Desmond winners and a HUGE show

So, last week I had two pairs of tickets to give away to Desmond's MONSTER show at Assembly. The two winners each got a pair.

My first winner sent me this pic:
His email subject line read, 'I'm using my sexuality to win tickets. i even photoshopped out my tat.' - Pity he didn't photoshop out his fat.

The second winner sent this pic through.
It's a mixture of the winners' names on something that looks like playdoe, I think (and of course a play on the name Desmond & The Tutus).

Anyway, Desmond & The Tutus played one of the best Cape Town shows ever. Better the second time around rings true in more ways that one for The Tutus. The last time they played at the Assembly it wasn't amazing - the sound was poor and the crowd were not feeling them. Monday's show was also their second show of the long weekend. They played on Friday night at a charity event at the Albert Hall. The sound was very poor which was a real pity, considering the quality of the rig they hired for the event.

But Monday night was crazy. Without the online portal to purchase tickets, people queued. It's been a while since I've seen queues outside the Assembly. Anyway, the bands started early! Desmond, the headliners for the night weren't expected on before about midnight, but took the stage at 22h45. They played an energy filled (and energy sapping for that matter) sets I've had the good pleasure of witnessing. Their was even something of a tame mosh-pit in motion and loads of crowd surfing. (The next trick will be to convince Shane to take the dive.) More than that, other than their new track, everyone sang along to every song.

On the cards for the Tutus going forward are two more trips overseas - France in June and Japan in September/October (TBC). Stay tuned for more.

Desmond & The Tutus head back to Cape Town

This coming weekend is a long weekend for most. Schools have Monday off while most businesses will grant their minions leave for Monday. This makes next week a three day week.

What's more (and more importantly) Desmond & The Tutus will be in town this time next week to play a huge show on Monday night at The Assembly to welcome in Tuesday, Freedom Day.

They will be playing alongside some winners.
- DESMOND & THE TUTUS (headlining)
- THE REVELATORS
- KID COLT
- MAGNUM HI FI
- RICHARD THE III
- BRUCE WILLIS!?!

More info

A Night with Aoki Part #2

On my way to the much anticipated Assembly show I thought back on the discussion we had with Steve Aoki only hours before. The man plays between 250 and 300 shows a year and he runs a record label and he sources new acts and and and. I knew I was in for a treat.

As I climbed the Assembly stairs with my friends the hype that had so long been building was realised. I was concerned though. The Skene brothers were busting out some huge tunes, to the point that I thought that the evening might be climaxing too soon. But I was wrong, and not for the first time.

Aoki took the stage after midnight with expectations brewing beyond some fans control. A particular young lady (I am sure she was just one of many) had far too much to drink and it wouldn’t be farfetched to suggest that she remembered very little of the evening’s proceedings.

Aoki’s fan interactions were second to none. He was crowd surfing within five or 10 minutes starting his show. WARP (Aoki’s Bloody Beetroots remix) was his second track and proved a crowd favourite to the point that he closed the show with it as well. At the beginning of the show the die-hard fans and electro junkies filled the immediate area in front of the stage. There was a healthy mix of girls and boys in the early periods. But soon it became too much. The rotation policy became standard for most. You would enter the fray, get sprayed with champagne by Aoki and get wet-through from a mixture of yours and others sweat, and dance (like that was even optional with everyone rubbing up on you). Personal space doesn’t exist, but no one complains.Then you would get out, rest, recuperate, get a drink and head back in for some more fun. If you were lucky Aoki would even crowd surf while you were in there. These gatherings weren’t violent mind you (as so often they can be). It was just that err’body wanted to be at the front, to touch him (on his studio), to get a better vantage point or get spotted by Mark ‘The Cobrasnake’ Hunter. Louder than the music was the ongoing chant, "Steve!...Aoki! Steve!...Aoki! Steve!...Aoki! Steve!...Aoki!" Such a jol.

Assembly did really well hosting this year’s biggest event. I remember Bloody Beetroots last year was great, but you could see that the hosts learned a lot from that time. The stage was bigger and the fencing around the stage was more secure (not moving every time a forward surge was made by crazy wet fans).

Big up ya’ll. Next up: JUSTICE (please).

A Night with Aoki Part #1

With the dust finally settled after one of the biggest weekends in Cape Town, a look back at the Aoki experience is a must.

On Friday night, just hours before the show, a few guests got the privilege to meet Aoki at the Red Bull Studios in Cape Town. I was one of these. After a long day of cage diving in Gaansbaai, Aoki treated some of our city’s top DJs and producers to some of his pearls of wisdom. The LA based DJ owns a record label called Dim Mak. One of Dim Mak’s prize acquisitions was The Bloody Beetroots in 2007. The biggest track out at the moment is WARP! well known for its line, ‘1, 2 WHOOP! WHOOP!’ before smashing people’s inhibitions with some of the biggest electro sounds around.

