Saturday was a night of intense energy and sweaty claustrophobia courtesy of 3 of Cape Town’s power trios, The Future Primitives, The Dollfins and Black Lung as well as probably the loudest duo in the country, the epic Make-Overs from Pretoria.
Black Lung were a few minutes into their set when I arrived, and Carnival Court was so packed I struggled to get to the front of the room. The band impressed me the first time I saw them and I was looking forward to seeing them again.
They didn’t disappoint, and set the tone for the the rest of the night – sweaty, cramped and loud.
The Dollfins turned the frenzying up a notch during their set, inciting the crowd to form a deadly swirling moshpit that lurched and launched itself violently against the 10cm high stage…resulting in several casualties. Luckily, Black Lung’s drummer, Melissa Williams, took it upon herself to be a guardian angel for all, ensuring the well-being of the gig; from leaping up to realign and secure knocked over mic stands and replug loosened cables, to absorbing some of the moshpit’s impact and helping me up when they threw me off balance. Thanks for that!
By the time the Future Primitives were up I’d been knocked around a bit and was quite deaf and only remember having one (daft) thought during their set – they’re an incredibly hairy band…I was concentrating so hard on getting shots of their faces (and not going down in the moshpit again) that I unfortunately don’t really remember the music…
Make-Overs were the big pull of the night for me, I’ve been a huge fan since seeing them at Synergy last year and it had been way too long since the last time I’d seen them. As expected, they totally anihilated the night. They were so loud they killed the guitar a few times, momentarily throwing the moshing crowd off kilter but then bringing them back with more force when they got things working again. It was intense and exhilirating, and one guy even managed to crowdsurf off the short platform that the venue calls their stage.
I really hope Make-Overs come back to Cape Town soon, because I think they’ve now oficially become my favourite live band.
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Make-Overs | The Future Primitives | The Dollfins | Black Lung
