It’s been a while since Beach Party have been in the same city together, let alone on the same stage, and Cape Town really showed up to their once-off sold out show at the Raptor Room last Wednesday. It was ridiculously hot and stuffy and there wasn’t a dry armpit in the house by the raucous end of the night. Just like the good ol’ days.
Here are some shots from the night.
2019 was a varied and somewhat disjointed year for me. I spent a lot of time on autopilot, in many ways. Looking back now at the topography, both personal and musical, of the last 12 months most of it all blurs together into a flat landscape, punctuated by the occasional hills and ditches. There was some music that really spoke to me and provided sustained periods of elevation…and a lot that I enjoyed for a while but ultimately lost appeal quite quickly.
As usual, I find the data from last.fm (breakdown here) really interesting and informative in making sense of my listening habits from the last year; here’s a look at my favourite music from 2019.
The Jagger Lounge was packed to bursting for Francois Van Coke‘s Dagdrome in Suburbia album launch at the end of last month. Ostensibly an acoustic show, things were pretty chilled but there was still plenty of energy, especially during the appearances of special guests and album collaborators The Voice SA’s Tasché, Fokofpolisiekar‘s Hunter Kennedy and Spoegwolf‘s Danie du Toit.
American guitar virtuoso Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal put on a great performance at Mercury last Thursday. Unfortunately the show was not well-attended, but this really created an intimate vibe which made it feel more like a private party than a gig.
Before the show, Mr. Bumblefoot, totally chilled and unassuming, took the time to walk around the crowd and greet everyone personally. Interactions ranged from a hi and a handshake to a conversation – it was really cool and gave everything a lovely casual atmosphere.
We were then treated to an hour and a half or so of hilariously entertaining anecdotes (ranging in subject matter from hot sauce to dentistry) and acoustic songs before the band joined and the acoustic was swapped for the iconic double-neck Vigier guitar.
Here are some shots from the highly enjoyable evening.
I had a great time doing a combined live and press shoot with The Fizz yesterday in Woodstock; here are some shots from the live performance and a few of my favourites of the press shots.
