There have been so many music festivals sprouting up over the past few years and the one that has been impressing and improving year on year is Parklife SA. In 2015, the festival’s third year, the show spread it’s wings to Cape Town and proved again why it’s one of the top festivals in South Africa.
This year, international bands American Authors and Modest Mouse headlined the show and, man did I love it! Before we speak about the music, I must tell you how incredibly well the festival was organized. The most incredible food stalls were there all day giving concert-goers a variety of delicious treats to eat. I had a freaking delicious vetkoek with curry mince on. OMG! Then, the one thing that shocked me the most was the way that everything pretty much ran on time. This is basically unheard of for South African festivals and was a world-class experience for me.
The vibe at the festival was really great and Marks Park in Johannesburg was the perfect venue. There were tons of people but I never felt squashed at all – even when I went right up to the stage. That level of comfort is really important to me when going to a festival and really made that experience that much greater.
Now, onto the main reason the festival was held, the music. The line-up this year was fantastic and I often found myself running between stages to catch my favourite artists. The two main stages were split so while an artist was performing on one, the other stage was being set up for the next artist. Again, a very well-organized system.
Connell Cruise and Jimmy Nevis were the two local acts that really blew my socks off. Every single thing about their performance was spot on and vocally, they shine. Another act I really enjoyed was Monark, and seeing that it was my first time seeing them live, I was totally impressed. Jeremy Loops also, as usual, blew it out the park.
The Kiffness, however, despite being super cool, had something missing in their performance. I wished they performed more tracks with vocals than just dropping sick beats on stage. That being said, their performance was still great. Gangs of Ballet also had that something off.
While I didn’t stay for Modest Mouse (places to go, people to see, you know?) American Authors rocked my freaking socks off! I saw them at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards last year and man, have they improved their live performance! I also realized just how underrated these guys are. Their music is fantastic and I found myself jamming to every single song. They even did an epic cover of Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’.
The festival was epic and I honestly can’t wait for Parklife 2016! The countdown has begun!
Feel free to comment, share or tweet @ElBroide
