Rocking the Daisies in a nutshell

Photo by Lauren Clifford-Holmes

Says Brian Little, festival director and partner of Complete Events: “Rocking the Daisies 2009 was a resounding success. It has definitely been our ‘coming of age' year. We have managed to eradicate any logistical issues we encountered last year by learning from our mistakes. Our green credentials speak for themselves and we are extremely proud of everyone involved in what has become one of the biggest and most popular music events in South Africa in four short years.

“We would like to thank all our sponsors, Cloof Wine Estate, our greening partners and festival-goers for making Rocking the Daisies a reality. The amazing feedback this year has been overwhelming and makes all the hard work from the past year worthwhile.

"With further support from everyone, Rocking the Daisies is sure to become an event all South Africans can be proud of. We look forward to an even bigger and better Rocking the Daisies in 2010.”

Highlights:

RTD Red Bull RADAR

Now in its second year, Red Bull RADAR seeks to scan SA's landscape in search of undiscovered musical talent. Phase two of the competition saw She Man Lion, Jinx and Sean Hayz Band battling it out on the main stage for the Red Bull RADAR title on Saturday, 10 October. Cape Town-based She Man Lion won the judges' unanimous vote.

Go to Speakerbox.co.za/radar for more.

Play hard, tread lightly

Photo by Charlie Sperring

This year the festival was supported by the WWF South Africa and Greenpeace which, together with Hemporium, OceanMinded, Food and Trees for Africa (FTFA) and the Conscious Cinema, made up the Green Village. Steadfast Greening is conducting a “green” audit of the festival to determine its carbon footprint and greening initiatives, for example recycling, the utilisation of renewable energy sources, Walking the Daisies, Cycle to Daisies, car pooling initiatives and the like.

Once the results have been made known, Complete Events, the organiser of the festival, will work closely with Food and Trees for Africa to offset this footprint by planting trees in impoverished areas in the Swartland district. In addition, the environmental impact report from Cape Lowlands Environmental Services (CLES) and statistics will be made known shortly.

Grace Stead from Steadfast Greening explained that: "The eco audit looks at the impact on the local community and environment. It includes aspects relating to the generation of waste, energy consumption and other carbon emissions related to the event, such as the number of cars at the festival. All round we are, however, impressed with the level of commitment and practical implementation. The full eco-audit report will be made available online in the near future."

Says Brian Little, festival director: “The aim of presenting these results is not only to demonstrate to people how green the festival is, but it is our mission to educate our community on living greener lifestyles and to show them how to do it too.”

Photo by Simon de Haast, Pixelsthatrock.net

The Lemon Tree Theatre by Comedia

This year, Comedia hosted the Lemon Tree Theatre, which has been hailed a great success by festival-goers with the venue bursting at the seams for the duration of the weekend. Live acts from a host of comedians, D7, Bomvu Drummers, contortionists and stilt walkers kept revellers entertained in a relaxed environment when taking a break from the main stage.

Martin Evans of Comedia says: “Rocking the Daisies 2009, was for Comedia, the best event we have been involved with to date. The extra time and effort put in from all concerned made more of an impact than I ever thought possible. Following the issues of last year's event, I was so impressed to see the change in how things went this year. For me to hear people talking about one of the best parties ever, filled me with pride to be involved. The comedy tent was never anything but packed to capacity for any of the performances, which was very pleasing. Well done to everyone.”

The Daisy Den

A first for Rocking the Daisies, the Daisy Den was an exclusive area for girls to freshen up and be pampered with hot showers, manicurists and masseuses. The Daisy Den included stylish décor sponsored by Isipili Mirrors and furniture by The Pole Yard, with a champagne bar in a comfortable chill-out lounge.

Photo by Shanna Jones Photography

Rocking the Gardens

Preceding Rocking the Daisies, was Rocking the Gardens, which was hosted in Johannesburg on 3 October 2009.

Sowing its seeds, Rocking the Gardens was the first offshoot of Rocking the Daisies and was attended by approximately 5000 people. Hosted at Emmarentia Dam and forming part of the Old Mutual Encounters Series, Rocking the Gardens was co-hosted by Complete Events, and Oppikoppi Productions.

Musical acts included aKing, Freshlyground, Black Hotels and Gang of Instrumentals, as well as the ever-popular Just Jinjer, who have just returned from the US after a decade of touring and recording overseas.

Taking after its sister event in Cape Town, the organisers of Rocking the Gardens endevoured to make the festival as eco-friendly as possible by collaborating with well-known environmental bodies - Greenpeace, Food and Trees for Africa (FTFA) and WWF South Africa, to raise awareness of the importance of living a greener lifestyle.

Said Jeunesse Park, director of FTFA: "It is wonderful to see an initiative such as this in Johannesburg with droves of families turning up to enjoy the music and green festivities - we need to see more of this up in the north. Once the carbon footprint of the event is calculated we will be planting trees in Alexandria, Johannesburg to offset the emissions of the event. I look forward to Rocking the Gardens growing into a sustainable eco-friendly event like it's sister event down in Cape Town."

Said Craig Bright festival director of Rocking the Gardens and Rocking the Daisies (and Complete Events partner): “Overall, we feel that the festivals' biggest achievement is the awareness created through all of the greening initiatives combined. We strive to educate people on what it means to be green and wish to activate this by showing them practical and easy steps to take home and incorporate into their daily lives.”

View gallery