Park Acoustics at the fort: a cure to the Sunday Blues
I have not been to Park Acoustics in a while. The time I do decide to go; the weather was determined to be cold and gray, however it did not set me back to go on a Sunday blues adventure.
While we were waiting for the bus to get full, the people from Mieliepop festival had their funky Gorillas running around advertising their event. While walking down the narrow pathway up to the fort, nostalgia kicked in, bringing back good memories of Park Acoustic days.
James Tuft kicked off Park Acoustics. I have known about him for a long time, predominantly through his exploits as the ex- Holiday Murray front man and accomplished singer-songwriter. The man has a bit of a Jeff Buckley thing going on so I want to say he blew my mind away, but the truth is he stole my heart. His calm presence on stage was what I felt Park Acoustics needed so early in the morning. He threw a few copies of his EP, Four Song, into the crowd after his set, which can be streamed on Soundcloud.
Late Night Fox entered the stage next. I have not heard of them before their set at Park Acoustics, but I was totally surprised by them. Their music has this urban feel to it, nfluenced by groove and upbeat driven music which reminded me a bit of Bye Beneco. They are a bunch of talented individuals; Dani has an amazingly strong voice on her. Be sure to catch them live if you find yourself at Mieliepop Festival later this year.
Lost & Found is fairly new to the scene and come all the way from Cape Town They consist of Geln Hodgson (The Parlatones) on vocals and Jason Oosthuizen (Van Coke Kartel) behind the drums. Their music is alternative and carries an emotional feel. It is something that grows on you after a while. At the end of their set, Jason covered a few songs with his talented drum solos, ranging from Skrillex to old school drum solos. He is honestly a musical god when it comes to the way he plays the drums.
After 12 years and 5 albums down, Tidal Waves never disappoint. They are one of the hardest working bands in South Africa and plays over a 100 shows a year. Tidal Waves are widely respected by their fans. Tidal Waves had the crowd singing along to their songs in no time.
AKING has been around for years now. I have lost count of how many times I have seen them live. I feel Andrew Davenport chose an awesome journey to start playing for AKING. It has made him grow in his musical talents and has made Thieve stand out more with their new album. AKING is just one of those bands that never disappoints and always has the crowd signing along to all of their songs, even if it is off their new album.
It seemed like a lot of people only came out to support AKING and Tidal Waves, not that it is a bad thing, but after AKING’s set everyone left.
DJ Invizable, being the last music act of the day, was honestly worth the wait. What I like about this act is how mysterious he is and how not a lot of people know who he is. He jumped off the stage and interacted with the crowd, dancing around all the fans, which were left at the end of the day. Although he did slip in the mud, he managed to jump up, get up and had the crowd feeling alive again.
The beauty of a Sunday event is how the diversity of people unite together to make another Park Acoustics an eventful and successful day.
Park Acoustics is still one of the many events happening on a monthly basis that keeps the South African music scene going. Without an event like this happening every month, where else would you go for Pizza in a cone and a cure to the Sunday Blues?
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