WOODSTOCK MAFIA

This post would be different compared to my others. I am taking notes as it’s happening. So live blogging? Haha. So after countless twitter mentions, I am finally able to see Woodstock mafia. They are said to be performing in a little market in Hout Bay. I am currently on my way to see them, its 7p, 21 June 2013. I am SO excited! Holy Moly… I walked into the market, that doesn’t look like much from the outside, but when I stepped in, it was like frikken Narnia. The market extended and at the back corner, there is a stage. WM just came on stage and it seems to be a chilled set. A crowd gathered around the stage and I am in front, as usual. I just realize I am such a groupie haha. Everyone seems to be so chilled, some people are having supper and jamming. The electric guitarist (I later heard his name is NICK) is brilliant! The solos are so sick – especially in electric light. The drummer had this astonished look on his face when he saw me singing along to electric light haha because I kind of knew all the words :P everyone on stage, and the crowd is casually just jamming and there are small girls dancing on the side. WM really has a sound that everyone can enjoy, from little girls to old people and everyone in between. It got really hot and then someone put on a fan, joe:thanks for the fans, I hope we get more after this show. [pun intended] hahahahahaha. WM then did a cover of RHCP “my friends” and all the old school people enjoyed this A LOT. Everything was awesome! Joe and Nick took a pic with me and @zanyjoe and they are really friendly even though I have the tendency to ramble on because I get too excited and nervous. If you are reading this; please pre-order their CD at www.woodstockmafia.com you shall not regret this!

YES I SAW BIEBER

So on 8 May 2013 – it was the best day of my life to date! Justin Bieber finally noticed South Africa after all the nagging on Twitter and various other social media. Justin was scheduled to perform at Cape Town stadium on the 8 May. All the local Beliebers created such a vibe and some of them even slept outside the stadium in order to get front row golden circle. In December 2012 the tickets went on sale and within 4 minutes they were all sold out.
So on the day – I walked from the CBD with my sister and brother and behind the stadium (where he was performing) a car drove by and the window was rolled down and OMG GUESS WHO SAT IN THE BACK SEAT?! YES IT WAS JUSTIN!
The atmosphere was such a vibe though. We entered the stadium with bated breath and you could feel the “gees” of the crowd. I saw so many familiar faces – which I thought was strange and not so strange in its own right. I thought – what are the chances of seeing people I know amongst 40 000+ people – but on the flip side – most of my friends are beliebers.

Before Justin came on stage there was a 10 minute countdown. The crowd went absolutely mental! The excitement as the crowd counted down every minute. Justin then came on and the crowd roared and totally erupted! Justin performed all the songs that were said to be on his set list with the exception of 2. It was an exciting performance with crowd interactions. The videography and the stage set up worked in tandem with each other. For example, at the end of his first song, he jumped on the stage and below the stage there was a screen. So he jumped on the stage and the screen below him showed that he jumped into a pool and swam with all his dancers as well. It was a different, yet fantastic, visual.

The concert was thoroughly enjoyed with masses of people smiling, dancing and singing as they left the stadium. Thank you Justin. Please come back to CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA.

Trampled by Turtles!

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I think it’s about time to give credit to Trampled by Turtles. I have been enjoying the pleasures of their music since last year, although they have been around since 2003. One night as I was doing some work with the TV on in the background, I heard this glorious music coming from my TV. It intrigued me as their sound was so different. It was Trampled by Turtles on The Late show with David Letterman. I turned the volume up and it was strange for me to see a performance with instruments such as a Banjo and a Mandolin. Yes I know what these instruments are and I’ve seen them in text books and maybe on cartoons but to ACTUALLY see them being used in a band that makes such good music, I was in utter awe. I enjoy listening to acoustic music and for me to discover this band, it was fortunate for my sanity as I was under great stress (high school finals). Soo… enough about me and more about the band. Trampled By Turtles is a band from Minnesota. Although the band’s inspirations are people like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Nirvana –to mention a few- I found the band has characteristics similar to Mumford and Sons, in the sense I classified TBT as a folk rock band. Their latest album, STARS AND SATELLITES, was released 10/04/2012 and debuted at 11 on the Alternative chart. Their national television debuted 24/04/2012 where I caught them for the first time! :D . The band consists of 5 members: Dave Simonett, Tim Saxhaug, Dave Carroll, Erik Berry and Ryan Young.
The talent among these men are countless, guitar, lead vocals and harmonica (Simonett), bass and backing vocals (Saxhaug), banjo and backing vocals (Carroll), mandolin (Berry) and fiddle and backing vocals (Young). IF YOU ARE READING THIS, please give them a listen. Youtube them, it’s that easy. Then after you fall in love with them (which I can guarantee), buy their album. Nothing is better than having a CD which could possible get signed by the artist somewhere in the future.

