It was a mission to the sun...where the sun sets late during the summer.
Planning a trip is always exciting and nerve racking at
times. Planning to go to Up The Creek aka UTC takes a few months planning. It
starts with dates of the festival then the plane tickets and then how you get
there to UTC and back.
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| The River - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
This year was a little different; I travelled alone from
Nelspruit to Cape Town. Wednesday 30 January I had a 6AM shuttle to catch to
Pretoria. From there it was a short visit to my aunt and uncle who took me to
Lanseria. It was my first time at this airport and loved it. Much smaller than
OR Thambo and they have free coffee! Who doesn't like free coffee?
I’m a bit of a nervous flyer but I made it through a bumpy
flight. Landing in Cape Town I was greeted by Werner, Lee, Adriaan and Michael
and off we went to the boys house in Muizenberg. Now let me explain this non
Cape Townains how far Muizenberg is from the city. Imagine driving the distance
between Nelspruit and White River every day with loads of traffic, like Gauteng
traffic. Arriving at the house which 3 of the boys share with one cool husky named Dante, we had a much needed drink and chill out.
The next morning it was up and ready, the trailer was packed
and we were off to pick up 3 more friends. Robby had to work still so he and
Dylan only joined us at UTC on Friday night. The van now filled with 8 friends
chatting away from Cape Town to Swellendam. It’s about a 2 – 3 hour drive, one
road we took we drove along the beach. White sandy beach with the ocean tri-blue colored waves, what an amazing sight it was. With a leg stretch at
a farm stall named Dassiesfontein the other two girls, Chantel and Annie, found
the leather department in the store and they were trying on some of their
shoes. You can take the girl out of the city but…it was fun to watch them
decide which vellie looked better.
Arriving at UTC gates was a colorful and happy event. 4th Street Wines was the main sponsor this year and there was a lot of pink
everywhere. Pink wigs, pink shirts, pink banners, pink wine bottles…very colorful After greeting, checking in, banded and our camp site was allocated along came the task to set up our little tribe of tents. The wind was super
strong, the ground as hard as concrete and all added up to make setting up
tents harder.
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| MC Peter "The Scot" Mitchell - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
Being my first year not working at the festival I found myself at times wanting to go onto shift or do something with my free time other than partying…wait…who wants to work when you can jol? This year the ‘bar stage’ aka Rolling Stone stage was where the main stage used to be years ago. Saintfearless, The Swingsetters (a 7 piece band and they play swing style music), ISO, Piet Botha, the Lyzyrd Kyngs, Tombstone Pete (awesome dude!) and Dave Ferguson was on their stage Friday night. The Titanic’s was amazing you always remember you first taste of the Titanic. The Iceberg changed as well in taste but I didn't enjoy it last year and didn't enjoy it this year. The only complaint I heard from the people around me is the option of beer. Mitchell’s breweries which is situated in Knysna was the only beer available. The beer for me in taste wasn't that great and it was kind of disappointing not to have another beer available but I understand where the organizers are coming from. However Hunters Gold/Dry and Savanna was on sale and that saved the day. Of course 4th Street Wines was wine available and I have to admit I bought my own red wine, sorry 4th Street.
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| Dave Ferguson ft Tombstone Pete - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| Tombstone Pete - what a cool guy - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| Some Creekers - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
After the first night came the mission down to the river.
The stage was built on the sand bank almost in the middle of the river. Every
year it changes and I could see this is going to be a real party. All the food
stalls was great, the people running them friendly and willing to help fill
your hunger. This set up has also changed from last year, it was more spread
out and there was a lot more choices other than your normal burgers and
toasties. I had bunny chow, burgers, toasties, spaghetti, lasagna and nachos
which was the best stuff I ever ate. And don't forget the coffee, coffee is very important to any good festival.
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| Vodka and Coffee goes together like music and fans - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| VW Kombi Tent - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photograph |
We had drinks under a shady tent on Friday with Dave Ferguson.
He does an amazing set with a loop machine, a funky sounding mic and a whole
case of different harmonicas. Also caught up with the twins of Akkedis (whose
birthdays fell over UTC weekend), old friends SAARKIE was also there. Friday
night was a full girl line up on the main stage. SAARKIE was first and made the
boys fall in love with them "I don't know their music but I love the band" was one comment. I watched Tailor and wow what a talent we have here. I was
in awe with her show and the light guys did her show justice. She sang all her
hits like “Wolf” and “Indian” – if you can see her live then go watch it. You
will not be disappointed.
After her show SAARKIE, Tailor, Shotgun Tori, Lucy Kruger
and couple of other girls stepped onto stage and sang Janis Joplin song “Piece of my heart” and Four Non Blondes “Whats Up?” this got everyone on their
feet, these girls made us sing like it was our last supper and Adele of SAARKIE
is the female version of Jimi Hendrix. I have huge respects for all the girls
of music on our scene, we have some great amazing ladies doing their thing and
some will go unnoticed.
