SummerWaves at Shimmy

In his poem, The Waste Land, TS Eliot wrote:

“April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.”

Now, Eliot was very British and they have issues with weather in general, so we can forgive him. For us, April is a time when we try to squeeze out as much fun of the last remaining sunshine days as we can. The Shimmy Beach Club knows what’s what and they hosted the SummerWaves party on Sunday, 17 April to bid summer adieu. With names like 15-year-old sensation Jasmine Thompson from the UK (and their bad weather), James Hersey, FlicFlac (both from Austria) and awesome local acts Pop Art Live, Jet Treger, Thank Me Later, Garteth Kenward and Blanka Mazimela on the programme summer must feel mighty special to receive such a farewell.

Shimmy Beach Club is the prefect venue to host a summer party, especially when the Cape Town weather plays along. Think beautiful ocean scenery, gorgeous sunset vibes, sand between your toes, a pool as blue as the following Monday, and sleek modern designs everywhere. The crowd was pretty summery as well, with everyone in flip flops and short shorts and ready to party the day away.

YouTube sensation

Headlining the event was YouTube sensation Jasmine Thompson. This lovely lass is only 15, but her voice is that of a seasoned diva. She started out her career performing covers of famous songs on her YouTube channel and that just led to better things. She came out on that beautiful Shimmy Beach Club stage to a huge crowd and she did not disappoint. When she performed her cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car I think everyone in the crowd died a bit from joy. Her voice is haunting on that song. She played all the songs we know and love her for: Adore, Sun Goes Down, and Ain’t Nobody Love Me Better.

James Hersey was another big hitter and played his set just before Jasmine Thompson. The Austrian musician is known for his big tracks like Coming Over, How Hard I Try, and What I’ve Done. It was an absolute pleasure to witness Hersey’s performance on stage and I just loved when he performed Dreamcatcher. He was definitely a crowd pleaser. Hersey’s fellow Austrians, the producer duo FlicFlac, also graced us with their presence with jams like their edits of Milky Chance’s Down By The River, Vance Joy’s Riptide, Empire Of The Sun’s We Are The People and their own mix Hope (with that moving Charlie Chaplin speech from The Dictator).

SA performers

The South African performers also came out with their musical guns blazing. I caught the tail end of Blanka Mazimela’s set and the man’s music is just amazing. Pop Art Live, Jet Treger, Thank Me Later (a favourite Shimmy staple of mine) and Garteth Kenward also absolutely killed their sets.

As I write this it’s grey and rainy outside, but I am glad I went to SummerWaves to see off summer in style. A great time was had and the music, the venue and the people were just on point. Let’s do it again next year.