If I’m to be perfectly honest, the post-holiday-blues is a real and soul-destroying phenomenon that I experienced in its entirety early in January this year. There I was – curled up in the fetal position, under the covers in the stifling heat and yearning to be back in a place where hedonism rules and deadlines mean nothing. For a while I thought nothing and no-one could pull me from this melodramatic ordeal. That is, until Park Acoustics swept in like a caped super-hero, (streamlined man-bun rippling through the air) sweeping me out of my woes and back into the high of being proudly Pretorian!
That’s right folks, Park Acoustics was to me what gin was to an 18th century housewife: a sweet savior; a beautiful escape; a reason to pawn my non-existent offspring just for a ticket! This particular Park Acoustics brought with it a mash-up of rather indie and eclectic bands such as: Maddy Behrens, Matthew Mole, Mind Pool and Josh Kempen. Good ol’ Gauteng favorites, Monark, were there too as was the ever-popular Michael Lesar with his post-party/party-starting swing set.
Behrens impressed us with her confidence, shattered us with her Taylor Swift love-affair and startled us with her youth. Mind Pool sent us into a meditative trance-like state with their expressive and experimental handling of instruments. They ooze everything Cape Tonian and have a good stage energy. My personal highlight for the day was the set of Josh Kempen. Purely because he is tasty in a Mediterranean way, he has an exotic accent that he self-assuredly uses to claim his patriotism to South Africa and, well, he sings like every good nooky song should. Here is a link to his track Ysabel Lola, a song written about his Italian amore.
Monark stole the crowd, although I was having more fun at the back with my compadre (JJ) dancing to their tunes with typical boy-band choreography! Matthew Mole had the crowd singing choral verse with the help of the Jacks brothers (Jack Daniels and Black Jack beer). And Lesar caused the typical sokkie* response with his dj set right at the end.
All in all the music was energetic, fun and worth the long dry spell of January. Don’t miss out on Park acoustics at the end of February where you can catch the likes of the Tidal Waves, A King and Lost and Found, or tune in to The Grind Radio for a free online listen.
Thanks to Henno Kruger for the great photo’s! Check his work out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HennoKrugerPhotography/
*Sokkie is a traditional Afrikaans paired dance style.