Firstly, it is quite smart that 5fm and Coke bring over some decent acts to South Africa - it takes a fair bit of cash to get these tours together, so nice one and thanks, hope the advertising you got out of it means you will be doing another!
But that gets followed up with the downside. As this (presumably to be yearly) event is sponsored/promoted by sucha big Corporate, you are never going to get bands taking part in it that you would really want to see. i appreciate that others in South Africa (this Durban-based blogger in particular) have no quarrel with overtly commercial, some would say "sell out" acts, but it would be ace to see someone like the Manics, Pearl Jam or Morrissey play here. they are not going to do that with a massive Coca Cola sign on the stage. ho hum. i suppose you might get monoliths like Bowie or The Who or The Stones agreeing, but then again they share the stage with no one.
The biggest bad thing about this concert was, of course, the failure of Axl Rose and what he claims is the band Guns N Roses to turn up. i kind of predicted that he/they would pull out, and this they did, owing to some injury to a bass player that no one has ever heard of - Tommy Stintson or something. whereas many would have loved to see them, i do recall that when i saw the proper version of the band in 1992, well, they were not exactly brilliant then. i cannot imagine that this 3rd rate, sham line up using the name would be much better.
onto the day out, and the bands that were good enough to show up!
we had a most excellent day and night of it. James was with his grandparents for the day and night, so it was the first time in some 18 months that Michele and I had been out and about on our own. i must confess, as a result of this, we spent more time just "hanging about" with each other, less so concentrating on the bands. here is a rundown of what we saw and heard, or at least what i can rememeber of them :
The First 5 Or So Bands - i am sure you are rather smart, hence getting the gig. what i heard of you in no way offended me as i hung around the beer tent, the toilet, the pizza dude and the t-shirt stand.
Springbok Nude Girls - one of the few true SA bands that are world class. an excellent band, led by an ace frontman. i am not sure what, if any, international success they have had, but they could handle themselves on the world stage with ease. nice one.
Hoobastank - never heard of them. this band turned out to be good fun! i couldn't name a single song of theirs, and i am not sure i am going to rush out and buy a cd or two by them, but if they ever played live near you, i would say yeah, go and see them, they are rather smart. the singer has a smart sense of humour, and they interract with the audience rather well. possible winners of the day.
Staind - i knew very little of this band before the gig, except that song they do it's been a while. it would seem that their usual sound is normally a great deal heavier than that song suggests. in no way are they a bad band, but, dear me, they need to work on their set-list. it seemed that each and every song required a 60-90 second break to switch guitars, instruments, whatever. a rock concert is about energy and momentum, chaps. the result of the perpetual breaks between songs was that it was difficult to get into them much. oh well, they sell more albums than i do, so who am i to complain? a major highlight of Staind's set, and the day, was the lead singer out of Staind making offensive comments about Axl Rose.
3 Doors Down - i think that is what they are called. neither myself nor Michele were interested in them at all. we just left to have a few more drinks and a bite to eat whilst they were on. sorry if you are a fan of them, but to us it didn't sound like we missed much.
Evanescence - in the absence of Axl, the headline act of the day out. unless you see someone called Wickhead who came on after them as the headliners. they were certainly the most polished act of the day - read into that what you will from my earlier comments, i guess.
Michele was more excited about seeing this band than any of the others, and thus we did the decent thing and stayed for the whole set, or most of it. not really favourites of mine, but they did a decent set (ie mostly one song after another without dramatic instrument changes) and they are pretty good. rather like the band Live, though, whilst i enjoyed the live music, the CD's really don't do anything for me. bewilderingly, two ladies in the audience decided that during a female singer's performance was the best time to flash their topless selves at the stage and for all others to see, unless they had been doing it earlier and i just had not paid attention. it sounded like they played all of their big numbers - i might possibly have even recognized My Immortal and Bring Me To Life somewhere in the set, and all and sundry seemed rather impressed with them.
overall, my memories of the day will be an ace day out - spending time with Michele, buying a large amount of beer for guys who couldn't get into the ale tents, and in general just having fun. i would be very interested in going again next year if it is as well run as this one. reports were that the 2006 one, headlined by Metallica, was a disaster - you couldn't get anything to eat or drink at it. this one was not like that at all.
i doubt these reviews, if i can even call them that, have helped anyone, but we had fun!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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