One Night in Cape Town 2013 at the Grand Arena

Thursday
8 August 2013

I’m so glad that once again those in Cape Town who weren’t heading to Oppikoppi were given the chance to see the festival’s international headliners on one night at Grand West casino, and this year those headliners were Manchester Orchestra, Yellowcard and the epic Deftones.

Unlike last year, when the lineup included a bunch of local acts, the second One Night In Cape Town featured just the three American acts; first up just after 7pm were Manchester Orchestra.

I’m not a big fan of theirs but was glad to see that even though the crowd was sparse it seemed to be made up of a bunch of legit fans. People were calling out their song requests and one even screamed really enthusiastically ‘you’re better than Deftones!’ to which there were a few cheers of agreement.

Even though I loathed Ocean Avenue back when it was on heavy rotation on MTV and have never liked Yellowcard, I was feeling bad for the band – my Facebook newsfeed had been peppered with jokes at their expense lately and most people I’d spoken to who were going to the gig were planing on skipping them.

I have to say though, I found them the most entertaining act on the bill. Not musically – I still don’t like their music – but I enjoyed their enthusiasm and interaction with the audience (apart from when they tried to coerce the crowd into forming a ‘circle pit’, saying that if we didn’t, we’d be the only city on their world tour to refuse…I couldn’t see if the plea was successful but I’d like to give them, and the CT crowd, the benefit of the doubt).

Plus I always find it endearing when visiting acts give thanks to their distant SA fans and mean it, and vocalist Ryan Key sounded totally sincere when he said that they’ve been touring for 14 years, and it’s amazing that so far from their home there are kids in the front row wearing their T-shirts.

Things heated up before Deftones came on – the crowed swelled a fair amount and the excitement in the air was palpable. The band burst forth with energy from the get-go. Vocalist Chino Moreno hardly held still, hopping on and off of the monitors, pacing the stage with his whip-like mic and whipping the crowd into a frenzy with every epic scream.

I thoroughly enjoyed their set, which contained recent material (Swerve City, Rosemary, Tempest) as well as beloved classics and some of my personal favourites (Change (in the house of flies), Knife prty, Bloody Cape, Digital Bath). I also found it interesting that there seemed to be far fewer raised cellphones and cameras than I’ve ever seen at a big show – the crowd were so in the moment.

It was awesome.