I am not sure if One Night in Cape Town was a success or not, because let’s be honest, there weren’t that many people there. However, less people at an event has never stopped me from having fun.
I arrived at Grand West at around five and grabbed a seat at the Spur right outside the venue. Usually this particular Spur is packed, but it still had loads of space at the time I arrived. Manchester Orchestra was set to go on at 19:00 and even though I didn’t know anything about them, I didn’t want to miss any of the acts. I had a couple of beers and a lot of ribs and off I went to see Manchester Orchestra.
No one at the doors seemed really sure where I was allowed to go in, so I settled for General Standing. There were a few people around but moving around was easy enough. Manchester Orchestra did there thing and it wasn’t really my thing. It was slow and soft and reminded me a little of Mumford and Sons at times. They just never seemed to reach that rock plateau though.
Yellowcard was on next and the best way to describe their sound is “generic punk rock”. Which isn’t really a bad thing. They brought some great energy with them to the stage which got the crowd ready for Deftones. Nothing however stood out except maybe the Violin player which honestly seemed a bit out of place.
Between sets there was a “beer garden” of sorts setup outside of the venue which gave all in attendance easy access to whichever liquid sustenance they would want. The vibe was great and there was plenty of space to move around in. More people arrived as Deftones got ready to go onstage to blow our minds.
Deftones came about with bands like Korn in the early nineties when the Nu-metal craze hit. They have always been that one band that I had to go see, but always thought that I wouldn’t since they aren’t really household names as such. When they got announced for One Night in Cape Town I knew I had to go see them. Man, was I ever glad I did.
Deftones hit the stage and immediately I felt the energy in the room rising. I made my way to the front barrier of the general standing section and there I stood for the remainder of the concert. I would headbang and jump up against the railing until security inched closer and then relax a bit waiting for them to inch further away. Deftones played for over 2 hours and I definitely got what I was looking for. I can’t think that any fan left disappointed.
I think One Night in Cape Town was a huge success but I would have been happier to see more people in attendance. If Cape Town stops supporting shows like these then we might just go the way of Durban and miss out on some great acts in the future. I would have loved it if this year’s One Night in Cape Town was more like last year however. Where bands started playing at 12 in the afternoon until late at night. It really gave the feeling of a day festival even though it was at Grand West. This would have also given more local bands a chance to play the stage and be seen. But hey, we can see those any day of the week at the local venues across the country so it isn’t really a big issue.
Since we at Zombiegamer are a broke bunch we couldn’t afford any photographers to take photos for us. But you can check out some of the great photos Warren Talmarkers took over at his website.
