Modest Mouse announced some exciting news at the start of the year. They returned to the studio and would be dropping a new album “Strangers to Ourselves” 17 March 2015. This meant the band would be putting their +- 8 year ‘hiatus’ on well… its own hiatus. Fans like me who were worried the band would lose their “Dashboard”, “Miss the boat”, “King rat”etc. magic after such a long time were quickly reassured. Amazing singles like “Lampshades on fire” and “Coyote” started dropping harder and faster than Madonna on stage at the Brit awards. So I thought it would have been, could have been the best news I would ever know.
Boy , oh boy was I wrong. Parklife festival announced they are bringing the American band to Sunny South Africa on Saturday 2 May (to Cape Town) and on Sunday 3 May (to Johannesburg). The band will be entertaining us with some new additions like guitarist Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths, yes that’s right THE SMITHS) and percussionist Joe Plummer. The band has released 5 tracks including The Best Room off their new album thus far.
Modest Mouse will be join by internationals acts AMERICAN AUTHORS [USA] and KLINGANDE [FRANCE]. They also did not half ass the local act selection with names like: PHFAT, The Kiffness, , Gangs of Ballet, Monark and Jesse Clegg to name but a few.
Tickets to Parklife at Marks Park, Emmarentia( JHB) and Ostrich Ranch, Philadelphia off the N7 (Cape Town) range between R395 and R495 and are available online here. Kids under 12 pay (or rather their folks pay) only R195 to get in. 6 years and younger, due to the low risk of them starting a drunken brawl can get in for free.
This is not Parklife’s first time around the block when it comes to hosting amazing international acts. The festival proudly brought us Frank Turner and KT Tunstall in 2014 and local superstars Seether at the end of 2013 (which featured an intimate acoustic show). The festival is an intimate mix of music and gourmet food for the whole family. See you there!