The Cape Town Leg of the TRL Tour

The windy Mother city was the start of the TRL radio tour, with The Dirty Skirts opening to a quarter capacity crowd. An absolute disaster! Or so I thought to myself as I chewed mercilessly on my gum. But if the Skirts, as they are referred to by their adoring fans, were put out by playing to a small crowd, they didn’t show it. There Jet/Killers/Bloc Party mix of sounds were played with high energy, high tempo and was fast setting a high standard for the other acts of the night. As darkness fell so the crowds grew and the cheap booze flowed as it can only flow at a RAG party. By the end of the Skirts set a good part of the Old Mill was full.

During the intervals people spread out under the stars braving the windy elements for a change of scenery or just some fresh air. The vibe was comfortable, and there was an air of expectancy for what was to come.

Fokof’s HUGE Northern suburbs following seemed to be out in force as the band burst on stage almost all in black and with the agenda quite clear. MAYHEM!! The crowd had new vigour. There was mass moshing. Fans screamed the aggressive Afrikaans lyrics back at the “we’ll take it all” band.

Then it was time for the rose to enter the thorny den. Welcome Inge and her finely tuned boys that make up the highly original Lark. Inge, the only female to take the stage as a band member the whole evening, expressed a little concern to me back stage about not having had a sound check. Had she not mentioned it, one would never have known. She gracefully captures everyone with her powerful voice and her band’s musical genius. On occasions, Lark loop Inge’s voice and she harmonises with her looped melody, quite amazing!

Then it was time to get down and dancing house style as Goldfish spun the decks, played their sax, and pulled on their double bass. They adapted well from what they must be used to, playing every Sunday for the beautiful people of Camps Bay in a club that plays very little other than House and Hip-hop.

The kick off to the TRL radio tour was a huge success. The evening offered something for everyone. From Indie, to classic rock and even House. No one felt left out. The crowds had the “only in Cape Town” two type of people bill. We had our jocks with their upturned collars and bootleg jeans and our Indie kids with skinnies and Chuck Taylors. You gotta love Cape Town.

The rest of the tour promises to be a huge success as they move on now to Joburg and Pretoria where International act OkGo! will be joining the fun and no doubt learning a lot from our local talent!

See you around Cape Town…