Jozifest 2012

Jozifest was an interesting experience but it needed something special to be memorable.

The lineup was strong but too many recently popular acts pulled out or were rumoured to be playing and then did not. If festival organisers want to hold well-attended events in Johannesburg, they need to cater for their audience properly.

A few bands overcame some stage challenges but the event was average.

Apparently Haezer and Die Antwoord were supposed to play. They did not. Haezer played a Cape Town gig. He could not get a flight to play Johannesburg too. It seems rather odd to me but the independent dance music scene is small in SA. The organisers did apologise.

What is unclear is why Die Antwoord did not play. They played Pretoria on Friday but the Jozifest organizers claimed they had to do Letterman on the weekend too.
Then, it came to light they were playing Letterman on the Monday. They could have flown on Sunday night.

That is rather confusing. Surely, planning for Die Antwoord could have been better.
Nevertheless, Jozifest is a new event and it otherwise ran quite well in a few places.

The event took place in Newtown on Friday night and then from midday on Saturday until around 3am, more bands made noises on stages. Some even entertained their fans and one-off audiences. It got going by 8pm on Saturday, which is a pity because it meant most of the day bands played to small crowds. If locals claim to support local music, they should be at the festival for much of its allotted time.

One of the standout performances was Lark’s. The members’ chemistry does not wane. Inge Beckmann was very entertaining on stage too. Lark’s crowd was bigger than most other bands’ crowds. The large crowd may have given the performance something extra. It stands as a lesson to music goers in SA. If you can get a big crowd together, the gig will be better.

Other highlights were 340ml, with a rare appearance, also aKing and Josie Field.
The sound on the main stage was weak. Apparently, it is difficult to get good acoustics in this Newtown set-up. It was still disappointing. Although, by the time Lark played, the sound had improved. This was around 11pm, strange. The dance and DJ stages were decent and their sound was far superior.

Next time, the main acts for the main audience should perform on the stage with the best acoustics.

The food was decent even if beer choice was limited to Amstel for much of Saturday.

It was a fairly fun, if average event but R150 was not excessive for two days of entertainment. The lineup proved to be good. With Haezer, it would have been better and pulled more of a crowd.

Alistair Anderson