the heart of the Extreme Sports Zone. Here hip-hop will play alongside drum 'n bass, breakbeat, beat poetry, boys and everything else that caters for the hey-shoowow brigade. Hamma and Zubz are the only big names in this attempt at discovering really, really underground artists.
Finally, Lucky Fish will be the first fest with a convenience store. It will stock all the things we left at home - tissues, sun block, matches etc. There will be an ATM as well as food and merchandising stalls.
Gates open at noon on Thursday. Half-day tickets available for Saturday from 8pm at R150. Tickets vary between R200 to R300 at Computicket.
Gauteng is not the only province that will host a festival next weekend. The third annual Rocking the Daisies goes down at Cloof Wine Estate, Darling, from Friday to Sunday. Due to its beautiful location, this festival is one to attend. Their headline act is Eagle Eye Cherry as well as Cape Town biggies aKING, Bed on Bricks and The Dirty Skirts. Tickets: between R320 and R370 at Levis stores in the Western Cape.
In KZN, the White Mountain Folk Festival starts today and runs until Sunday. Like Rock the Daisies, it is also in its third year, but unlike the Cape fest the music is acoustic style. The setting: White Mountain Lodge in the foothills of the Giant's Castle Nature Reserve, 34km from Estcourt on tarred roads.
The line-up: Tree63's John Ellis, Syd Kitchen and Roly Struckmeyer, Prime Circle, Maisha, Black Cat Bone, Cabins in the Forest and Laurie Levine. Other attractions: abseiling, fishing and hiking.
Tickets: at Game stores (R350) and Computicket (R400) and at (R400) and at the festival gate (R450). Children under 12 pay R50 - tickets at the gate only. Price includes camping for the entire fest. Info: www.whitemountain.co.za or call Pedro on 082-892-6176.