By Marley
Yes I'm going out of my head as I have
so much to report back on that it will take two cups of coffee just to read
this.
June was an extremely busy month with
not only
Blue Moon but also that big ass festival named
Innibos having hit Nelsparta again. It was also
my birthday and the blog got a new editor forthwith
known as Mister Bean on account of his funny appearance. Welcome, dude.
Let's rewind back to June 1. It was the
last weekend hanging out with locals
No One's Arc. They went looking for greener
pastures in the Mother City. They were joined by the Michael Stry Trio,
Newton's 2nd Law and
City of Heroes at The Free Concert that was
hosted by
Blue Moon and
Riverside Mall. I missed Michael, but managed to catch a bit of
Newton's
2nd Law, and I can definitely vouch for them. Keep an eye out.
Meanwhile bright fairy lights and little stalls kept people busy. Coke was also handing out
soft-drink vouchers. Meanwhile patrons of Spur and Mediterrean got a free show.
City of Heroes are not only handsome, but throw together some decent
in-your-face rock too, which is needed sometimes. Needless to say
NOA had
the crowd going, jumping up and down to stay warm and party like Armageddon was
coming at dawn.
The after party happened at Jock and my
memory gets a bit foggy after that round, but Simi managed to drive us home and
took a welcome crash on my pillows.
The next day my partner in crime
informed me that she was not able to drive with me up to Hazyview for the
Summerhill 4x4 Day anymore, so I started scrambling for a lift. Finally MB came
through as my saviour and I had the honour to drive up with the guys of
NOA. It was my first
time at Summerhill and of course the atmosphere was very
Lowveld. A trip to the bar revealed a good stock of wine and a bottle was
shared between myself and the Captain. On the bill were Quintero, My Aching Monotone
and, off course,
No One's Arc. At first I didn't think that rugby jocks were
going to stick around for them but they proved me wrong and the crowd had an
awesome time.
In between that weekend and the time
rolling up to Innibos and
By Die Maan, gigs were few and far between, and
humble in attendance. I stayed true to the Sunday Pappa's Pizza tradition now and
my only weekend off was with my birthday where we partied like pirates. I took
me a whole week to recover. Good
memories.
By Die Maan was where it was happening the
weekend of 29 June. The line-up at Innibos's MK Stage was not so lekker but
Blue
Moon however threw together a show which kicked dust in their eyes.
With the likes of Shadowclub,
The December Streets,
The
Black Cat Bones (with surprise guest
Gareth
Wilson of
Southern
Gypsey Queen),
City of Heroes,
City
Bowl Mizers,
Saintfearless and many more, there was simply no
other place to be.
Personally, I was excited about seeing
two long-lost seerowers who I were with on
Avontoer.
Off course, seeing the guys of
December Streets and
BCB
was wonderful too. The Moon looked awesome
with 4th Street Wines being one of the biggest sponsors. And the electrying
atmoshpere promised a good show ahead.
The
December Streets were one of the bands that were first timers at
Blue
Moon (although not the first time dealing with us crazies of BM).
Their set was amazing, they played some of their new
tunes of their new album (which is avalible online and soon in the shops). Poor
Waldo (trumpet player) was
fighting a bad flu but he pulled
through.
The Black Cat Bones, off course, was off the wall
and everyone joined in that party. I did see some of our new bar staff thinking it was one of the
wierdest bunch of people they have ever laid eyes on. Well, you can't please
everyone all the time.
Saintfearless struck me
like a lighting bolt. I saw them at the
Groot Gees Rock Fees in Stilbaai on 31 December 2011 and, man, were they good.
The party lasted till the early hours
of the morning and I managed to sleep in my car for about two and half hours.
The breakfast rush was up and running with most bands making an early start back
to Gauteng and the Western Cape. Duty calls. In the
Blue
Moon kitchen it felt like Sunday morning and the second
breath of the weekend hit when we
realised it was only Saturday. We had one more party night ahead.
After a shower and a fresh set of
clothes at home it was already after 1pm. The orginal plan was to take a chill
for the afternoon and then join the rest of the province at Innibos, I really
wanted to see Die Tuindwergies and Heuwels Fantasties. After a quick trip to a
mall to get some snacks and supplies to go
over to our good friends Damian, Linda
and the Captain (who were leaving for Cape Town that Monday) it turned into a
bull-blast party.
The sun set, Innibos's power tripped a
couple of times and we managed to braai and throw back a few OBS shots. But
Innibos never saw me on the Saturday night. Saturday night I was kissing my bed
hallo after a full week of partying, art competitions, rubbing shoulders with
celebs, seerowers, fair-wells, stinky dogs
and classical music being blasted at
6AM. Yup, sleep was quite welcome.
Sunday was a lazy day of recovery and
Pappas was dead so just this once I broke tradition and went to a mate instead
to watch the Sunday night movie. June flew past, it was on of those months that I
will always remember and it was a month that felt it should have never ended.
So far in July I went to Dullstroom for
the first time in my life for the
Winterfest. I won't write too much about it, but
what I will say is that I want to make the whole weekend next year. I
managed to get caught up with the whole
SGQ
band and a very old familiar face to the Blue Moon family, Albert Frost.
Thanks again to Pedro Barbosa of Mrs. B
who hosted two rockers for dinner, let us sleep on the floor of his rented
B andB room and showing us an amazing time in Dullstroom.
If you are in Cape Town on 20 July get
your sexy ass over to
Zula
Bar in Long Street for
No One's Arc first gig as a
Capetonian band with
Captain
Stu (That'll be going down in the record
book of epic parties, for sure). In Nelspruit Glaskas is returning to have
another party, yes the boys from Pretoria will be releasing their brand
new album on the 27th of July at Owersig Hall in Nelsparta (it's close to that
place we "shall-not-name"), you can call Niel on 072 117 6477 for more
info.
In the month of August keep an eye out
for that dude in the long hat wat van hard partytjie hou -
Jack
Parow. He'll be performing with
Gazelle
and
RadioKalahari Orkes at
Blue Moon on the 3rd of August (tickets on sale right now at Look
& Listen Nelspruit in Riverside Mall, Grove Superspar and
www.ticketbreak.co.za).
Then on the 9th of August (yes it's a public
holiday) Blue Moon presents The
Parlatones in their Picnic in the Garden series with supporting acts Saarkie
and Ice Project, tickets are on sale right now at Look and Listen Nelspruit in
Riverside Mall, The Grove Superspar and on
www.ticketbreak.co.za.
This will be a great event in celebrating all our beautiful woman from South Africa with
a little sunshine, a little good music and most importantly family time.
And for what its worth I don't think
there will be any problems with the sound this round, if it there is I will
drink 30 shots of tequila...over the course of an evening.
If you live close to
Graskop or you are in the mood for a different
party then get up to
Camibiro restaurant for some tequila, rock and
roll and good quility people. Sundays in
Kaapchehoop provide acoustic music from local muso's (R 25 entrance
fee) at
Bohemia
Groove Cafe. Pappa's Pizza in Nelpsruit on Sundays,
off course, still provides free live
music and it seems this is getting more popular everytime I go there.
Kokkepelli's in White River also offers live music on Sundays (they have good red
wine).
AgterStoep have small gigs in the form of Open
Mic nights and live music Friday nights and a great atmosphere.
So don't tell me after reading that
line-up you don't have anything to do in the area.
Speak to you soon, rockers!
Peace
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