Innibos every year it builds up like a summer storm in the
Highveld. You see the clouds, you feel the electricity in the air the wind in
your hair. You know it’s coming especially if it’s been a hot humid day. Just
like a storm Innibos build up, changed the energy around town, it rained with
arts, music, laughter, good red wine and then just disappeared. Poof. Just like
that.
Wednesday 26 June
All I can say I was really super excited almost like a
teenager at a pool party. My evening started off at the KMIA stage where our
very own mysterious Quintero, a Spanish guitar player, was playing. But he
wasn’t the only one I went to watch, his lovely wife and the copy editor of
this blog joined him on stage with her demji (that is a drum). Red wine per
bottle went for R30, Drostdy Hof and that wine tasted very good.
After their gig it was a walk to the MK Stage which is
situated this year at the netball courts. This is behind the main pavilion and
what a good spot it is. The last few years the stage was set up at the bottom
of the festival and by the time Saturday night came it was a marsh land. The
bar staff are friendly and a shout out to Marikie who looked after my bottle of
wine. The stage area don’t allow any glass since it’s on the courts, broken
glass leads to cut feet or hands.
Ekhouvanjou,okay! Was on stage and it was their very last
performance. To be honest it was cool in the beginning but the fifth song I was
bored. Respect to these young upcoming musicians and good luck to them in the
future ventures but it wasn’t for me. Next was Tailor, I got all my friends to
watch her and they all became fans. Her performance as always left me
breathless and I still get goose flesh just thinking of the show. “Indian”,
“Shape like a gun” and few new songs left everyone in awe. After a double shot
tequila it was Die Tuindwergies, I haven’t seen them since Avontoer and it was
good to catch up with them musical and personal life wise. Of course their fans
from Pretoria were enjoying the show as well and after a few songs Pieter took
off his shirt. Half naked rock star on stage = awesomeness.
Straatligkinders didn’t see me but their fans told me their
show was epic. I was walking around a bit on the main field but sneaked back up
to the MK stage. After a last drink it was homeward bound, it was after all a
“school night”
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| Tailor at Innibos 2013 - photo credit Vasti Lourens |
Performance of the night: Tailor hands down
Thursday 27 June
Fighting not only a sleep babelas but a red wine babelas the
whole day I took it easy my second night. Arriving again at MK stage I was sad
to see how empty it was at 6pm, I though the kids are on holiday? Quickly found
my friends at the bar and we moved onto the main field leaving One Crown behind
on the stage. I don’t know how to explain Innibos to those who have never been
here so here I go.
Imagine your old high school, the rugby field got a massive
stage and an audience circle basically the whole field. Along the field you get
a few food stallers (the first of many), a Klipdrift beer tent and then two
more beer tents with a smaller stage smack in the middle of those. The main
stage of course has big TV screens to show off who is the main cat on stage at
that time. Then you get the hockey field that is filled with its own Bosmall, hundreds of stallers selling
anything from art works, frames, clothes, Gooi Mielies shirts, toys, socks,
olives – you name it. No china stuff most of these products are handmade.
After a walk around the bosmall
it was back up to MK for The Centrefolds which was actually quite cool would
like to see a full show. SAARKIE was next and the girls rocked the stage. Adele
guitar solos made us scream for more. Then Jan Blohm and I’m so glad to see
that his fans filled the front stage very quickly. I was busy catching up with
my good mate Porra of MK about the Avontoer days and his future plans (congrats
again friend). Then SAARKIE found me and met their new bassist, Jagers were drunk,
beers were filled up and it was catching up since UTC.
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| Jan Blohm - photo credit Vasti Lourens |
After Jan, Freshlyground was on the main stage and we
mission down to the main stage. SAARKIE had to play another show at the Huletts
tents so they missed out. It is my second time I’ve seen Freshlyground and it
was the performance of the evening for me. Black, white we all dancing and
singing together. Zolani who were highly pregnant rocked it, baby bump and all.
They were the perfect band to finish off yet another night of fantastic music.
My friends and I walked down to the rides and yes some of them went on some
craze stuff, I’m too chicken.
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| Freshlyground on the Standard Bank Main Stage - photo credit Lowveld Get It |
Slow and easy we missioned home because the next night was
Black Cat Bones, ISO and aKING!
