We arrived Friday afternoon - surprisingly before the sun had set and managed to get our tents up with no mess or fuss - apart from Ruth leaving the support mechanisms for her tent in Cape Town (part my fault). All turned out well as luck would have it as Mr Francis had carried his spare tent. (Good ol' Mr Francis) We sipped on our beverages of choice while making build-up conversation around our campsite. We did however, according to Ruth, manage to park at the "furthest end you could park" so getting to the main stage and back was quite the *bleep*. We split up at first, Mr Francis and co making their way to the metal stage to listen to hits including "Stem Cell Research" and "The Great Quantum Theory". (She jokes while sniggering to herself).
The cool people headed to check out aKing, Taxi Violence and The Dirty Skirts - three awesome SA bands with such talent. Ruth, myself and sister-in-crime (please refer to Up the Creek) were sucked into a wave of people being pushed and pulled, stepped on and elbowed, groped and robbed! It was awesome! Even though I lost a hundred bucks and a pair of great shoes mind you in this thrilling throng, it was worth it! (She says, struggling to swallow as her throat howls out in pain). My favourite band of the night was definitely The Dirty Skirts. I love the energy and passion that they push forward into the crowd during their performance. They're alive with possibilty (ha ha) and they make you feel alive with those soulful lyrics that can awaken even the most dead of souls. Highlight of my evening - lead singer, Jeremy reached out and took my hand and gave it a squeeze of appreciation. (Sister-in-crime grabbed his thigh and gave that a squeeze of appreciation).
We headed back to the tent to chill out for a bit, woke our various sleepy-head companions up (it was only 12am after all), by making rooster noises and scratching on their tents. They whimpered in fear for a while then woke up and we all munched on some Pringles which seemed to be the snack of choice for the weekend. (Sour cream and Onion to be specific - some rice-infused, some not) We then all made our way in search of Mr Francis who went AWOL. We spotted him as he attempted to stumble back to the tent and dragged him off to see Yesterday's Pupil who is super cool. He's a one-man band who's very versatile on stage playing a healthy array of instruments, wooing the crowd into swaying to the beat. We'd eventually felt the wear and tear of the first night and made our way back to the camp. I found myself a Marsupalami on the way back - lucky me! He was great until Evol Ruth decided to rip his tail off and turn him into a short-tailed staffie! He was never the same again...
The Worcester sand man arrived not long after that and made sure we were all sound asleep, resting for a fun-filled time in the day to come. I dreamt of Marsupalamis and catching fish while aKing's "Guilty as Sin" played on in my mind. Oh what a night...
To be continued...
