On the 28th of April I made my way to Park Acoustics at Fort Schanskop (in the Voortrekker Monument Nature Reserve) to enjoy some awesome live acts. Van Coke Kartel, Holiday Murray, City Bowl Mizers, Suburban Saints (from the UK) and Sons of Settlers were on the line-up list for the day. It was the fourth time that Park Acoustics sold out this year. 2,000 people made their way to the venue to enjoy some live music on the day.
Sadly I missed the opportunity to see Sons of Settlers, but managed to catch Suburban Saints (who are from Glasgow, Scotland) entertaining the crowd to the max. Next up were City Bowl Mizers (who just may be one of the most underrated live acts in South Africa). After them the crowd starting dancing their behinds off to Holiday Murray and prepared themselves for the headlining act of the day.
Van Coke Kartel blew the Pretoria crowd away with their awesome live performance skills. I know it’s called Park Acoustics for reason, but there was nothing acoustic about their set at all. These Bellville boys proved once again why they won the MK Award for Best Live Act for two years in a row. Van Coke Kartel are definitely proof that hard work pays off in the long run – they are one of the hardest working acts in the industry and you could see it when they were performing.
Here are some photos that I took during the Van Coke Kartel set on the day:
What did you think of Park Acoustics on the 28th of April 2013? Leave a comment and let me know! Feedback is appreciated and welcome here.
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Watch this space for regular updates in the Music, Opinion and Photography category on Running Wolf’s Rant.
Bellville Rockers Van Coke Kartel have a released a music video for their song “Dankie Ek’s Veilig Hier”. Van Coke Kartel launched their first ”self-titled” album in November 2007 and took to the road in November 2012 to celebrate their five year existence with the Jägermeister, Monster Energy and Music Connection Half a Decade Tour.
Since the launch of the self-titled album, the band has released another three full length albums and has been awarded various local music awards including two SAMAs and 3 MK Awards this year and last year. Five years on and Van Coke Kartel are more popular than ever. They’ve become one of the best live acts in the SA Music scene. I was particularly blown away by their performance at RAMFest 2013 Johannesburg this year (which featured collaborations with Peach Van Pletzen, Hunter Kennedy, Laudo Liebenberg and George van der Spuy). Great news for Van Coke Kartel fans is that the band is currently in the process of writing and recording new material that will be released by the end of September 2013.
More great news is that Van Coke Kartel will be kicking of a 12 date national tour at the end of April 2013. The Jägermeister, Monster Energy and Music Connection Duba Bike Tourstarts off in Pretoria on the 28th of April and ends in Cape Town on the 31st of May 2013. Make your way to one of these gigs, you will not be disappointed
28 April 2013 - Park Acoustics, Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria
30 April 2013 – Rockabillys, Edenvale
1 May 2013 – Aandklas Hatfield, Pretoria
2 May 2013 – Betego’s Night Club, Benoni
3 May 2013 – Stones, Centurion
4 May 2013 – Arcade Empire, Pretoria
7 May 2013 – Café Barcelona, Pretoria
8 May 2013 – Barnyard Theatre, Vereeniging
9 May 2013 – Memphis Rock, Potchefstroom
10 May 2013 – Gig tyd, Boksburg
11 May 2013 – Blue Moon, Nelspruit
31 May 2013 – Mercury Live, Kaapstad
Photographer and videographer Fred van Leeuwen of The Image Engineer joined Van Coke Kartel on their recent tour of South Africa. Fred, who is a fan of the band and has been carving out a career documenting musicians, music festivals and live concerts, was the appropriate individual to go on the road with the band to create an intimate, behind-the-scenes perspective of life on tour for Van Coke Kartel. All the images and video was captured on a Canon 5D Mark II camera. Check out the video for “Dankie Eks Veilig Hier” below
This is one bloody awesome video if you ask me. What do you think of the new video? Leave a comment and let me know. Feedback is appreciated and welcome here. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, feel free to share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Sharing is caring after all.
Watch this space for regular updates in the Music category on Running Wolf’s Rant.
PS: This post is part of the A-Z Blog Challenge that I have joined for April 2013
