- Can 15 000 people really come together to make a great party?
- Will there be enough going on to keep me entertained?
- Will the Earth recover from the stomping of the thousands of people?
- Port-a-loos – enough said
- It’s going to be so cold!
- Will I be able to shower and keep clean?
- Will people be friendly?
- What happens if I get lost?
- What should I wear?
This was the largest festival I have ever been to. There was almost too much to see and do in just one weekend. I had some belly-aching laughs compliments of the stand up comedians in the Lemon Tree Theatre (especially Siv Ngesi); I rocked along to the quality bands on the main festival stage; partied the night away at the electro stage; listened to some quirky tunes in the Nu World Beat Barn; had a beach party at the beach bar on the banks of the small dam; watched some interesting short films (and had a nap) in the Shnit Cinema; moved to the rhythm of a drum circle in the Hemporium village and listened to a relaxed acoustic set outside the Bos ice tea stand.
Lemon Tree Theatre
I spent most of my time at the main and electro stages. Jeremy Loops – a one-man-band who uses a loop pedal to perform multi-layered tracks with a guitar, harmonica, drums and his voice – was amazing to watch. The Dirty Bounce is a collaboration between three South African acts – the Bone Collectors, Mr Cat and the Jackal and the Nomadic Orchestra. Their performance energy, harmonious tunes, and musicians dressed in animal suits had me smiling and bouncing around. Bloc Party, the band everyone had been waiting for, pulled an enormous audience and did not disappoint, playing well known songs off their old albums as well as introducing us to some of their latest creations. Grandmaster Flash was the highlight of the electro tent – at 54 years old, the American DJ still knows how to rev up a crowd and get everybody dancing.
Electro stage
Rocking the Daisies makes an effort to be a ‘green’ festival, treading lightly on the earth. The trash-back initiative – one cup of stompies equals one beer – proved to be a popular idea among the environmentally conscious (or just the cash-strapped students looking for a free drink). None of the stalls at the festival were selling bottled water, instead water points were provided for refilling water bottles – an initiative to reduce plastic waste.
While the use of a port-a-loo is never a pleasant experience, I survived the horrible ordeal intact. Surprisingly there was a constant supply of TP and they were in a bearable state – (I’m pretty sure the fact that he boys and the girls were kept separate had a lot to do with this).
The weather over the weekend was slightly less than desirable, uncharacteristically cold for October. I discovered the best way to keep warm was to worm my way into the middle of the heaving crowd and siphon off the body heat around me – either that or to start dancing vigorously in order to work up a sweat.
Nu World Beat Barn
While there were showers available to get clean, I decided that the long queues were not worth getting momentarily clean only to be once again covered in a layer of dust. I heard tales of girls queuing for up to an hour and a half to have a shower and blow-dry their hair in the ladies only Daisy Den. In my opinion part of the festival experience is to rough it out and look forward to the long, rejuvenating shower once you return home.
Even though the crowd was enormous, somehow people managed to form some sort of unspoken bond. I struck up conversations with complete strangers and was met with friendly replies. The YouTube viral video of a talking squirrel-like animal from the show ‘Funny Talking Animals’ by BBC One in the UK made a prominent appearance, with calls of “Allan! Allan! Steve! Steve!” filling the air in the campsite.
Despite having minimal sleep, the crowd was full of energy and just wanted to dance. During one performance, Jeremy Loops asked the crowd to sit down while he played a slow build up to a song. Everyone was so excitable they didn’t stay down for long and were once again up and jumping before the build up was over.
Trenton and the Free Radicals in action
One of my fears became reality a number of times during the festival – getting lost in a 15 000 strong crowd does lead to hours of endless wandering. Once darkness descended the most important rule became: don’t separate from the group! Although getting lost wasn’t always all that bad – it gave me the opportunity to make new friends.
As to what I should wear to the festival – this turned out to be a complete non-issue. Anything goes. There were a number of people wearing head to toe animal suits, guys in tight-fitting daisy dungarees, sailor suits and top hats. Strangest of all was the two girls dressed in full body lycra suits decorated to make them look like blow-up dolls, running at anyone unfortunate enough to stray into their vicinity.
Overall, Rocking the Daisies 2012 was an action-packed, fun-fuelled, rocking weekend. Even though there were a few thousand people more than I would have liked, the festival had no major hitches (although I did leave early enough on Sunday morning to miss the hour long traffic jam of cars trying to leave the venue). See you there next year!
Check out this time lapse video to give you an idea of what Rocking the Daisies 2012 was like:
Rocking The Daisies 2012 – a Timelapse story from retroyspective on Vimeo.
Rocking the Daisies
Cape Town’s biggest festival, Rocking the Daisies, takes place every year in Darling on the first weekend of October. There’s a huge range of entertainment on, from bands and DJs to films and live comedy. You can either walk, cycle or car-pool to Rocking the Daisies.
Read more Getaway blogs on Rocking the Daisies:
10 things I learned at Rocking the Daisies (2010)
How to dress for Rocking the Daisies (2010)
Walking the daisies (2010)
Walk for your right to party (2011)
11 tips for surviving a music festival (2012)
How to survive Walking the Daisies (2012)
Were you at Rocking the Daisies 2012? What did you think of the festival? Share your thoughts below.
