Park Acoustics – 1 July 2018: A Review

It has been super cold these past two weeks; luckily the 1 July 2018 edition of Park Acoustics brought the heat, not only because of a killer line-up, but also because it was held the day before the cold front really hit the 012.

Here’s my review of the 1 July 2018 edition of Park Acoustics

After missing the big birthday edition of Park Acoustics the previous time, I was excited to be back. And with a line-up which included the likes of Freshlyground, Desmond and the Tutus, Cockles, Zionruts Family and Matt Carstens, I knew we were all set for a great day.

I was glad that the cold didn’t appear just yet, it was actually quite an enjoyable, mild winter’s day. We had Matt Carstens to heat up the morning as soon as we arrived. I had heard of him, also knew some of his songs, but I’ve never seen him live before. And damn, I really, really enjoyed his set. He is like a breath of fresh air in the South African music scene, and I can see him doing big things and making name for himself in the future.

In 2017 Matt won a competition run by Francois van Coke and Red Bull Studios, and it brought us the song “Broken Society”. Although Van Coke wasn’t there, Matt still wowed the crowd with the song. His set also included songs off his album, 2D Heart, such as “Paper Planes”, and “Picture on My Wall”.

One can never not enjoy the Zionruts Family. Their covers of “No Woman No Cry” and “Don’t Worry” by Bob Marley always bring smiles to the faces of the crowd and gets everyone moving. They also spread the love with their original songs, which included “Running in Circles”, “Reggae Music”, “Lockdown”, and “There is a Way”. The crowd seemed to love these guys just as much as I did. A small crowd started to surround the Pringles Main Stage in front of the Zionruts Family, and joined along in dance. One could feel that the 1 July 2018 edition of Park Acoustics was in full swing.

You must have been living under a rock if you don’t know Shortstraw by now, or that they are taking a hiatus. Luckily, we can still get our indie fix in the form of Gad de Combes’ Adventure Man, and Shortstraw’s lead vocalist, Alastair Thomas’ Cockles. Alastair’s new project, Cockles has been making waves these past few months. It was a treat to see them play at Park Acoustics. The crowd was drawn in immediately and jammed throughout Cockles’ set, which included their new single “Joshin’ Around”. We weren’t disappointed at all.

The OG Moot boys didn’t have to travel too far to reach Fort Schanskop for the 1 July 2018 edition of Park Acoustics. And once again we were thoroughly entertained by Desmond and the Tutus. Their on-stage energy is always so infectious, you can’t help but get moving to their songs. I mean it was just fitting that they played “Pretoria Girls” (which I will always feel is about me). Other songs on their set-list included “Pictures”, “Lazy Bones”, “Car Guard Tan”, and “Peter”.

Freshlyground has been around since my primary school days, and I’ve always been a fan. You don’t see them around that often anymore, so it was a real big treat to have them grace the Pringles Main Stage. Their soulful sounds had the whole crowd grooving along to old favourites like “Doo Be Doo”, “Fire is Low”, and “I’d Like”. In honour of it being the Soccer World Cup again, they even did an encore with “Waka Waka (It’s Time For Africa)”.

Nick Hamman ended the 1 July 2018 edition of Park Acoustics with some good tunes that kept the last of the crowd dancing along. For those who didn’t want to stay and dance, the comedy stage brought them Deep Fried Man, Melt Sieberhagen, Glen Biederman Pam.

Park Acoustics just continues to bring the jams to Pretoria. Next month’s edition will see the likes of Die Heuwels Fantasties, Crimson House, George Town and Little Ringo and with comedy heavy weights: Casper de Vries, Joey Rasdien and Hannes Brummer. Make sure that you check it out!

Watch this space for regular updates in the Music category on Running Wolf’s Rant.