Performance of the night: Freshlyground
Friday 28 June
I felt fine for another late night and at 6pm I got to the
gates. Entering and exiting the festival terrain was very easy and quick. The
festival this year didn’t provided arm bands but rather a slip, almost like a
till slip that security scans at the gate and off you go. Thank you again to
the sponsor of my ticket, it was well used.
The MK stage was not so full yet and I knew that by the time
the Black Cat Bones had to play it will be fuller. This called for a chance to walk around
a bit properly with my good mate Linda. The Bosmall provided lots of
entertainment and as it goes with a small town you know a lot of people. We did
see a few famous actors and musicians walking around but that is Innibos for
you. What I always find interesting is how people react to these famous faces
when they see them. They either speechless or ask for photos and hugs. Or the people
who are like “Oh that’s cool” and move onto the next stall.
After killing time it was back at MK and I bumped into
Jason, Chris, Andre and Kobus of Black Cat Bones. I had a chat to Chris while he was
wearing his “Jakkals” on his head about his trip to The Download festival. It
was good to have them back in town and they all said the same thing to me “It’s
wired to be in Nelspruit self instead of sitting at Blue Moon” yes it was. But
for us who work at Blue Moon it was our first stress free Innibos year since
Blue Moon made the decision not to do anything this year.
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| Chris with the Jakkals hat along with Vasti - photo credit Vasti Lourens |
ISO – oh my goodness their show was way better than their Up The Creek slot and a lot people were surprising singing along with them. Not
sure how many of those fans were locals but it seemed that everyone enjoyed it
– confetti and all. ISO is a visual and musical performing band, one that has
come a long way. I hope Nelspartans support their music more often, who knows
they might come down sometime.
Never the less the Black Cat Bones rocked everybody in front
of that stage. I overheard a lot of people who watched them for the first time
and their response – what a fantastic band! I hope to see the next BCB show in
Nelspruit to be a massive success because these boys are really entertainers.
Next was my favourite of the day, aKING and sjoe what a show. Laudo and the
boys really gave it their all and sang almost all the songs from Dutch Courage
and some of The Red Blooded Years albums. We didn’t want them to end the show
because it was that good and it was a craze party.
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| Laudo Liebenberg of aKING - photo credit Marley of STM |
Since it was Friday night I could stay up all night long (it
certainly felt that way) and the after party was at Stoep with Mel Botes and
Marcato. The place was packed except the crap came in form of entrance fee
which was not advertised. So after precaution we got in and enjoyed the music
till very late into the night.
Performance of the night: aKING & Black Cat Bones – both
had the energy of the crowd to go on for the rest of the night
Saturday 29 June
Sleep how I welcomed you especially when you don’t have your
phone waking you up. After a cup of good coffee and breakfast I got ready to
tackle Innibos and just after 2pm I walked through the gates. It was the last
day of the festival and it was good to meet up with friends you haven’t seen in
forever like fellow seerower Jaco van der Watt. It was his birthday on 30 June
(Happy Birthday buddy) and it for all the other friends, even my American
friend – good to see you all.
Meeting up with STM fan, Vasti and her cousin Christi at the
KMIA stage we watched the talented Luna Paige give a marvellous performance. I
got to watch how 3 tiger cubs play, you can check out Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre website for information on their tiger program. After the cute tigers
and Luna we walked around looking for something to snack on, time to line that
stomach for what is to come. Chicken strips and chips won and I must say it was
delicious, just what we needed. While Vasti wanted to watch a band perform at
the Vodacom stage, Christi and I made our way up to the MK stage for a much
more relaxing atmosphere. We watched One Crown do a sound check while sitting
in the shade of a tree on the grass. It felt like we were at total different
festival instead of Innibos, something we both love doing – going to other
festivals. We also watched Jack Parow do his sound check and the crowd gather
quickly in front of the stage for him. He brought his full band and it was his
bassist last gig with him. I must say it was way more fun to see his complete
band with him this time round even if its zef
rap.
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| The fur rock stars that stole many hearts |
Vasti and her husband joined us and he decided that it was
time to take the 3 girls on a pub crawl
the only difference is that it’s at different tents. The first choice was MK
bar and we bought some beer for the road. The second stop was the Jagermeister
truck for some Jugeries as Doc Barry would say – we got orange flowers for our
effort. After making our way through the jelly thick crowd we were at the
Windhoek tent, here we had Caramel flavoured Smirnoff we got 4 shot glasses.
