This year's Ramfest marked somewhat of a departure from previous festivals, the heavy metal was toned down and a separate stage, the Black Parade Stage, was set up for the heavy's while the main and bigger stage was dedicated to the more mainstream acts. This is not to say the fest was any less hardcore in fact by far the maddest mosh pit I was involved in surprisingly belonged to the Dirty Skirts.
To be honest I just don't get heavy metal. Perhaps if it didn't take itself so seriously I could appreciate it more. On one of our many long walks from tent to main stage we happened to pass the Black Parade Stage late Saturday night to hear one of the bands announce that their next song would be about “Stem Cell Regeneration” ; it went a little something like this “AAArrgh rarar rororow *clash clash bang bang* raarra ararghh”. Now this would be awesome if they were being ironic and taking the micky but sadly I think they were being quite earnest. We elected not to stay and learn more about the wonders of Stem Cell Regeneration but to head off to the main stage
om die partytjie te begin met Die Antwoord en Fokofpolisiekar.
Die Antwoord consist of DJ HI-TEK, YO-LANDI VI$$ER and lead NINJA; the artist formerly known as Watkin Tudor Jones formerly known as Waddie Jones formerly known as Max Normal. Gees this guy has had almost as many reinventions as Madonna. The latest reinvention, Die Antwoord takes the form of an Afrikaans Cape Flats gangster rap trio plus backup dancers. Not that they are native Cape Flat-ters mind you, NINJA and YO-LANDI are pretty white and come on at one stage the guys second name was Tudor. But even so they certainly brought some Cape Flats flavour to Worcester, (actually what do I know I'm pretty white too) but either way they served up something a little different to all the rock on offer.
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Francois Van Coke from Fokofpolisiekar joined Die Antwoord on stage and suddenly we were no longer in the Cape Flats but good old Bellville, the birthplace of so many of the hot right now Afrikaans bands. We cleverly elected to stay on the outskirts of the Fokof mosh pit as it is no mean feat trying to mosh while at the same time trying to stop your pants from falling down, loosing shoes and protecting the boss's camera. Even so it was not totally injury free as mentioned in
Sindy's review she took a Hunters Dry bottle to the cheek and it was not an empty Hunters mind you it was practically full, so poor Sindy dear not only took a hit but also got a face full of Hunters. By this stage I think we were pretty rammed out and headed back to our tents to call it a night tip toeing past our scary neighbour Tristan who as one point was threatening very loudly to break people in half.
Ramfest was pretty rough and left its mark on us in varying forms, including bruises, lost voices and burns both sun and cigarette but was well worth these discomforts for the awesome party that it was.
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