This was the first Up the Creek attendance and after a series of unmentionable occurrences, disturbingly funny incidents and mind blowing gigs it’s by no means our last!
One of my favourite Up The Creek moments was waking up on Saturday morning and having a fellow camp mate make the following statement ‘Daar het ‘n bergie het in my mond gekak’. LOL. Anyone who has ever attended a festival where you drank too much the previous night and woke up in a sweltering tent will be able to identify with that sensation.
Up the Creek is a small-ish festival hosting around 3000 amped fans with ages ranging from 18 to 80 (the sun damage might have made me exaggerate the seniority factor). And yes, the Zoidberg impression I displayed after my floating excursion was a clear indication of not understanding the intense effects of Cape Town sun.
Here’s my review of Up The Creek 2012
As I walked into the festival I felt like walking into Depeche Mode’s ‘John the Revelator’. Contradicting vibes of electric anticipation and relaxed rhythm overwhelmed me.
During the course of the weekend we were blessed to see some of the most talented groups this country has to offer. The Thursday line-up included the likes of December streets, Dan Patlansky and Akkedis.
Friday night we were entertained by the husky sensuousness of Machineri, rocking aKING, Taxi Violence and some much anticipated Albert Frost collaborations. What a lovely man that is! And to top it all off he was honoured to celebrate his mom getting married.
Saturday was a scorcher as I’ve already mentioned. Floats were flopping around all over the Breede River with festival goers soaking up sun, slurping up cold beers and enjoying the musical whimsies of the bands playing at the river stage.
Of those artists I would like to mention one in particular and that is Peachy Keen. These chicks seriously rocked the shit out of the river that day, a performance that triggered my groupie tendencies once again.
Saturday night, as one might have suspected was a whirlwind of captivating tunes rounding up the crowd like a herd of hypnotized sheep around the main stage. Shadowclub really outdid themselves, I mean I haven’t seen that effect on a crowd in a long time. They rocked their hearts out and we rejoiced with vigour.
Karen Zoid performed amenably as usual, providing die-hard fans machos fun. The long awaited KONGOS performed after Karen, and once again they did not disappoint.
SA fans will miss them dearly I’m sure. Worth mentioning here, in fact worth a major shout out is their father, Mr. John Kongos the legend, the king of KONGOS! I was so excited to observe John Kongos live as I grew up with his banging tunes and as a result I was flopping around the stage like a deranged monkey.
Sunday was a day of recovery. Everyone seemed to move around in slow motion, but that could very well have been an illusion shaped by mashed-up brain.
To end off an incredible weekend everyone chilled around river; some floating, some lurking in the shade and some staring mindlessly into the abyss. The festival concluded with the delights off Holiday Murray and Wrestlerish.
Thanks to Liny Kruger and all the other organizers, helping hands, stage dudes, security dudes and of course the musos themselves for a rocking Up the Creek 2012!
Watch this space for regular updates in the Music category on Running Wolf’s Rant.
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