The last ‘We Are beautiful Losers’ party at A Word of Art was fun, but really crowded and a bit claustrophobic. The second one was a vast improvement, with the stage outside and a super impressive line-up featuring Taxi Violence, KONGOS, Bateleur, Beatenberg, Beach Party and Black Handed Kites as well as loads of art on display inside.
Evidently hipsters don’t like dressing up – the theme of the night was ‘puppets and pirates’ and in spite of there being prizes and incentives to dress up, I was kinda surprised at the general lack of anything piratey (but kinda glad about the lack of anything puppety, as I don’t see how that couldn’t’ve been creepy). Apart from a few fun hats and beads, most people were just wearing the usual vintage blouses and high-wasted shorts.
Things kicked off punctuality (a rarity for Cape Town) which meant that by the time we arrived (around 8:45) Black Handed Kites were halfway through their set. I hadn’t heard of them before but recognised New Holland’s TeeJay Terblanche. Any band with a banjo gets my vote.
Up next were Bateleur, the first of the 2 (consecutive) returning acts from the last Beautiful Losers party. As always, I really enjoyed their set, in spite of the fact that they had a saxophonist standing in for their trumpet player (which added an interesting dynamic) and a few minor hiccoughs.
Making them resemble something between football supporters and Amazonian headhunters, Beatenberg’s face paint was totally unexpected and pretty strange – but it was supposed to be a dress-up party after all. They were charming as ever, inciting smiles (and in the case of the girls behind me, giggling and mild hyper ventilation over singer Matt Field) and dancing all around.
USAfricans KONGOS were the band I was most looking forward to. Their show at the Assembly last month was awesome, as is their current album, Lunatic. Unfortunately, things got off to a bit of a rocky start and technical issues caused general cringing and delayed the second song but were dealt with relatively swiftly…their set felt really short (especially since the Assembly’s was pretty extended) but it was still great.
I really hope they play more SA shows soon, and judging by their reception, – the girls behind us were so enthusiastic that their screams actually registered on the guitar tuner in front of me on the stage (a G, if you’re interested) – I’m sure they will.
Taxi Violence felt a bit out of place on the lineup; not that they weren’t awesome, I just associate them with dingy clubs and not art galleries…not that the crowd was dissuaded – the lurking rockers gathered at the front, pushing and thrashing and even managing to facilitate a successful stagedive – most impressive!
They were rather mad, but I liked Beach Party. Fun and summery with loads of energy and retro vibes, their name suits them pretty well. Furcoat-clad singer Danny Video (according to facebook, they all have names like that) did the Mick Jagger thing pretty well, which contrasted amusingly with the (totally bored-looking) keyboard player. Bonus points for having the most piratey person I’d seen all night for a bassist.
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KONGOS | Taxi Violence | Beach Party | Beatenberg | Bateleur
