In March last year the first ever Cape Town Electronic Music Festival was held at the V&A Waterfront rooftop parking lot. I didn’t go so was doubly keen to do so this year, especially since headlining the Friday night was Canadian techno legend Richie Hawtin.
A great thing about an inner-city festival like the CTEMF is that, while like most festivals, it spans multiple days there’s no long drive to the isolated venue and no fuss of camping – you can go home, sleep in your own bed, use your own shower and, when you want to head back, it’s easy and not far. As much as I love camping festivals, it’s really nice to have a more convenient option too.
I headed through on Friday after 5pm; Liver, Ruffest and Tommy Gun (whose family, including grandparents, were there to support) were playing out the afternoon and easing things into the evening.
At this point I should mention how perfect the rooftop parking lot venue is – location-wise it’s beautiful and scenic with all the Waterfront’s great views of the mountain and the sea. Plus, it’s just a short walk away from all the shops and restaurants of the V&A – which is where I wandered for supper.
There was one major drawback of the venue though – the wind. The horrible, horrrrrrible wind. My Friday night was miserable because of it. It wasn’t so bad in amongst the growing crowd, but as soon as you left for open ground it showed no mercy.
Richard the Third Vs. Jakobsnake were billed for Saturday but played Friday instead; I particularly enjoyed Anthea Scholtz’s set and Killer Robot’s too.
Then the clock struck 12 and it was time for the main event – Richie Hawtin. My mom’s been a big fan of his for years, and back before the millenium, during my embarrassing t-shirt painting phase, she asked me to make her a shirt with Hawtin’s Plastikman logo on it…and I knew there was a reason I’d kept it in the back of the cupboard all these years.
The wind and cold took their toll on my sinuses come Saturday, but happily the conditions were a lot more pleasant on day 2. Again arriving around 5PM I watched Ready D and Youngsta (and spied Rozzano in the wings) before dashing over to the V&A Ampitheatre to watch Tape Hiss & Sparkle…
Later, when I came back, Crazy White Boy were wrapping up and Shangaan Electro were up next. They were a lot of fun to watch, and their frantic build-up to 190 BPM was very entertaining.
But it was when Sibot arrived that things got well and truly LOUD. After raising some issues with the sound guy (and scaring someone at the desk so much they momentarily messed up the lights and the name of the band on the big screen) he proceeded with his sonic assault. The crowed went nuts, dancing more than I’d seen so far at the fest. Standing in front of the speakers, the bass was hitting my chest so hard I almost felt nauseous and the force of the sound literally blew my hair back. Intense. Sibot was joined in his super energetic set by VJ Toyota Cressida and rapper Sayyid of Antipop Consortium.
‘Lark Electro’, half the usual lineup of the band, put on a great show – Inge Beckmann is always a force on stage and multi-instrumentalist Mr Sakitumi even threw an electric guitar into the mix, the first I’d seen at the CTEMF.
I wanted to stay longer but my sinuses wouldn’t let me. For the same reason I barely left my bed on Sunday and so missed day 3 of the fest…even as I’m writing this I’m feeling really under the weather. I enjoyed the weekend though, but it made me realise that liking electronic music wasn’t really enough – to get the most out of an event like this you need to be surrounded by friends, inebriated and dancing. I’ll try to remember that for next time…
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The CTEMF | The V&A Waterfront
Richie Hawtin | Killer Robot | Anthea Scholtz | Richard the Third | Jakobsnake | Tommy Gun | Ruffest | Liver | Lark | Sibot | Shangaan Electro | Ready D | Youngsta
