/ 23 December 2015

All the fun of the festive season

Khuli Chana is among the artists that will be performing at the Vilakazi Street Festival New Year's Eve party.
Khuli Chana is among the artists that will be performing at the Vilakazi Street Festival New Year's Eve party.

Vilakazi Street Festival New Year’s Eve party, Vilakazi Soweto, December 31, 12pm. This event promises to be the “mother of all parties” in Soweto. Set in the popular tourist attraction heritage site, the festival, which will have three stages, will showcase up and coming talent from Soweto all day long.  There will also award-winning music acts on stage, that include Khuli Chana, HHP, Reason, Tumi and the Volume and Akio and DJs Speedsta and C-Live.  Food and drinks will be sold on site. Tickets cost R150 – R4000 from Computicket.

F.EU. New Year’s Eve party, Wild Waters Complex, Boksburg, December 31, 7pm. DJ duo Fresh and Euphonik, together with the creators of events, H20 and Nicci Beach are hosting the New Years Eve Club fusion festival that will feature international guest DJ Sarah Main, who is based in Ibiza. The venue is described as a state of the art dance club that will consist of a luxury VIP lounge as well as  five dance arenas along with 30 DJs, and of course a set by celebrated South African DJs Fresh and Euphonik. Tickets from R150 – R250 nutickets.co.za     

Smoking Dragon, Amphitheatre Backpackers Lodge, Drakensberg, December 29 – January 1. Smoking Dragon celebrates its fifth New Year’s Eve three-day festival with activities that cater to the whole family – activities such as rock climbing, mountain biking and quad biking, to name a few. This festival is a nice way to end of the year with your loved ones, enjoying nature’s beauty, while listening to some homebrewed music. The music line-up includes Majozi, Tidal Waves, The Kiffness, We Are Charlie, BCUC, The Pranks, BOO, Zebra and Giraffe and many more.  Tickets cost R300 – R700 from PAYFAST or the gate. Visit smokingdragon.org for more info on the event.     

Jameson Vic Falls Carnival, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, December 29 – 31. The exciting line-up features legendary group Mango Groove, GoodLuck and Mokoomba, MonArk, as well as, songstress Charma Gal, Cape Town’s house/Kwaito/Afrobeat DJ Diloxclusiv and Zimbabwe’s own Judgement Yard, Harare’s pop singer-songwriter-producer Ryan Koriya and Steam Train and regular DJ Francis. Last year’s carnival was a huge success and also featured a stellar line-up of legends in music, as well as up and coming talent. For the first time ever there will be two 2015 train parties on a vintage steam train through the Victoria Falls National Park to a secret location in the African bush, with local DJs playing their sets in the background. There will be a stage at the “secret location”, where the party will continue. Various parties will be hosted all around the Victoria Falls town at multiple venueswith free entrance for festival ticket holders. The New Year’s Eve party will end off the three-day party experience with the main music concert that will count the crowd into 2016. Tickets cost $60 – $90 from vfc.nutickets.co.za. Visit vicfallscarnival.com for more info.

Nederburg New Year’s Eve concert, Nederburg Wine Farm, Paarl, December 31, 9:30pm. The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and its resident conductor Brandon Phillips, join the line-up of musicians who’ll be ushering audiences into 2016 at the Neberburg farm. The Orchestra will share the stage with Idols winner Elvis Blue, Idols runner up Lloyd Cele, country and western trio BlackByrd and jazz singer Sarah Theron. TV presenter Katlego Maboe will the MC for the night. Tickets cost R300 from Computicket

Fact Durban Rocks, Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban, 6pm. Founded in 2006 by Durban DJ Tira, the Fact Durban Rocks New Year’s Eve party is a platform to show off some of Durban’s finest music acts. From hip hop to kwaito, this annual event draws a crowd of over 5000. The brand has once again partnered up with SABC1’s Come Duze, a New Year’s Eve countdown party, to bring the biggest celebration to millions of South Africans on TV. The line-up consists of DJ Black Coffee, Big Nuz, Black Motion, Heavy-K, Riky Rick, NaakMusiQ and Dreamteam. Tickets cost R200 – R650 from Computicket.