By
Marley
Winter got stuck in Cape Town and they had snow on Table
Mountain in case you missed it on social media. But in the Lowveld the sun
continued its promise of summer and she shined brightly over the last winter
weekend.
Blue Moon's family picnic on Spring day was opened by one of the
brightest days we had in a very long time. All the fears of a cold front
disappeared the minute we opened our bedroom curtains.
I knew that the show would be a success because between
getting ready for a wedding, attending the wedding and trying to sleep off a
slight hangover on Sunday morning my phone did not stop ringing. I changed my
What’s Up message tone because that’s how many times my phone went off as well.
Rocking up at
Blue Moon with my own personal body guard simply named
Puppy I was immediately placed behind
the bar, my old spot. With a proper wine, Okibwa, sponsoring the day I got a
new shirt. I must say the wine is not a Nederburg or Fleur de Cap but does the
job and I'm sure they received a lot more fans.
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| A beautiful day at Blue Moon |
The sun was blazing down and people who came early as
suggested set up under the pre erected umbrella’s. It was fantastic to see a lot
of families attended the Spring day, which is brilliant because families were
targeted in the marketing. During
Nakhane Toure's show a lot of little kids were running around in front of stage
skipping and hopping to the music. People sat flat on their asses during this
Eastern Cape born musician. I for one had the pleasure of seeing
Nakhane live
for the first time and everything I heard was true, he is fantastic live. He
brought a new flavour to the Moon from the first note and I hope to see him
again soon in Nelsparta.
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| Nakhane Toure |
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Nakhane Toure and Tailor at
Blue Moon Nelspruit |
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| Fabian Sing |
He knew the ropes and he and Tailor were quickly on stage.
People who saw
Tailor for the first time at this year's
Innibos made their way
to the front of the stage. And what a performance it was again, I stood with
goose flesh from the top of head to my pinkie toe. This woman is fantastic. She
played two new songs and her old favourites like
“Wolf” which had people singing
with her. Afterwards I heard a lot of people around the pine wood bar chatting
about her performance.
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| Tailor |
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| Tailor |
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| Tailor |
It was half way through the afternoon and the crowds seemed
to relax more and more. The sun moved, casting a shadow over most of the
concrete sitting area.
Matthew Mole with his beautiful smile got ready for his
show, and the girls flocked to the front like moths to a flame. He was a bit
taken aback that Nelspartans sang some of his lyrics back to him on songs like
"Simple Child" and
"Autumn". Obviously
there were fans among the crowd. Even though he lost his place because he got
overwhelmed he still kept his cool and continued with the song. I think
everything we ever said about back track artists flew out of the window during
this show.
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| Matthew Mole and his beautiful smile |
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| Matthew Mole |
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Jeremy Loops and Matthew Mole
at Blue Moon Nelspruit |
Matthew was the prefect warm up for
Jeremy Loops. As I
walked up to the bar I bumped into Jeremy and I gave him a feather I had made
him. He told me that his previous one was stolen! Really? Why steal Jeremy's
feather? That is just silly. But he was very pleased with his feather and off
he went to set up on stage. People who saw Jeremy at Mieliepop, Oppikoppi,
Splashy Fen and the few Nelspartans that knew him from
Up The Creek flocked
down to the stage. With young and old mixing together they all united for
Jeremy's set. He kicked it off with a new song from his EP “Tiding you over”
followed by the very popular
“Power”. Later on
Jeremy said he was amazed that a
place as far as Nelspruit knew every single word to the song.
“My Shoes” with
Moko was just the right thing to get the ladies dancing seeing as the song is
about ladies. And how cool is his YouTube hit
“Mission to the sun howlin’”. The
crowd howled with
Jeremy on every single loop. Another song that got stuck in
my head was
“Higher Stakes” (not the official name of the song) – a song about
a broken heart and picking yourself up by moving on. It’s lyrics are sad but
it’s beat is alive and makes you move something you won’t normally move for a
heartbreaking song.
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| Crowd Howlin' for Jeremy Loops |
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| Jamie Faull on saxophone |
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| Jeremy Loops |
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| Jeremy taking a photo of the Blue Moon crowd |
As the sun set over the Nelspruit valley and Jeremy, along
with
Jamie on saxophone and Moko the cool cat rapper, his set had to come to an
end. The crowd was still in high and 3
encores later most fans were satisfied, and it was back to the bar for me. But
as
Blue Moon goes that’s usually when the real party starts and I gave
Matthew
something that you can only find at the Moon – Blue Moon specials. Yes a
shooter that was invented amongst us and it is something that the non-tequila
drinkers like. I think I made like 30 of those in 2 hours because he fed it to
everyone thereafter. Soon the bar emptied out, the fans went home, the muso’s
went down to the chalets for dinner and it was all quiet on the mountain. The
party did however continue with Blue Moon’s
newest family members and I’m sure it would have continued till the next
morning if it was a Saturday night.
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From the crowd up -
Jeremy Loops at Blue Moon |
As always,
Blue Moon: the party was like the old days. I saw
many new faces and some regulars too. To those who didn’t come: man guys you
really missed out on a season changing party. To the team at Blue Moon: we all
worked hard at driving the marketing, the fun, the sweat and all the other details
that go unseen by the public. It was fun as always and thank you. To all the
musicians: take a bow because without you the day would have been empty. Oh,
and welcome to all the new members of the
BM family. Now maybe some of you can
understand where
Up The Creek gets its inspiration from.
A special shout out to
Vasti Lourens and Rudi of
Royal Lens Photography who are always kind enough to let me share their photos. Please give
them your support too and go like them on Facebook. Also make sure to check out
Underground Press for the latest in SA music
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