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| Tailor - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| Tailor - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| Adele Fouche of SAARKIE - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| Adele Fouche of SAARKIE - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| Some of the girls singing for their supper - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
I didn’t get to see Machinery but I did watch BEAST, the
band with two bassists (Louis Nel & Rian Zitsmann of Taxi Violence), Sasha
Righini of The Plastics as the drummer and Inge Beckmann of Lark on vocals. What an
amazing show it was! Wow! Then Robby and Dylan joined us and as they say the
rest is rock ‘n roll history. Also saw some of Karen Zoid performance and she
is a veteran in our rock industry. After her show the memory is a bit blurry
but I do remember having some bad tasting Jugermeister with Dylan at the bar.
Never the less it was an amazing night and waking up the next morning was hard. Baking in your tent at 06:30 in the morning is not a lot of fun and I got up for a much needed cool down shower. For a Saturday morning there wasn't a shower que at all and soon I felt refreshed for the river day ahead.
Never the less it was an amazing night and waking up the next morning was hard. Baking in your tent at 06:30 in the morning is not a lot of fun and I got up for a much needed cool down shower. For a Saturday morning there wasn't a shower que at all and soon I felt refreshed for the river day ahead.
Saturday early morning we heard the river started to rise a
bit from all the rain that the area had received before UTC.
Where the stage was it wasn’t in too much danger however splashing was out of the question. Walking down the road you just hit with the wave of colorful lilo’s, umbrellas, beach tents, BOS Tea umbrellas, van and the BOS Tea slippy slide. I won a lilo from Lilo web design (a nice green colored one) and in the river we went. No One’s Arc was on around 12:30 and I haven’t seen them live since they moved to Cape Town.
Currently the members are only Dylan, Robby and Lee but for this gig they got the two brass playing muso’s of Captain Stu. No One’s Arc brought it and we loved it, they played well known tunes like “Days of make believe”, “UFO” and “Paved in gold” but also played 3 brand new tunes and for their fans up here, you are in for a treat when you hear them.
In between the bar, the river bank and the stage I enjoyed Grassy Spark a lot as well. It was very cool to sit and watch people jump up and down in the river to the beat of the show. The sun was blazing hot and sun screen was a big must, a good excuse to wear my only NOA shirt the whole day so the sun wouldn't fry me like a KFC chicken piece. Around 3PM we were all pretty much tired of being in the sun and drinking too much interesting drinks with BOS tea in. A well deserve snooze to give us all energy for the rest of the night was in order and with the sun baking it wasn’t easy.
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| The River Fun! - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
Where the stage was it wasn’t in too much danger however splashing was out of the question. Walking down the road you just hit with the wave of colorful lilo’s, umbrellas, beach tents, BOS Tea umbrellas, van and the BOS Tea slippy slide. I won a lilo from Lilo web design (a nice green colored one) and in the river we went. No One’s Arc was on around 12:30 and I haven’t seen them live since they moved to Cape Town.
Currently the members are only Dylan, Robby and Lee but for this gig they got the two brass playing muso’s of Captain Stu. No One’s Arc brought it and we loved it, they played well known tunes like “Days of make believe”, “UFO” and “Paved in gold” but also played 3 brand new tunes and for their fans up here, you are in for a treat when you hear them.
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| Dylan Bolton of No One's Arc - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| Photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| Photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| Sometimes the photographer catches you in your surprise element - photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| Photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
In between the bar, the river bank and the stage I enjoyed Grassy Spark a lot as well. It was very cool to sit and watch people jump up and down in the river to the beat of the show. The sun was blazing hot and sun screen was a big must, a good excuse to wear my only NOA shirt the whole day so the sun wouldn't fry me like a KFC chicken piece. Around 3PM we were all pretty much tired of being in the sun and drinking too much interesting drinks with BOS tea in. A well deserve snooze to give us all energy for the rest of the night was in order and with the sun baking it wasn’t easy.
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| Jeremy Loops 'cause he is so cool - photo courtesy Damien Schumann via UTC FB Page |
With a loop machine it takes a few moments to set up the
songs that we know and love and what is cool about Jeremy he interacts with the
crowd asking us to clap a certain way to record it and use it for his songs.
