By Theodorah Manjo

Published Tuesday, 13 August 2019 11:37

Parklife SA together with Jacaranda FM held their Parklife Gourmet Food & Music Festival on the 9th of August, at the Emmarentia Botanical Gardens. National Women’s Day, a public holiday on a Friday and the weather played its part too, definitely a grand start to a long weekend in Joburg.

This festival was well organized with flyers and social media communication of where to park, what time the acts came on and exactly what was and was not allowed on the day. Helpful security guards guided fans to the correct place to park for free and lead everyone in with a smile of enthusiasm.

The festival started promptly at 10:30 am with singer, songwriter - Werner Bekker. He played his acoustic sounds as the crowd slowly started pulling and finding comfortable places to sit. His music drowned in the busyness of people trying to settle in, starting so early was an injustice to what he had to offer; but nevertheless, he gave the best performance on his acoustic guitar.

Janie Bay, the fashionista musician graced the stage with her soft vocals, playing some of the crowds’ favourite songs and even performed a cover by Sam Smith called 'Dancing With a Stranger', which as she claimed was one of her favourite songs playing on the radio currently. Janie was the only artist that stuck around after her performance next to the stage signing CD’s, taking pictures and getting to know her fans that ranged from 8-year-old little girls to the ouma’s who commended her on her voice.

Sun getting warmer and warmer, the smell of gourmet food and the decorated drinks were the order of the day. Mack and Danie from Jacaranda FM were the MC’s of the day and they did a great job introducing all the musicians and keeping the audience up to date with what was to be expected on the day.

Emmarentia Park swiftly started filling up from the front by the young and old, and Charlie Finch livened up the crowd with his band. Blue haired guitarist for a vibe and having a great time on stage was exactly what was needed at that time; he played his new song 'It’s Never Over' which seemed to be the song fans were waiting on as they got up from their picnic blankets with drinks in hand, and started to dance to the jam.

That performance was just the beginning, the indie rock band Desmond and the Tutus took onto the stage and had everybody on their feet and closer to the stage. Their much loved classic 'Lazy Bones' took everyone back to a few years ago, dancing, singing and ironically, absolutely no lazybones in-sight. Shane, the lead singer went into the crowd and stacked people’s hats on his head as he joined in the fun of concert-goers. Hands up in the air, all voices singing in harmony (or not) – the fans had a great time during their set.

All sets were promptly 15 minutes. Everything ran like a well-oiled machine, no uncalled for delays, no running out of drinks, enough food and working ablution facilities. Something that would get two thumbs up.

Lady Zamar was running late, so her slot was taken by the incredible rock band aKing. They should have closed off the show because wow! aKing reminded us of the rock we had been craving all day; drums, guitars, vocals - within the second it all made sense why people had gotten out of bed on such a much needed public holiday. Dirty sneakers, load singing, topped up drinks and the not-so-shy dance moves all came out to play as fans enjoyed the band.

The beautiful Lady Zamar came on stage around 3 pm and sang some goodies from her new album Monarch. Known for her stage presence, she didn't disappoint with her dancers. Her much-anticipated songs, 'Charlotte' and 'Collide' set the park on fire with everyone singing and dancing along in the warm sun. It was a pity she didn’t sing much of the songs everyone knows and loves, which left the crowd standing and just watching throughout most of her performance. A lovely surprise was having a live band with her, which added a different touch that Zamartians didn’t expect.

Mr Prime Circle, Ross Learmonth cooled everything off with a very chilled acoustic vibe. Too chilled in fact, he would have worked earlier on in the day. The old Prime Circle favourites just didn’t sound the same without the rest of the band and the different rendition he gave the songs, left fans a bit disoriented. Ross is known for his unmatched vocal abilities, and he swooned the crowed with a Beetles track called 'Across The Universe', that was an absolutely beautiful ending to his set.

Parklife closed the day off with the much anticipated and loved Matthew Mole. He had his beloved ukulele and graced the crowd with his hair raising vocals; simply dressed in dungarees and played with the drummer who was a part of the Desmond and the Tutus band earlier in the day.

The music was fairly low for the majority of the day and the volume was only cranked up around 3 pm, the downside of having a concert in a fairly residential area. The crowd was very well behaved; people were still sitting neatly on their picnic blankets right until the end. All in all, a very well organized event with not as much of a big crowd as anticipated but it was a great way to start the long weekend.