Allow me to digress: on entering competitions via social media
Before I tell you about how awesome Jamiroquai was, let me tell you that social media competitions in South Africa are an untapped resource. Granted I have never won anything over R1000 but I must've won about 7 competitions in the last year. I alerted my sibling and her significant other to the competition to win tickets to Delicious Fest, and guess what, they both won. My sibling got VIP tickets and her boyfriend won the ones us common folk get. He was nice enough to give me those.
We arrived at about 3 in the afternoon, and as with all outdoor gatherings, traffic was bad. We sat along a single lane road, inching along while those in luxury SUVs and taxis used the shoulder on the side of the road as the express lane. At first I was angry that they were pushing in, but then my anger turned to jealousy because my car would never make that road.
We walked through the exclusive estate and got to a caravan which was also the ticket office. We got our tickets and as we were about to leave, a guy in his mid twenties was there with his mom trying to sell an extra ticket. He kept on saying "Mom, look what you are making me do". Oh family outings are so much fun.
On being parched
The queue separated the mere mortals from the importants, because VIP got special arm bands and us plebs just walked in. It was hot. Like mid 30 degree hot. I always wonder why outdoor events never have enough people manning the bar or why there are so few toilets. I was parched and eventually we had to settle for some weird never heard of flavoured water (read coloured sugar water) that was cold and didn't have a queue the length of a small country.
Before I tell you about how awesome Jamiroquai was, let me tell you that social media competitions in South Africa are an untapped resource. Granted I have never won anything over R1000 but I must've won about 7 competitions in the last year. I alerted my sibling and her significant other to the competition to win tickets to Delicious Fest, and guess what, they both won. My sibling got VIP tickets and her boyfriend won the ones us common folk get. He was nice enough to give me those.
We arrived at about 3 in the afternoon, and as with all outdoor gatherings, traffic was bad. We sat along a single lane road, inching along while those in luxury SUVs and taxis used the shoulder on the side of the road as the express lane. At first I was angry that they were pushing in, but then my anger turned to jealousy because my car would never make that road.
We walked through the exclusive estate and got to a caravan which was also the ticket office. We got our tickets and as we were about to leave, a guy in his mid twenties was there with his mom trying to sell an extra ticket. He kept on saying "Mom, look what you are making me do". Oh family outings are so much fun.
On being parched
The queue separated the mere mortals from the importants, because VIP got special arm bands and us plebs just walked in. It was hot. Like mid 30 degree hot. I always wonder why outdoor events never have enough people manning the bar or why there are so few toilets. I was parched and eventually we had to settle for some weird never heard of flavoured water (read coloured sugar water) that was cold and didn't have a queue the length of a small country.
There were loads of food trucks and different snacks, but if you go to these foodie festivals, you tend to see the same people. The chickpea fudge people, the olive people, the turkish delight people, the list goes on. We headed to the main arena, a lush field of grass surrounded by a hill, with the fancy Michellen star restaurants to the right, and the bars & Checkers cheese and bread stand to the left.
As always the main bar was terrible and no person in their right mind would wait in that queue. People were buying cases of liquor to make sure that they did not have to go back. I decided to stand in the Milk Stout queue, which was shorter but also had bouncer who took his job way too seriously. Once in, they had run out of other liquor, the official line being that "the guy is going to get some more", so I ordered Milk Stout. I have never had this before because it looks revolting. Surprisingly it is not that bad, and due to its abundance at the festival, became the drink of choice.
At first I thought who in their right mind would buy cheese and bread, but that is exactly what we did and decided to park on the lawns to the sounds of Mi Casa. Jigga was the hit, but you could sense a real cultural divide - I had no idea there is a dance associated with that song. But now I do and whenever I am driving and the song comes on the radio, I have an urge to dance.
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| The drink of champions or when there is no other liquor to consume: Milk Stout |
On not being a VIP
They announced the main act would be on in an hour. As I mentioned before, I did not have the bracelet that would grant me access to the VIP area, however this did not stop me.
"Just walk up and see what they say."
"What if I get rejected? That will be so embarassing."
"That will be amazing. Hello YouTube."
I pulled down my sleeves, covered my non VIP bracelet hand, and walked confidently up the stairs. No one stopped me. I walked in so chuffed and we headed straight for the hay bales that would give us an awesome panoramic view. You know you are getting old when you would rather watch a concert in comfort, and not from the front row.
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| The way to see a concert: from the comfort of the VIP area |
One of the best things about seeing live music, is that you can sing a long. And boy did we sing. His tunes took me back to the late 1990's and the early 00's. I was commenting on how cool the Virtual Insanity music video was, when I got told "That's how you know you're old. You're talking about a time when MTV still played music videos." Well the band is amazing, and they even poked fun at themselves "Here's a song that no one has ever heard of and that the record company didn't like".
The vibe was amazing, the cheese and bread picnic awesome, milk stout delicious and the music, well that was just rad.