They’ve blocked embedding for the 7 day video so here’s one of those silly vids with just the music

What is my point you may be asking. I have been made aware of visit to our fair shores. A look through the tours list on their website lists a show at Boschendal wine estate, the location of last year’s Synergy Live. They’ll also be playing at Emmerentia Dam but I don’ really give a damn about that.

Pick out the important one

This is band who’ve played pretty much every festival in the UK and all their scheduled European shows are sold out over a month in advance. so we know that they’re worth seeing live. Take a look at this clip from Glastonbury Fest:

Pretty Decent

When we click the link to buy tickets for the show we get taken to the Synergy Live page which at the time of writing gives us a rather useless countdown clock, backing track of Prime Circle and some crap about details coming soon. I can only assume after putting this info together that this means that Feeder will be playing at Synergy. Until they actually put up a proper website that means the only band we know is playing Synergy is Feeder. Guess who’s gonna be buying one of those early birds when they become available. I had enough fun last year that I was going to anyway to be honest

That ‘s me done babbling for today.

Thanks Nick J for the tipoff

Gather Round Hippies, Gather Round

In previous years Rocking the Daisies has had no competition. It’s the first festival of the summer. It was the only large festival till February-March. It provided, for many, the only opportunity to commit dirty deeds in a tent. Dirty deeds in tents are one of my many vices so I packed my tent and condoms and headed up. While I enjoyed it, and the dirty deeds, I only really went because it was the only festival I could attend. I was never really impressed with the lineup of bands who I could see most weekends at the Purple Turtle or Zula for the princely rate of  R30 for 3-4 bands. In extreme cases I might be called upon to part with R40 to see them at Assembly. Holy Shit! That’s expe… oh ya, pretty fucking cheap. The crowning achievement of the lineup  was Goldfish, who’s music doesn’t appeal to me anyway.

Everyone is sitting. Not good.

Now however Synergy Live has entered the scene offering a lineup I actually want to see, I could still see most of the bands on Friday night  but at least it’s bands that I would go to see. Just try dragging me to a jazz show and see what happens, I assure you, you’ll come off second best. Adding another nail in the coffin is Ramfest’s shift to providing a lineup and atmosphere more inviting to those who have more mainstream taste in music (COU*jocks*GH) while simultaneously increasing the alternative appeal. The organisers of Ramfest claim that they intend for Ramfest to become the best festival in SA and they’re doing pretty well. This year’s lineup contained bands I didn’t expect to see ever; Pendulum are massive international hits, Boo! broke up years ago. The rest of the lineup included a huge number of bands from across the country. Their only real competition are the large festivals up North. It is by far the best festival in Cape Town.

Notice the raised arms, these people are having the time of their lives.

A look at pricing also shows a huge discrepancy, with Daisies  weighing in just below R400 and Synergy and Ramfest staying neatly below R300. Why, you ask, does it cost so much more to throw a festival with lineup composed mostly of Cape Town bands than one with a huge number of bands coming down from across the country, an extra stage and 3 bands from foreign shores? The only possible explanation, besides a love of massive profits, is the much bragged about carbon neutral nature of the event. I don’t give a damn. I’d rather save R100 and have the rest of my money go to bringing in Pendulum to rock my face off. It’s been a cold and shitty summer this year anyway, I could do with a little global warming.

While many will simply buy their tickets and head on up I doubt I’l bother. The two things that could draw my presence would be a massive improvement to the lineup or abject boredom from a winter spent indoors, but to be honest if I find myself suffering festival withdrawals I’ll just go to a trance party. At least that way I can take my own drinks to the dancefloor.

Instead I provide my thoughts based on the few flashes of memory remaining after the weekend. I’ve taken this long to write this because I was trying to pull together a moderately coherent recollection to give to you, and unfortunately failed.

The weekend began at 9 on Friday morning. The cold goods were removed from the deep freeze and fridge and thrown in the car. A brief stop off was made at Spar to pick up cigs and gum, the fuel financiers were collected and ensconced in their respective seats, and  the road was hit. Excitement filled the car as we tore up the N1, stopping briefly to load 12 Kg’s of ice into the otherwise empty coolerbox.

On arrival we were greeted with a green grassed, mud free field and a murderously hot sun. We checked in through the gate and found the scouting party. Two heavily overloaded trips later and all the supplies and equipment had made it from the car to the campsite. Beers were cracked, cigs were lit and hearty congratulations were exchanged all round. After a brief flurry of activity the tents were up and more beers then consumed.

A campsite. Similar to ours but not it.

We settled in to wait out the afternoon while constantly adjusting the seating to keep the gazebo farm between us and the sun. At some point the evening fell and the first trip to the stage was made. To see… something. From here things become hazy. I’m pretty sure I saw Dirty Skirts and Zebra and Giraffe. I know I saw Flash Republic. At some point there was someone on my shoulders but I have no idea who. Flash Republic finished their set and ashamedly so did I.

