OMD in Cape Town – a great night out

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Did I miss the Zeitgeist on this one? It’s Sunday lunchtime, and the concert was Thursday night.
But I’ve been busy and tired and chilled, so this is late.
I get it.
Sorry, not sorry.

But still a concert and an evening absolutely worth documenting. Starting with a decent free parking spot a whole 100m from the gig: I’m really not sure where else you can do this. And sure, we were there only about an hour after the doors opened, but why not make use of the VIP bar, seated area, sunshine and early entertainment from SA’s own Werner Bekker?

Burger and chips and a visit to the merch store sorted, we grabbed some space on the grass and waited for éVoid, infamous for their 1984 hits Taximan and Shadows. And they played, and the crowd – seemingly exclusively 50 and 60-something year olds from Parow and Edgemead, and encouraged by a Bok Radio DJ – lapped it up. It was such a feelgood moment watching people transported back 40 years, back to whatever club in which they were dancing to that SA New Wave “Ethnotronica”. And they really were back there. Acting like they were teenagers, for as long as their knees would let them.

But wait… there’s more… OMD.
Andy McCluskey not looking any older than 12 years ago. Paul Humphries with only a passing resemblance to Jerry St. Clair from Phoenix Nights. They were just happy to be there, you could feel it from the first moment.

What followed was just under two hours of nostalgia, energy, audience engagement, incredible stage presence and just really good vibes. Starting with some new stuff, as expected, before Messages and Souvenir dragged us back to our youth.

A brave Kraftwerk-esque performance of Veruschka was a particular highlight for me, after which McCluskey thanked the audience for indulging them with “a slow, new one”.

The interplay between the crowd and McCluskey was just perfect: each feeding on the other’s energy and enthusiasm and just pure enjoyment of the moment.

A powerful, loud, brash – but still tight – version of Enola Gay rounded off the set before a stonking encore of Look At You Now, Pandora’s Box and Electricity sent everybody home happy, although I do suspect that everyone involved could happily have gone on for at least another hour.

All in all, just such a great evening. Band and audience both recognising their roles and duties on the night, and then performing them perfectly. One I will remember for a long time.

Videos courtesy of my daughter, who also had a great evening

Chilled weekend, part I

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It’s been a week and a half.

Not chronologically. Nothing changed there. But this week has been a mission. One in which I eventually succeeded, but at what cost?

Lol. I’ll live.

But, with next week and weekend (more on that later) looking rather busy/hectic/exciting, I’m taking it easy for this next couple of days.

Please forgive me if I extend that to blogging as well.

Up, up and away

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A really great night last night, but more on that later, because we woke up to thick fog this morning. And while thick fog doesn’t really make for great photography conditions when you’re in it, if you can get over it, then suddenly, everything changes.

And so I grabbed the drone and headed out, and I did manage to get over it, all 80m of thick stuff lying over the Southern Suburbs, and what’s more, I managed to do it just as the sun came up over the Hottentots Holland Mountains out beyond the Cape Flats.

Looking first that way:

And then turning to see the Mountain sitting like some majestic island emerging from the low clouds:

Glorious light. Horrendous rush hour traffic.

Cape Town showing off, if you could only get to see it. Anyway, always nice to slip in an impromptu photoshoot before I get on with my very busy day.
Which, having done, I must now do.

Is the tide turning…?

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Was scrapping FA Cup replays a watershed moment?

Henry Winter adds his name to those fed up of the Football Association pandering to the whims and needs (of the boards) of the Big 6:

I am also one of these people, but I don’t quite have his pedigree:

Winter is the current Football Journalist of the Year at the British Sports Journalism Awards, where the judges said last month he “has a unique connection to his readership and football fans” and is a “voice of genuine authority and respected by those in the game”.
Winter is also the most recent Writer of the Year at the Football Supporters’ Association Awards.
His authority is long-held: in 2010 he was voted Britain’s top sports journalist in a Press Gazette poll of journalists and the general public.

When people like Henry Winter are (rightfully) getting upset about this untenable situation, then it’s about time the FA start paying attention.

Here’s another veteran football journalist, Alan Biggs:

The fans want replays. The fans love the traditions of the game. But by the end of this evening, it’s quite likely that every English club will have been eliminated from European competition this year, ahead of the semi-final stages, nogal. And we can’t have that happening again, because that means no more money for the Big 6 and the FA, both of whom are really struggling financially, so something else is going to have to change.

And the other 86 clubs and their hundreds of thousands of fans must just deal with it.

OMD tonight

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Weather is good.
Tickets are by the door, ready to go.
We’re looking forward to a fun night and some great music.

Support by local boys eVoid, who had 2 hits way back when in 1984, and – according to all the sources I can find – haven’t had much success since. But live music is always good to hear, and I’ll be looking forward to them finishing their set with (I’m guessing at this point) Taximan and Shadows.

Going to stick my neck out and make another prediction, which is that Andy McCluskey will introduce their fifth song of the evening – Kleptocracy – with a suitably Scouse anti-authoritarian comparison of the UK and SA governments. Power to the people, aluta continua, innit?

At least half the line-up are big Liverpool FC fans, which might not make for the happiest of evenings (for them, at least). Let’s hope that they don’t have one eye on the football.
Although alternatively, I suppose if things go really well in Bergamo, it might be all night party time.

Either way: I’m more than ready for some old skool (and a bit of new skool) electronica.