Oppikoppi 21: Fantastic Mr Vos Vos Day 1

Friday
7 August
2015

Now in its 21st year, Oppikoppi is legendary among South African music festivals. Its status and distance from Cape Town have always intimidated the hell out of me but attending has always been something I’d hoped to do; this year I got my chance, and it really was everything everyone said it would be, and more.

Here are some shots from Friday/our first day at the festival.

The journey took a little longer than expected as our flight was delayed by 2 hours and we faced some afternoon traffic on the drive up, as well as some real “we’re not in Cape Town anymore” moments, including encountering several ‘drive-thru’ liquor stores which was a totally alien concept to us…

It was my first proper time up north from Cape Town so I was in full-on tourist mode and intrigued by everything…though I confess the scenery (or lack thereof) started to get mildly depressing after a while, as did the apparent lack of any wildlife whatsoever.

Northam farm really is in the middle of nowhere and we arrived at the festival in time to watch the sun set through the thorn trees and perpetual dust haze.

I must say, everyone’s accounts of the place had me bracing for some hulking dusty body-breaking behemoth of an event and, while this is an accurate description, it really wasn’t bad at all. Full disclosure, I was staying at Harambee, the fancypants campsite with an actual mattress and a plug point, so I didn’t rough it half as much as I could have, but even though the festival ground is gigantic and the lineup intimidating, the layout and structure of everything was great and walking around between the (6 official) stages was not only totally doable but actually pretty relaxed.

I was enchanted from the moment we got there and that happy sense of wonder continued the rest of the weekend. It was freeeezing Friday night but that was only a problem after midnight when I tried to sleep, until then the evening was jam-packed with loads to see and do to distract from the inhospitable climate.

Friday’s main stage headliners included aKing, the Parlotones, December Streets and Facing the Gallows, but the highlights for me were mostly on the second largest stage, the James Phillips, where FILTH, Stoker and Danish rockabillies Powersolo all delivered great performances.

The two smaller stages provided great alternative acts (figuratively and literally, as one of them would always be running simultaneously to one of the main stages) including Cortina Whiplash, New Academics and Red Helen at the main-stage-neighbouring Skellum and The Slashdogs, Hokum and the Curious Incident over on Bruilof at the other end.

On the other side of the eponymous ‘koppi’, I didn’t spend much time at the Red Bull stage but did swing by the top bar for some of Crimson House‘s foot-stomping set.

In spite of the intense cold and the dust-induced coughing fits (the fabled koppi black lung is very real, within hours my voice had retreated somewhere deep inside me and only started slinking back like a week later) the best part about Friday was actually going to sleep and not feeling totally wrecked, which is usually how I feel after the first day at a festival. It’s actually been ages since I really enjoyed being at a fest that much and I couldn’t wait to wake up and do it all again on Saturday.