Aoki was also so complimentary of our ‘Fairest Cape’ and even said that he was interested in canning the interview and heading through to one of the townships with all in attendance. Everyone laughed nervously. Was he being serious? He was. However, the interview went on. The next day he hiked up Lions Head with Blaise Janichon & Pierre Coetzee and continued to sing Cape Town’s praises.

Not only did he love the Mother City, but he loved one of our most famous exports, Die Antwoord. He didn’t attempt to say their name, but he raved about them, sad only at missing the opportunity to sign them to his label. He spoke particularly well of DJ Hi-Tek (and his PC Komputerr), expressing a desperate need to meet them and even announced that he had already been in contact with Interscope Records (Die Antwoord’s new label) in the hope of doing a single with the controversial South Africans.

He even shared a few stories of his previous musical endeavours. As a kid he started out in a hardcore punk band. Admitting that his singing voice is less than desirable, he tended to opt for screaming when handed the microphone. He learned to play all regular band instruments filling in wherever he had to.

When asked about what he was expecting from the show at Assembly later that evening, he admitted, “I honestly have no idea what to expect”, acknowledging that he was not concerned if it was a small show – he was just so excited to be in SA. It wasn’t a small show, not by Cape Town’s standards. Almost 1000 people packed out Assembly paying top dollar for a top show. But more on that later...

The ‘formal’ interview ended and he hung around the studios to chat to anyone who still had questions or wanted to shake his hand. One thing that all who were there will declare is, he is a down-to-earth character. No questions were beneath him, and no people below his interest. He even liked the idea of visiting Gugulethu’s famous Mzoli’s.

A few short hours later and it was off to the show.

A Night with Aoki Part #2

Steve Aoki - This Friday!!

Steve Aoki is in town this Friday, Easter Friday, Passover Friday, Friday 2 April 2010. If you were unaware of this, you've been living under a rock.

Get your tickets online webtickets.co.za. They are only R120, a steal if you ask me. Aoki keeps company with electro giants Justice and of course Italian boys, Bloody Beetroots among others.

More from Steve Aoki

The Bloody Beetroots :: III to Destroy

My bizarre affections for The Bloody Beetroots is no secret. It might have something to do with a special night we one spent together at The Assembly in Cape Town in March 2009. It might not. I don't know. But this track is bitching! The first thing that goes through ones mind as this track is played, 'They've changed their genre!' But it evolves rather quickly into the more familiar HEAVY ELECTRO that they are famously synonymous with.

The Bloody Beetroots :: III to Destroy | MediaFire

Johnny Foreigner (UK) - Television advertisement

Johnny Foreigner (UK) free tickets

Of late, there has been a huge amount of online publicity and funky ghosts on street posts. All for Johnny Foreigner and their phenomenal South African entourage. For the lineup for the different venues, click here. They also have an EP for free download and an interesting teaser. Click here for that.

This weekend they hit Cape Town. Now the very nice people from Griet have given me two double tickets to the shows. It could be a pair for each, or both pairs for one. You tell me where you want to go, and between myself and Griet, we will organise.

Information to be mailed to richardcoleking[at]gmail[dot]com:

Name:
Where you first heard about Johnny Foreigner:
Where you want to go (Assembly/Libertas):

The relevant dates are: 13 February @ The Assembly || 17 February @ Klein Libertas

Enter soon to avoid disappointment.

Steve Aoki is coming to South Africa

For the three of you who read my blog instead of We-Are-Awesome's Steve Aoki is coming to South Africa in April! This is bigger news than Bloody Beetroots ever were! Speaking of Bloody Beetroots, they collaborated with Aoki a while back; you may remember.

Steve Aoki is going to be performing at The Assembly (Cape Town) on 2 April 2010 and Bassline (Johannesburg) on 3 April 2010.

I am excited.

Gladiator (Steve Aoki x DJ AM Remix) :: AutoErotique | zSHARE

Yoav

This last weekend (16 January 2010) Yoav played at Assembly in Cape Town. Unfortunately for him, not too many people know who the talented young Israeli/South African guy is and so the venue was a little sparsely populated. All this said, he is one to watch. He's got his stuff up on iTunes, accessible through his Myspace where you will also find more music to sample.

His album is busy being mixed in LA (according to his webpage) and his site is being built again. (I think it's again, otherwise, for the first time.) Check the progress.

The 'Beautiful Lie' music video from 2007

Listen to rough demos here.

Zebra & Giraffe - Assembly - Tonight

Lets see if we can get back into this blogging thing. Zebra & Giraffe are playing their last show for the year. (WOW, a whole two days.)
Check out the invite.
Get tickets here and save!
Myspace
Facebook Page
Follow Greg Carlin on twitter: @zebraandgiraffe
Latest tweets:

[click to enlarge]

Ashtray Electric Outplay Dirty Skirts

Rudi

Ashtray Electric and the Dirty Skirts played on Saturday night at Assembly. It was a good party. AE kicked things off with one of their best sets that I’ve seen. Unfortunately, Dirty Skirts open for no-one. As a result a nearly half full Assembly venue got to enjoy what the entire place should have been fortuned to witness – an energy sapping, musically extravagant act where their was never a thought that the lads were ‘going through the motions’. One thing is guaranteed at an AE show, you will witness them having fun on stage and interacting with the crowd. For all the love and fame they have acquired, they are still humble, level headed oakes who love music and can be seen chatting with almost anyone prior to or after a show.

