On the 22nd of August I made my way to the second edition of Rise & Shine Festival for 2015. This one day event is already in it’s third year and has grown into you one of the premium one day festival events in Gauteng.
Like all the previous editions of Rise & Shine Festival, this edition was also held at Sandton Central Park (a tiny park hidden away between the corporate buildings and skyscrapers of Johannesburg most affluent suburb). The park is less than 2 km away from the Sandton Gautrain station.
Being a late riser, I only arrived at the venue between 11 AM and 12 PM. I quickly grabbed a cold beer and settled in to enjoy the tunes of The Urban Village and Float Parade (Nic Minnie from Desmond & Tutus’ side project). Both these acts played chilled out set, setting the bar high for the great performances that were on the cards for the rest of the day.
Next up were Bye Beneco. I have to admit that I’ve never been a huge fan of their music, but they pulled off a stunning performance that took the crowd to places they might not have been before. They were followed by SA Music legends, Boo!. They completely blew both me and the crowd away with a very entertaining set (despite the fact that Ampie O isn’t playing trumpet in the band anymore) and had the crowd dancing to songs like “Champion” in no time.
Next up were Go Barefoot (an Indie Kwela Folk Rock band from Jozi). These boytjies entertained the crowd to the max and groomed them for a stellar performance by Mr. Cat & The Jackal (who were the second last act of the day). I have Mr. Cat and the Jackal tons of times and this has to be one of the best performances I’ve seen by them in recent times. The last act of the day were the amazing New Academics (who recently stunned audiences at Oppikoppi 2015) and they definitely lived up to expectations even though the surprise rain somewhat interrupted their performance.
Kudos to the organizers of Rise & Shine Festival for pulling off yet another successful one day festival. I’m already looking forward to the next one.
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