The Dirty Skirts - According to time stamps

Upon waking, the first priority was boardies. The second was the river. After that the recollections fade again until someone pointed out that it was time for Hog Hoggidy Hog. Slops were exchanged for proper shoes and the dash to the stage was made. I downed my beer upon arrival in the knowledge that it would simply water the ground were it taken into the pit. Life became a fight to survive the absolute rager of a moshpit. This is what I live for. And this is what the Hogs live to provide. Life was awesome. A Rocking the Daisies hat found it’s way to my head. I assumed it belonged to a friend and took it back to the campsite with me. It didn’t. Score!

Method to the Madness

With the sun making it’s way out of the sky it was time for a last swim to wash off the dust from a day spent in the pursuit of hedonism. Shorts were swapped for jeans, T-shirts were dug out for the first time in the day and inebriation became the overwhelming goal. Once again recollections become a set of brief flashes. A ride on some vile spinning fairground ride activated my upchuck reflex and despite my best efforts a small part of the day’s hearty excess escaped.

The power went out during a set, possibly Prime Circle. It didn’t matter, good humour prevailed and the power was restored. Glowsticks were acquired, activated, broken open and sprayed everywhere. It seems chicks dig the dude spaying glowing goop around, bear that in mind for the future. In the process of spraying all of my sudden group of disciples I sprayed some in someones eyes. Seemed painful for them, avoid doing that. I also, while spraying a girl, hit her in the arm by mistake and cut her with some or other part of the stick. She seemed to take being stabbed with something full of apparently poisonous fluid better than I took having done it. Goldfish ended and a resupply run was made. Then the night became a blur of electro tent shenanigans and wanton abuse of the human liver.

The most evil machine ever made

After awakening on Sunday, a trip was made to watch Captain Stu. The crowd was dead or walking-wounded. A tour up north ending with Saturday night at Synergy seemed to have taken a toll on certain members of the band. The songs were played to a standard only slightly lower than usual, however the on-stage chatter had descended to idiocy. Most of the crowd identified with the bands’ struggles. As the set ended the realisation dawned that perhaps we had exhausted our bodies’ ability to endure abuse and it was time to give up and head home. Better people than us could give the final bands of the day the support they deserved.

"Why the fuck am I awake?"

The overall impression of the event was that it was well organised.The bands were “polished”. The weather was fucking awesome, the food was well priced, as was the merch. The crowd was young and beautiful and the vibe was relaxed. In a comparison with Rocking the Daisies, Synergy comes out as a definite winner.

Perhaps a bit harsh?

I will be there next year. So should you. Till then, there’s always Ramfest.

I won’t bother boring you with a history lesson but will point out that the people responsible for this include people from the Prizm Rezonance crew which gives an indication of their ability to throw a party.

The last Synergy party

If you’re wondering what to expect a quick look at the lineup will show you something similar to Rocking the Daisies, but with less Afro-Jazz and more rocking. The electro lineup also shows an improvement over daisies by featuring DJ’s you may actually have heard of as well as a few proper psytrance DJ’s for a good stomp. If that’s your thing. It’s mine.

Can you name everyone in this? They're all gonna be there

There will also be sundry random attractions which, much like the history, I can’t be bothered researching or writing about. They are not rock and therefore I don’t care.

The venue is the Boschendal wine estate which I believe is the same place that hosted the 2008/2009 new years Prizm Rezonance. For those unfamiliar with the venue, it’s easy to find if you follow the directions and far shadier than most festival venues. That’s shady as in away from the sun, not dodgy. Given that my weather forecast is showing 26:28:26 for Fri:Sat:Sun, this is a distinct advantage.

But you should still bring sunscreen of some sort. On that note, if you plan on cooling off in the dam you should also bring a decent pair of sandals, it’s a fairly long walk from my recollection, through some rough terrain, to the dam and no one wants to put proper shoes on after taking a swim. There may be a river though. It was dry the last time I was there.

The main stage area

If you haven’t bought your tickets yet (you idiot) I would suggest that you head down to one of the outlets to buy one as they’re R340 at outlets and R370 on the web. If you choose to buy at the door they’re R380. I may have just got you 3 extra beers there. there are also options for tickets for arrival on Saturday or even Sunday but if you’re gonna miss the first day you probably don’t have what it takes to rock away the weekend anyway. For those coming the outlets are.

Sport ‘n Surf	Long Street
Sport ‘n Surf	Diep River
The Surf Centre	Canal Walk
Rust	Claremont
Project UK	Tygervalley
Skint	Noordhoek
Boogaloos	Somerset West
Gypsy	Stellenbosch
Gypsy	Hout Bay
Gypsy	Durbanville

I assume that my readers are at least moderately intelligent and so I assume that you will be there (If you are to stupid to understand that last sentence I basically said that if you don’t come you’re an idiot). I hope to punch you in the face in a non malicious fashion in the moshpit. The Hogs moshpit to be specific. Look for a massive and messy campsite and you’ve probably found us¹. We camp in numbers. And to be honest, rather disreputable squalor.

See you there.

1. Us refers to myself and several other Discharge contributors, Ya we’re all gonna be there. With sundry friends and enemies.