One of the great things about the Peanut was the fact that it provided protection from the elements. Heat, cold, rain, you name it, the tent was a safe-haven from it all. Saturday turned out to be a bit of a scorcher, but inside the Peanut the music floated out of the soundsystem like a cool breeze.
Soulo Starr opened the stage with a set of fluid hip-hop inspired electronica from the likes of Flying Lotus interjected with sultry beats performed live off of his MPC sampler. As his set moved to a close he began playing classic head-nodders from artists such as Biggy, NAS and Mos Def which ignited a lunchtime dancefloor.
Next up Audiophile 021 wasted no time testing the soundsystem with his Dubstep rinsers. Finding a middle line between gnarly, heavy bass-step and the deep mature dub sounds, the bass and beats worked its magic on the growing fresh day-time crowd.
Afterwards it was time for some local hiptronica. Sedge Warbler, comprised of mad scientist Dank and Benicio Del Torro impersonator Disco Israel, delivered an inspired set of fibrillating thug rap laid over bassline driven spit-fire beats. Voicetag took over the reigns next with their Bobby McFerrin-for-the-beat-generation electro jazz hop.
Kenzhero stepped up next to play out his signature hip-hop, soul, funk that has made his Party People events so popular and by this time Rocking the Daisies was well under way. The tent was filling up rapidly and outside thousands of eager beavers were taking in the music as they danced, ate, swam and socialised in celebration.
Following Kenny, Prankster were somewhat of a hit-and-miss affair. Their low-slung trip-hop inspired songs were overall pleasing to the ear, but their disco-house numbers didn’t sound that great. They were thankfully followed by a trio who can really lay claim to the words ‘disco’ and ‘house’, the distinguished Joburg dons Digital Rockit who morphed the dancefloor from faffing-around-fun to serious stomping action.
Mix n Blend stepped up next for a DJ set of beats, breaks and drum n bass ending off with the iconic “King Of the Swingers” by African Dope founders Krushed and Sorted. It was a little disappointing that they didn’t perform their live show with EJ Von Lyrik and Crosby, but being talented musicians and DJs, they were able to rock the party easy enough (and in any case EJ Von Lyrik was ironically performing on the main stage during their set anyway).
Twelv and Thesis jumped onto the stage as the sun went down and the night began. The duo, comprised of music producer Twelv and emcee Thesis, are Joburg stalwarts who are professional party rockers. Pounding out hyper rap over thundering break-beat, they had more energy when sober on stage than the audience mashed up on drugs.
Drum n Bass is a genre that has remained solidly captivating for over a decade. Cape Town’s ambassador for the genre, Niskerone, came on to raise the energy of the stage to hysterical levels and by the time he was finished several thousand people were inside the Peanut ready for a night of hedonistic amplified sound.
Ready D is not so much a DJ as he is an institution. With over two decades of DJing under his belt he effortlessly wiled the the crowd up with straight-up hip-hop, funk and reggae punctuated by expert scratching and turntable prowess.
He was followed by Sibot, an artist who really knows no boundaries. An accomplished turntablist, DJ and producer Si has an ability that very few DJs and producers have: he can make instantly catchy music. From ‘Super Evil’ to ‘12345’ to the recent ‘Fet Snoek’, over the years Sibot has contributed a fair share of dancefloor bangers and his hour-long live set, using a studio worth of equipment, shows that he is still the best.
From there on out the night could only be described as wild-abandoned-hedonism. Liver smashed out electro stomping madness followed by Enough Weapons and their signature break-beat hysteria. Anthea kept the crowd alive with her straight-laced fours-to-the-floors a perfect opener for Killer Robot, Cape Town’s much loved dance-floor mafia who burnt the midnight oil with their impeccable techno selection.
The night ended off with Killer Robot member Ivan playing his own recent Red Bull Studio production with soul-sonic crooner Mey, wowing the crowd with their tech-inspired sing-along magic.
As Killowatt, the sound system company responsible for the Peanut, turned off the sound early Sunday morning, the shock of 17 hours of the best electronic music set in: all one could think of was that there was one more day of madness and if the last two days were anything to go by, Sunday was going to take no prisoners.
.jpg "Hands up")
Comments
Add a comment