Civil Twilight

The long awaited South African band started playing at 11pm at the Assembly in Cape Town. The Assembly as packed to the brim with fans from all over Cape Town. After the fantastic mind blowing opening acts, previously mentioned, I waited with bated breath and out came Civil Twilight!!! They came out to a roaring crowd. People were pushing through trying to get to the perfect position to see their idols. As they started playing, I literally lost my min. I was so excited wow! First of all, they played/sang for an hour and a half without ear pieces in. that’s unbelievable – do you even comprehend how difficult it is to get the balance right? I cannot even scream in tune with surrounding sounds.
What they did is pure skill. Secondly, the way Civil Twilight improvised on stage, shows how closely the band members listen to each other. Thirdly, Steven’s voice is exactly the same live. The crowd’s interaction was shocking. When Steven (lead singer) stopped singing, the crowd’s singing would fill the air. People were happy around each other, everyone had one intention: to listen to a phenomenal band.
Although some songs were improvised and in a different key to the original – the fans still knew all the words and were able to sing along. Steven jumped into the crowd with his mic! It was the most epic thing of the year! Such a rock star haha. Steven told us about how most of the songs composed by the band is about Cape Town, as they grew up here. Steven and his brother Andrew grew up in Hout Bay, just a stone’s throw away from my house (OMG!! :D). I managed to speak and take photos with a few of the band members. Thank you for being so lovely and humble! Cannot wait until they return.

Gangs of Ballet!

ENERGY. That’s the first word that jumps to mind when thinking of Gangs of Ballet. Brad Klynsmith, Josh Klynsmith, Hardus de Beer and Jonathan Rich immediately burst with energy as they came on stage. The lead singer, Brad, does this thing with his voice that no other can. Gangs of Ballet sound like an amalgamation of Cold Play and all the other really good alternative bands out there. I played “hello sweet world” for a few of my friends and they thought Gangs of Ballet was an international band because they are so good. South African music is really evolving by the minute. Who would have thought that our Durban Boys could do such jaw-dropping things with their instruments? What brought a tear to my eye is when the crowd sang along to the band. This just means that our local people support our local musicians! (Maybe there is a market for me after all. Haha jk). Brad turned to Josh and was like “omg can u believe they’re singing with” < that was the cutest thing I’ve seen since Mike (from Linkin Park) said the same thing to Chester at their Cape Town performance. After the performances were over, the band members told us to come and say hi. Soo when the night ended, I went to say hi :D I was lucky enough to get a few pictures with the band members. Great night indeed. Oh oh – I also wanted to include, you know when band members say that they are really grateful for their fans? Yeah we all know that, but none of them actually reply to their fans’ tweets. I have tweeted Brad numerous times and I think I am getting annoying on top of it (I’m sorry) but he replies all the time with full replies and not just one words. He really is grateful. Everyone, go buy their CD, get to their Gigs. Support Gangs of Ballet.

Matthew J Mole. Local is lekker.

As one could tell, I was rather excited for the Civil Twilight concert. The concert had an incredible line up. I would like to introduce you to MATTHEW J MOLE. If you do not already know him, I suggest you youtube, facebook or tweet him. Wow. That’s all I can say. I recently watched my first performance by him at The Assembly in CT, South Africa. He opened for Civil Twilight – 28 December 2012. Matthew is a humble, talented guy, which is not only a singer, he is a performer. He plays acoustic guitar and percussion while he sings. As I stood there in utter awe (because I can’t play one instrument, however, I am a good judge of music), the sweet melodies that filled the room reminded me of Mumford and Sons and I was taken to a new dimension. “He was like Mumford and Sons meets Owl City” – Imaan. He’s attractive and he has this voice that makes one completely travel to another world. There is such raw talent in Matthew and one can see that he is enjoying himself whilst on stage. He does this double thumbs up thing because it’s “twice the positivity”. It was nice to see him listening attentively to the crowd’s beats as we clapped our hands to the songs. He was surprised at the sound we made and encouraged us to continue. Please do yourself a favour and check him at a gig if you can. I’m sure facebook will have the details. Oh oh I almost forgot the best part: I MET HIM. (Jumps on the walls. Eep). We had a little chat haha I told him I tweeted him after his performance and he became so excited that he told my friends and I to add him on facebook. Such a cuutiee. Anyway, check him out. I’ll try to update about gigs if I get any information. That’s Matthew J Mole. Youtube. Facebook. Tweet.

Louis Tomlinson Facts

Okay so I have compiled a list of facts.
Louis middle name is William.
Favourite TV show: Misfits and One Tree Hill.
Frankie Sandford from The Saturdays is his dream girl (oh how I wish it was me).
Loves mac&cheese.
If he wasn’t part of One Direction, he would have loved to be a drama teacher.
Has no cousins! (That’s okay, I have plenty – we could share).
Met Eleanor Calder through Harry Styles’ friend.
Loves girls with strong accents.
His Old car is named Cheryl.
Sleepwalks.
Wants a son.
Pretended to be Edward Cullen after watching New Moon.
Fave word: boobs.
Thinks he has a girl bum.
Was dumped once for not being attractive enough (that girl must feel pretty stupid now).
Messy.
With his first pay check, he adopted a chimpanzee named Larry.
Harry and Louis has slept naked together before (don’t ask why. Seriously, I don’t know).
Louis and Liam made Harry cry twice: wedgie & straightened Harry’s hair while he was asleep.
Loves when girls blush.
Size 10 shoes.
Louis and Harry have matching pink and blue blankets.
Fave band: the Fray (awesooome! I listen to them tooo!).
Calls his mom most nights.
Speaks French.
Really good at playing the piano.
Has a foot fetish.
Louis told his sister not to be in love with Harry because she is too good for him.
Went to the hospital with his mom to look after babies.
Loves shopping – although he won’t admit it.
When he’s bored he prank calls Niall.
Kissing > hugging.
Other boys are not allowed to wear stripes (it’s a Louis-only thing).
“call me old fashioned but I would actually like to get to know a girl before dating her”.
Louis would also love to date a fan (aaah! There’s hope!)