My Coke Fest 2007

I woke up early Friday morning to the sounds of UJfm and rain, and slowly, very slowly, got the ready for what was surely to be a long but spectacular day at this year’s Coke Fest, featuring some great international and local acts. After procrastinating in the chat room and keeping company a lonesome Nick, the DJ, I got into the shower to wake me up, baby. After Berny arrived, Ferdi, her and me went to the New Market Racecourse where the event was held.

It was still about an hour to go until the first band was to perform and already the place was packed with people. The sky had at least cleared up and the sun was shining. No more rain. We managed to find parking inside the racecourse but it was still a long, long walk to the entrance. First blonde moment went to me, while I was fishing for the tickets inside my bag and not really looking where I was going. I stepped in little dip in the ground, lost my balance and tumbled. I hadn’t even had my first drink yet.

At the gate, we got a nice surprise: a lanyard with a free coke voucher plus a booklet with 5 R10 vouchers. That saved me tremendously – I didn’t spend much money in the end (imagine spending R2 for a beer! Heaven!!). So it made the R575 ticket worth my while – also the fact that the Golden Circle was clearly a privilege. I was so glad I didn’t have to stand hundreds of metres away just to get a good look of the bands.



Immediately when we arrived, we were met by friends, and later on we were joined by an old schoolfriend of mine, Tanya, and her boyfriend. We did the math, it had been about 4 years since we last saw each other. Crazy. It was really good to hang out with her and reminisce about the fun good old days. On our way back from the beer tent, we saw some kids with a huge banner, looking for groupies. Ferdi, Berny, and I were respectively Groupie #48, 49, 50. I think we made their day. You cant get better groupies than us.

At 12:00 the South African bands kicked off, each with a 30 minute set, starting with Fevertree, then J, Cassette, Evolver, Parlotones and lastly the Springbok Nude Girls. I had to laugh when Cassette came on dressed up as Guns n Roses singing “Knocking on Heavens Door”. So they showed up after all, haha. The lead singer joked that they weren’t going to play as his bassist had broken his wrist.

Im not a big fan of the Parlotones so I managed to eventually convince Berny to walk to the beer tent to get drinks as the queues were long and I didn’t want to miss the Nudies. We made it just in time as a few minutes after we got to the queue, security held the rest of the people wanting to enter the beer tent back as it was already quite full inside. In there we bumped into Adrian and Jared from Chromium and waited with them to get drinks. Judging by our conversation, they must think we are nuts, especially when I confessed that I like LA Cobra. Oh well, haha.

We made it back to the Golden Circle just in time for the Nude Girls. It was the first time I had seen them live and I enjoyed every minute of their set. They were amazing!!! We were not allowed to take in cameras but I managed to take some half decent pics of most of the bands with my phone, including some video clips. The sun was still strong then, so those pics came out clearly. I was stupid enough to refuse sunscreen earlier during the day and by then my shoulders were tomato red, boy do I regret it now!!!

Finally, at 17:00, it was time for the international bands to come on stage. First it was Hoobastank, and I have to admit that I rather enjoyed watching them even though I don’t really like their music. They really got the crowd going. Earlier on while J was on I managed to get 2 of the members’ attention when they came out on the side of the stage to take pics of the crowd. Americans, lol. The funniest moment was when the lead singer noticed that toilet paper was being thrown around from one place to the other so he insisted that some get thrown to him on stage as well. I don’t think they give them toilet paper backstage. Shame. Of course, when they sang “The Reason”, the whole crowd sang along. I think that’s the only song everyone really knows, including myself.
The band that I really wanted to see (besides GnR *sulk*) was Staind, who came on next. They exceeded my expectations. Aaron Lewis has an amazing voice that really drew the crowd. He sang all my favourites, including Outside, So Far Away and Its Been a While. He also gave us a rendition of Guns n Roses’ “Patience”, one of my favourite all time songs. Near the end, Amy Lee joined him on stage, but if you had to ask me now which song they sang together, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I just cant remember.
3 Doors Down was really amazing too. I was quite surprised and a little bit disappointed that they played “Kryptonite” very early in their set, I would have imagined that that would be the perfect song to end with. Nevertheless, we all went wild and sang along (yes, some of the lyrics were on the big screen, Ferdi, but that was to give it a comic book effect, not so that the crowd could sing along lol). The song that really got the crowd singing along was my favourite, “Here Without You”. Such a powerful song. Makes me cry like a baby. And I did not just admit this. Damn. There goes my reputation.

Since GnR cancelled, Evanescence were now headlining, for a 90 minute set. Besides enjoying some of my favourites like “Lithium”, “Call me when you are sober” and “Bring me to Life”, Amy Lee bored me to tears, but at least the guitarist made me laugh every time he posed when the camera focused on him. I kept my promise to Tink and phoned her during “Fallen” so she could listen. I was really disappointed when they eventually finished, and had not played “My Immortal”!!! I couldn’t believe it. But no, that was just the usual band trick, as a few seconds later they were back on stage and performed two more songs, including “My Immortal” – a song that will be played at my funeral some day. It’s a tearjerker of note. Damn, there I go again.

Many people left soon after that, but it was only the true rock fans like us who remained to watch Wickhead close the concert. We moved to the front of the stage and waited while they set up. I must say that I was quite impressed at how quick each band changeover was. What really worked was having a revolving mini stage for the drums so that while one band was playing the next drum kit would be set up backstage. So a few minutes later Wickhead came on for another kickass performance. On that huge stage, they looked like kids on a new big playground, running from one side to of the stage to the other. They were one of the few bands that really made full use of the stage. Most just stayed put on their spot.

Ferdi got a mosh pit going. I stood and pushed people out of my way and swallowed a big amount of dust. Aaah good times. If I don’t get sick soon, I will be very surprised, especially since the night was so chilly. At 12:00 it was all over and once more we began our long walk to the parking lot after Berny fought off some girls for the drumstick the drummer threw! Haha, go Berny!

Armed with stolen glow sticks and trying to speak like Cartman with a diminishing vioice, I struggled to keep up with Ferdi and Berny. We took a wrong turn somewhere and had to jump over a wide, deep ditch, and I managed to wet my left foot. There had better not have been any horse poop in there! Safely in the car and finally sitting down after standing for 13 hours straight, I realised just how tired, sore and hungry I was as I sobered up and massaged my aching body.

It took us 30 minutes to get out of Alberton because of the traffic, and eventually we made it home in one exhausted piece and reunited with my bed. Pity I couldn’t sleep. But damn, what a night this was!!! I cant wait for next year’s!!!