Skunk Anansie, enough to make a grown man cry

Yes, there were perpetual queues for the porta-loos and showers, the main area was only open from 9am, there was only one ATM, no security patrolling the camp site to stop creeps from stealing your shit, very little space to set up camp, and the sound at the main stage was iffy at the best of times.

But hey, these issues are nothing that a few wet wipes and a little more consideration can't fix. Moving on to the good stuff...

A mental must-see-or-die list

Why was Rocking the Daisies sold out this year? The line-up! What a massive line-up; it was certainly the most well-rounded line-up that a South African festival has ever seen. However, you can't possibly watch every single act, so to prevent yourself from running around like a headless chicken you require a game plan - mine was to make a mental must-see-or-die list. Okay, maybe that's a bit melodramatic, but a must-see list must be drawn up.

My list featured The Dirty Skirts, Spoek Mathambo, alt-J, The Hives, and Skunk Anansie. I managed to catch three out of five, but I did catch a few bonuses as well: Hot Water, Momantss (aka Momentss), Jack Parow, and Ready D. There were three acts that really blew my hair back: Skunk Anansie, Jack Parow, and Momantss.

Socially conscious rhymes

The Dirty Skirts

While strolling back to camp on Friday night, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside after catching the long-awaited reunion show of The Dirty Skirts, I stumbled onto Momantss. Man alive, do these guys have some mad skills! You'll recognise the lead from his work with folk star Jeremy Loops; rapper Motheo Moleko and his Afro-funk-rap outfit are making a helluva racket on the SA music scene, delivering some socially conscious rhymes. They started off their set with a handful of people, but the sound was contagious enough to pull in a bigger crowd eager to feed their souls with raw music.

According to an interview on Okayafrica.com, they're currently working on an EP, so aren't doing much gigging at the moment, but will be playing at The Rockwell Hotel in Sea Point on 15 November 2013.

While I'm more into their up-tempo tracks, this performance of Psychosis at Jozi on Fire is a delicious taster:

A party ain't a party until Parow pulls in

Once the magic of Momantss simmered down, I caught the sound waves of Jack Parow's Cooler as Ekke coming from the "electro stage" - naturally I couldn't resist. I ran up to catch the arse end of his set where a massive crowd was getting down to Hard Partytjie Hou followed by that banger of a track, Dans Dans Dans. To be perfectly honest, I always thought of Jack Parow as a fad, but I'll be the first to admit, I was so wrong. A party ain't a party until Parow pulls in, ridiculous peaked hat 'n' all. I was so in the mood to dance after his set that I even stuck around for a bit of Ready D.

Smashing through the kick-drum

Now, if you were there on Saturday night and managed to catch Skunk Anansie, you'll know exactly what I'm on about ...

Image by Jonx Pillemer

Enough to make a grown man cry, Skunk Anansie, but mostly the charismatic lead Skin, put on an unforgettable performance to mark the end of their 2013 tour. Skin stalked around the stage like she owned it, and she did, later venturing out into the crowd belting out old-school Skunk to a howling throng of fans. I have the feeling that their legion who pitched up in Cape Town in 1998, made the trip to Darling just for this set because they knew it would be memorable. Walking through a seated crowd that erupted onto their feet during the chorus of Little Baby Swastika, Skin made her way to the sound engineer set-up at the back of the crowd, and crowd-surfed her way back to the stage, putting the ultimate cap on their set by smashing through the kick-drum in true rock 'n' roll style with her mic stand.

And that was it, game over, that was where Rocking the Daisies 2013 ended for me. Well played, Seed Experiences, well played...

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