Andre

Then Dirty Skirts came on and sang a few songs that went something like, “Woooooaaaah, Woooooooaaaaaaaaah” and on occasions, they threw in the odd “Cape Town!” for good measure, just in case anyone wonders where they are from. I didn’t enjoy their show and haven’t since they took a six month break from playing CT clubs to record their latest album. That was a long while ago.

Jeremy singing, "Woooaaah Cape Town!"

Photographs curtesy of the lovely (and now really bald) LizeKay. Follow her rants on twitter and check out her blog.

The Dirty Skirts and Ashtray Electric @Assembly tomorrow night

This will be this weekend's highlight I reckon. Ashtray and Skirts face-off. Get your tickets now.

More information here.

Eat This, Horse are back

So after 200 odd years of recording and garden cricket (I have it under good authority that they engaged in the sport frequently when they were supposed to be practicing), Eat This, Horse are back!! When I was fresh out of high school, these guys were one of the most sort after live acts around. No kidding, they were like Rabbit from my parents era.
So, now they are back to support Sticky Antlers on their Cape Tour stop at The Assembly.

Assembly invite

Tonight @ The Assembly:

Free before 10pm - R40 thereafter - click poster for more info...

Toxic Avenger//Cape Town//28 Aug

Assembly's Discotheque will be graced with French sensation, Toxic Avenger, Friday 28 August.

One of the man tracks he has been involved is with Trash Yourself, another act that has been threatening to come to South Africa for quite sometime now:

Die - Trash Yourself & Toxic Avenger (zShare)

DONT PARTY @Discotheque

/Discotheque/Assembly tonight/R40/Free Downloads from DONT PARTY/Facebook Invite

Disco crazy!!

Early on in the night, Assembly djs made their intentions clear. Heavy electro was served to all. Justice, Digitalism, Presets and even a Boys Noise remix (Feist - My Moon My Man) made up a good portion of beats thrown down. Dance moves were so outrageous, that at one stage, my beverage was shoulder-barged by a little lady into my mouth chipping my front tooth. This came a week after I wrote off my car. Fun fun.
Check Berry advertising his own company. You go boy. If that girl is who I think it is, she should totally be getting a salary from WAA for all the features she has appeared in for the lads. Either that, or, should she become a model, WAA should get shares in her profits for all the PR they have done for her over the years. WAA could totally start a modelling agency. Excuse the verbal diarrhea. If you missed my pre discotheque download tune, click here.

MANY more pics @WAA

Say "Bye Bye Blaise" at DISCOTHEQUE

Discotheque, Friday night. It's your last chance to say cheers to Blaise, and another chance for you to break down to some HUGE electro beats. Come down to the Annex. It's a quaint room with it's entrance just around the corner from the one you may be accustomed to. It's a wicked cool extension to the regular Assembly venue. See you there.

Get your presale tickets here.

Facebook event

The Chevelle before Party...

It wasn't really the Chevelle before party, but it sure felt that way.

Saturday night was supposed to be a fun gigging night with the typical Assembly crowd. It was set to feature some dancing and some foosball. It wasn't. Firstly, it was so unbelievably full, there was little room to move let alone dance. It was sold out. Secondly, the crowd was uncharacteristic of a typical Assembly rock show. Jocks jocks JOCKS, every-freaking-where you looked! I was scared to bump shoulders with anyone lest I get beaten up by an ill tempered thug sporting his girlfriend's pullover because he poured beer on his t-shirt on purpose (true story).
At one stage, the aforementioned jock and four of his friends, including an IT guy who does freelance work for my company decided it would be fun, no, a LOT of fun to stand in a circle, take off their shirts and pour beer on each other's heads. Now, we are not talking about weedy guys, I am referring to some plus sized boytjies who spend almost every unemployed minute at gym and have a diet exclusively made up of protein shakes. Those guys. Those guys who make up for their lack of height by being as wide and expend most of their mental capacity trying stuff a larger subwoofer into their retarded car. I am digressing so let me continue...
Oh, yes, there was a band. Zebra & Giraffe played their last show of their East Coast winter tour. And boy were they happy it was over. Not to say they didn't enjoy it, they did. But frontman Gregg Carlin expressed his gratitude at being finished with the tour. (I would really like to insert a quote here, but unfortunately most of what he said was written on his face. You know, lines of wariness and the like.) Their show was good, well, the little I was able to 'see' of it. The sound was great and their two (??) new songs were very promising. Drummer Darren appreciated the positive commentary on the new tracks, but said they were a still under construction.

The Wedding DJs followed Z&G with a set that made me yawn a number of times. Clearly not my vibe. This said, there were many people who got their freak on and danced themselves stukkend. But, they just played tracks with little concern for mixing or transitions. Anyway.

It was a fun night, mainly thanks to the beef cakes who eventually got thrown out.