Some things did go a little out of a place, there was a beach ball going around
in the crowd and what caught me was if lands on stage it’s going to be fuck up…and
it did land on stage. Jeremy was as cool as an ice cube in a glass of coke and ask
polity to keep the ball off stage. With my favorite song “My Shoes” featuring
M.O the stage lights went out, however the sound stayed. And M.O brought it! He
was such a cool guy jumping on the speaker boxes, doing his part with the loop
machine and almost at the end of the song did the lights come back on and the
crowd went wild. Also Jamie who features on saxophone on his song "Mission to the sun" he was really amazing on that stage, memories for life. After the show I went up to Jeremy and M.O and they are such
cool people to chat to! Spoke about my mission from Nelspruit to Swellendam, my
copy of his EP comes all the way from Mieliepop Festival and yes I got mine
signed.
After Jeremy I took a stroll to my tent for some wine and my
pack of strepsils, a flu was coming I was feeling it much like the rain on the horizon. The December Streets was on stage when I rejoined the crowd and the boys have really grown up. Tristan used his brand new guitar for this show and
they kept the crowd at their feet. They played a few new songs like "So Fine", old favorites like "Fire through a window" and "My Name" and they did their cover version of Mumford and Sons “Little Lion Man”. And to
hear the crowd sing it back was just one of those memories I will always keep
in my head, wish that Mumford and Sons will get their little folk asses down
here in South Africa so that we can show them some real lions. I also did catch
Desmond and the Tutu’s live while I was having my dinner and even though I like
their vibe I’m not sure if I liked the show. They are great people that I
quickly shook hands with but never the less I’m listening to their Sound Cloud
tracks right now.
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| The Black Cat Bones - Photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| - Photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
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| - Photo courtesy of Royal Lens Photography |
Black Cat Bones finally had the honor to play at a decent
time and on the main stage at UTC for the first time. Supporting a Shotgun Tori
wooded crow badge on his jacket, Kobus “Rot” de Kock Jnr did the jumping from the first
second till the last riff. Andre Kriel on guitar is of course a master in his
own right and love their energy on stage. A lot of people tend to think the
Bones are as craze off stage as they are
on but only if you give them enough alcohol…It was the first time I didn't lay
in my tent hoping to hear the Bones after a grilling day behind the bar so it
was a kick ass show to watch. Rot with all his party tricks, I’m surprised he didn't wear his clown suites (however DJ Dirtroad did wear his) Piet Botha collaborated with them on a song and this is where I disappeared to in my tent
cave. I was dead on my feet from jumping up and in down in the river sand bank,
drinking like a Bergie on payday and shaking my booty.
Sunday was rainy and wet which made breaking up camp crap. Alles is nat but not in the good way…we stayed for breakfast and lunch watching Jeanie and The Beard, Dave Ferguson, Shotgun Tori, Akkedis and last but not least The Lyzyrd Kyngs. I was so tired and sick that I couldn't think straight but enjoyed every last moment with my friends at yet another Up The Creek. The long drive home felt shorter with the weather and an early night was in order for my flights back home.
Sunday was rainy and wet which made breaking up camp crap. Alles is nat but not in the good way…we stayed for breakfast and lunch watching Jeanie and The Beard, Dave Ferguson, Shotgun Tori, Akkedis and last but not least The Lyzyrd Kyngs. I was so tired and sick that I couldn't think straight but enjoyed every last moment with my friends at yet another Up The Creek. The long drive home felt shorter with the weather and an early night was in order for my flights back home.
I have few special memories of this year and I’m going to
share them with you:
- Feeding my good friend Jose (aka Ronald) Southern Comfort and coke after he finished a 12 hour shift and then going into the mosh pit with him while Taxi and friends was playing late night.
- Seeing the smile on No One’s Arc faces when people started singing "Days of Make Believe" with them. Somehow they seem to have gotten better and better now since their move down to the Cape, a lot more laid back vibe and their new music is really awesome.
- Laying in my tent on Saturday night and hear DJ Dirtroad play bands like Queen and hearing the drunken crowd singing back the words of “ Bohemian Rhapsody”.
UTC is really for the true music fans, you don’t have to get or be technical, you don’t have to have all the artists on your Facebook Likes or even know any of their songs. There will be people who will happy to show and introduce you to the bands. Plus why not make a turn in the Cape? Do you really need an excuse? If you want to know how much it cost me then give me a shout on email or if you think you want to join in the craze festival going hippies and rockers then please the more the merrier.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Rudi of Royal Lens Photography for letting me use his awesome photos and congrats on surviving your first Up The Creek, will see you at the next show. Please go LIKE his page to see more of his amazing photos.
Another thank you to my craze friends without you festivals will suck big time, glitter bombs won't be there and neither will a missing bottle of vodka. Thank you also to Werner for all your help friend, good luck in Cape Town!
Oh PS - please go to MK website and vote for Jeremy Loops, Shotgun Tori, Black Cat Bones and Up The Creek in their nominations sectors. The more votes the better for them to get more performances out there for you, the fans because they won awards for their hard work.
Till the next one!
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