Then we walked over to the Castle tent and there we got KISS. It was the first
time I had KISS shots and it tasted a lot like Love Potion (a spirit of a few
years ago) – we got to keep the test tubes it came in. Then Vasti wanted some
pan cakes and while we waited for her we sat on a hill and watched the crowd
moving in between the bosmall. After
pancakes we were in the Huletts tent which was at the bosmall and here we had some apple sours, strawberry lips and Jager.
By this time we were on own station but walking does help, I think when you sit
still that’s when it will klap you.
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| Fun times in the Windhoek tent - photo credit Vasti |
Christi and I were amped to go to the MK stage and get a
good spot but not before we bumped into Jack Parow and DJ Naadelkoker on the
main festival terrain. Then close to the VIP area we met Albert Martiz, he is a
very well-known South African actor, one that I have always enjoyed watching. I
grew up watching Konings (which is being re-broadcasted on Tuesdays on SABC 2)
and he was the only actor I met. Yes I sound like star strucked groupie but he
is a South African idol. The MK stage was now near full, the bar lines was
super busy and it was quite a wait to get to the front for some booze.
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| Jack Parow - photo credit Vasti |
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| The legend Albert Martiz - photo credit Vasti |
Our first show was Van Coke Kartel (VCK), it’s only been a few weeks since they were here last at Blue Moon but it was great to watch their
show. They haven’t stopped gigging for the last 3 weeks and still the boys
played like it was their first gig. Many people who have not been fans of
theirs told me afterwards that it was a great show – when are they here next?
Hunter Kennedy joined them on stage for a co-lab. After VCK of course was Die Heuwels Fantasties (DHF) and I’m sitting here again with goose bumps. I think I
can never have enough Heuwels and what a show it was again. They did gather a
lot of new fans when they did the Botanical Garden show in April and those fans
rocked out. They performed not all of their hits but the crowd demanded “Leja”
which was provided for. “Pille vir Kersfees” was the other crowd pleaser,
Pierre said “Hierdie volgende enetjie is een van my gunstelinge” and it was
“Die Volkslied”. Of course with “Klein Tambotieboom” which is their most famous
song had the crowd singing with every word as loud as possible.
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| Francois van Coke - photo credit Vasti |
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| Fred den Hartog of Die Heuwels Fantasties - photo credit Vasti |
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| Pierre Greeff of Die Heuwels Fantasties - photo credit Vasti |
I went to the back stage area just after their show to catch
up with Hunter and Pierre while Jack Parow went on stage. It was quite an
interesting site to see from the back area and how the crowd was jumping up and
down with him. Some guys did jump the stage fence but was quickly removed by
stage security. After our chat I went back to my friends and enjoyed the rest
of Jack Parow show. I don’t know what the story is between him and Steve
Hofmeyr but Jack did rap something for Steve which Jack fans cheered on. Of
course Pierre co-lab with Jack on “Tussen Stasies” while Francios van Coke
co-lab on “Hard Partyjie Hou” and “Dans, dans, dans”. It was mic swinging, hip
moving, pulling up pants energy and Jack not sporting his signature long pet
was on fire with his performance. People wanted an encore and he gave it to
them “Ek weet ek het hierdie een al gedoen maar dit is my favourite” and he did
“Hosh Tokelosh” ja die kinders se koppe
het geknak saam met hom.
Performance of the evening: Van Coke Kartel (it was a hard
choice)
I did notice one thing about the MK stage especially with
the smaller bands is the parents bring their tweens with them. I loved that
fact because it shows me that the kids have an interest in other music besides
the big guns that was on the main stage. Well done! I hope to see you more
often with the next gigs at Blue Moon and the rest of the venues.
Of course after the last chord was played at the MK stage it
was off the after parties that were happening on the field, Stoep and Upper Deck. Stoep had SAARKIE playing again and it was good to see my friends before
they leave for Pretoria again. And somewhere along the night tequila or two was
shared with a musician or three but I’m keeping quiet about that one.
Innibos your MK stage line up was an upgrade in not only in
the location but also in the line-up. We now expect this for next year and the
one after that…To my all of my friends that trusted my word of mouth and came
in numbers to the stages on different nights – I told you are going to love it.
The musicians, yes you guys with the guitars, drum kits, voices and skills
major thank you. And the awesome bar staff across the festival, you were
friendly, helpful and always eager to help us – virtual high five.
Love it! Makes me want to relive Innibos :)
ReplyDeleteAwe! Glad you liked it!
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