One of my favourite moments in Julian Temple’s 2006 documentary, Glastonbury, which traces the festival’s thirty something year history, is a scene in which a bunch of guys set up a sign reading: “Sign up here to complain that festival is not as good as previous years”.
As a regular festival-goer, the forever winging festival veteran is as much a part of the goings on as the boisterous drunken louts and the dreadlocked and tie-dyed new-age hippies.
But while contemplating last weekend’s Oppikoppi Wildcard festival, I realised that my rants decrying the incredibly thin-on-the-ground line-up and the gross commercialisation of the festival by corporate sponsors made me a target for those very same jokers at Glastonbury.
So instead I just ignored the crass branding exercises of the Cuervo Nation and the plastic tokens carrying the Old Mutual logo, which replaced our hard-earned cash as currency this year for some peculiar reason, and tried to focus on some of the positives.
Although the line-up severely lacked big-name stars, it was encouraging to see a number of younger exciting bands stepping up to the plate.
In a matter of two years kidofdoom have gone from being Pretoria’s new kids on the block to headlining the festival.
But this year the new kids on the block were kidofdoom multi-instrumentalist Richard Brokensha’s new band, Isochronous, who were given the unfortunate timeslot of 12.30pm on Saturday afternoon.
This did not deter the band as they stormed the stage to deliver a spell-binding set of progressive rock to the Oppikoppi crowd (these kids listen to a lot of Pink Floyd, it seems).
Soon enough a throng of thousands stood open-mouthed, gasping at the four impressive young musicians (all the band members are studying music in Pretoria), particularly Brokensha’s guitar histrionics.
The self-titled Isochronous debut album will be released in a matter of weeks, something that could lead to wide radio play and media celebrity. Next year they could be co-headlining the festival with their comrades, kidofdoom.
Another band that really made an impression this year was Belville’s Foto na Dans.
Often written off as part of the chasing pack that rode in on Fokofpolisiekar’s coat tails, the two bands couldn’t be more different.
Their impeccable presentation and attention to detail when it comes to performance suggest that this is a band that is not prepared simply to join their peers’ lazy recycling of angst-fuelled grunge.
While bands such as Ef-El and Straatligkinders are lauded for just taking the Fokof sound and replicating it with slight variations, Foto na Dans are the real deal.
Finally a band has given the firecracker that Fokofpolisiekar lit in the local music scene some added ignition. The crowd went beserk and the atmosphere was electric.
With two EPs and a debut album under their belt, they, with kidofdoom and Isochronous, are among the contenders for the throne at the top of the pile that is South African rock. Who needs the big name attractions when you have young-buck rock’n’roll this good?
Foto na Dans released a new eight-track EP, titled Pantomime op Herwinbare Klanke, this week. You can catch them on their Pantomime op Herwinbare Klanke tour on August 15 at Back 2 Basix in Johannesburg, on August 16 at Bourbon Street in Potchefstroom, on August 20 at the Klein Libertas Theatre in Stellenbosch and on September 5 at the Durbanville Kunskafee. You can catch Isochronous on August 16 at The Bohemian in Johannesburg, on September 5 at the Pretoria Show Grounds, on September 13 at the Earthdance Festival in Cape Town, on September 17 at the Klein Libertas Theatre in Stellenbosch and September 19 at The Assembly in Cape Town. Their debut album, Isochronous, will be available at the beginning of September
For the full Foto na Dans interview go to www.mg.co.za/fotonadans