I spent this weekend in Worcester for the Forbidden Fruit festival. Sure it's not the endless fields of Rocking the Daisies or the Breede River mumbling on by at Up the creek, but its got - well - beer. Loooots of beer - and that's all you need really! In all seriousness, I think this festival has the potential to be really great. It was kitted out as if there would be 4000 people attending, so the organisation was extremely well thought through. Unfortunately, in reality there must only have been about 400 people attending, all of whom were extremely friendly and happy to be there. The grounds were large, the sanitation situation was well taken care of - unlike my 2008 experience of Rocking the Daisies; there was ample parking and it was kitted out with fabulous food stalls and even a play area for the kids. Besides all this and the beer, there was also an awesome line-up of bands.
We pitched up in time to have a look around the awesome food stalls and grab a few beers before Akkedis took the stage. I am a virgin listener to this band and I actually found them to be a really talented bunch. Their bluesy rock got the crowd buzzing on a hot Saturday afternoon. Later joined on stage by the talented Albert Frost.
Following that awesome performance was the musical wailings of Josie Field. Okay, so she's supposedly a newcomer to the scene and she does have a good voice when she's not doing her Alanis Morisette imitation, but it really was not for me. Maybe its because she wasn't as pretty as Albert Frost.
An interesting one for me was Sterling EQ. I had never heard of them before, but the premise is four hot - like smoking hot - girls in silver dresses on classical instruments. The whole set-up reminded me of The Corrs. These are some incredibly talented women and they deserve a bit of PR. The only thing I found odd was that there was a CD of an orchestra in the background. It just didn't gel. I think the idea was that they would have the effect of a full orchestra, but unfortunately it didn't work. I would have liked to hear them on their own.
What did work, however, was their pairing with the Gugulethu tenors, who sang their hearts out and really took the whole audience's breath away, including mine.
So it was, after a few more beers, in the last few streams of sunlight, Aking took the stage to much applause. I'm not sure how much Worcester appreciates the classics, but they seem to be revved up for some rock n roll! The band were, as usual, very good: pitch perfect and played all the favourites. Is it wrong of me to say I was a little bored? Well, either way, the crowd appreciated every syllable so maybe its just me. See the gallery for some great crowd shots.
I think I zoned out for Zebra and Giraffe as all I remember is cheeeeesy pizza. Enough has been written about them, we all know they're good.
For me, the highlight of the show was Bed on Bricks. Yes a lot has been written about them too, but they are always spot on with their performance and just awesome to watch. Their rap/rock fusion is in such perfect balance. In fact, I found one of our competition winners in the front of the crowd and had a mosh with her to Rockstar. What a great band.
And after that stellar performance was the almighty Prime Circle. These guys have been around a while and they really know their stuff. I was very impressed by the quality of their performance; definitely up to international standards. They're playing with the big boys now.
And on that high note we decided to make a move, before the rest of the 400 peeps did too!
Next year I want to see all of you there - all of you! And you better have a good time, else Ferdi sal op jou stoep kak!
