Review: My Coke Fest 08 in Johannesburg 21 March 2008

This weekend I was able to get to the My Coke Fest 08 held at the New Market Racetrack near Johannesburg. It is billed as the biggest Rock Festival held in South Africa, with a line-up of:

Local bands -

Lonehill Estate
Crash Car Burn
Wonderboom
Prime Circle

International bands -

30 Seconds to Mars
Kaiser Chiefs
Good Charlotte
Chris Cornell
Muse
Korn

The Venue

The stage looked pretty good, with two video screens on either side and a big one behind the stage. The sound was also actually OK. I have been to quite a few big festivals in South Africa, and often it is the sound that disappoints.

Facilities were also pretty good. Two years ago I attended this same festival at another venue, and I believe that people nearly died from dehydration. This time, apart from being allowed to bring in 1 litre of water each, it was very easy to buy drinks too. Parking was fine and everything very well organised.

The Shows
I arrived in time for the last few songs in Wonderboom's set. They are one of my all time favourite SA bands, and I was disappointed to have missed most of their set (my GPS had issues with the exact location of the venue). Regardless - what I heard was great, with them finishing off with their excellent cover of Rabbitt's 'Charlie'.

Next up was Prime Circle - I have seen them several times and they definitely improve every time. Live their blend of AOR and MOR comes across heavier, rockier and fun. On stage with them was an additional guitarist from the Nudies. It was a quick set of 5 songs only and then the wait for the International bands was over!

30 Seconds to Mars came on amidst a huge girlie scream. Jared Leto looked the picture perfect emo rocker. They screamed and shrieked through a fairly solid set, with Leto spending quite some time between songs chatting to the crowd. Apparently 4 tracks from their last album were recorded in SA. At one stage Leto moved out into the crowd to try for some more interactive stuff, but this was cut short by what seemed to be a power failure (I thought that maybe he had been mugged - this is Johannesburg after all). After a couple of minutes they were all back on stage and completed their set.

Next came Kaiser Chiefs, to me like a refreshing burst of sunlight after the doom, gloom, shrieking and wailing of 30 Seconds. They kicked off with 'Every day I love you less and less', and contrasted completely with 30 Seconds. Strong, witty and melodic tunes seemed to suddenly turn the party on! The crowd were singing along, and the number of songs they could play that everybody recognised were surprising to me considering that they only have two albums out. Ricky Wilson impressed with some astounding one-legged dancing! One song was introduced as a new one - either called 'History' or 'Memory' which gives an inclination that album number 3 will be just as good as the last two.

Considering the paucity of good international acts venturing into South Africa, it was incredible to witness an act as slick as this laying the party down so effectively - for me, I could not believe it was happening. I'm not sure how things sounded on the stage to the band, but I had a concern that crowd participation was not what they were used to, but looking around me, the crowd were certainly having a good time. The Chiefs finished off their set as the sun set.

After a longish wait, Good Charlotte came on. They went down extremely well with the younger element in the crowd, but I heard quite a few derogatory comments coming from the Korn faithfuls. Their brand of radio friendly pop had the crowd singing along, and it was quite amusing to hear all the guys in the open air latrines singing: 'Girls don't like boys, they...'.

Joel was effusive about the country, and the crowd. He also dedicated The Cures 'Love Song' to his new born baby daughter (I prefer the Cure version).

After GC came Chris Cornell. Another complete contrast when compared to the act before. No funny hats, no twiddly poking at keyboard keys and not much chit chat. What we got was intense guitar riffing, rock solid sounds, extremely strong songs and The Voice. This was good hard rocking with solo songs alongside Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden and Audioslave songs. Cornell is, without a doubt, a rock god. His backing band delivered an immense sound and Cornell was on fine form. In the middle of the set he invited a local guy on stage (called Gareth) to play along on an acoustic track. This set was definitely over too soon, but the sense of anticipation for the next group carried me through with euphoria levels maintained.

After a longish break, and my witnessing some amusing altercations between the Vice Squad and underage drinkers, the next act came on - Muse.

Chris, Dom and Matt came on stage and transformed the evening! I don't believe that they had their full lighting set with them as I saw no lasers, but they had enough. Song after song was delivered with a flourish, and there was no reason to doubt the judges who saw fit to proclaim Muse the best live band in the world. Witness Matt doing knee slides across the stage while peeling off blistering guitar solos. Matt's fingers flying across the piano keyboard, guitar slung across his back - only to leap up and peel off some huge demolishing riffage.

The crowd were stunned. I heard grown men singing along word for word in high keening voices (I cast about for my BB gun as I momentarily thought the cats were on the garden wall again), and just as what I thought must have been the best live performance of a song ended, the next one started and bettered the previous one. I can't remember how many songs were played and how long the set lasted, but I remember thinking as they sang '..time is running out...' that yes indeed it was. We would have to wait a very long time here in South Africa before seeing something as awesome as this again.

After an inordinately long break, Korn came on (I amused myself visualising them in a fluster after a late start to their make-up application routine - maybe there was a bit of a bust up over who stole Munky's mascara). Eventually they made it on stage and looked dressed to kill - literally. Davis in his skirt of course, with me hoping not to catch a glimpse of what was going on under there, as he lept up and down on-stage. The sound was truly mind numbing, and I don't think SA has witnessed anything as formidable as this ever before. Everything was there including the bag-pipes, and the crowd lapped it up.

Overall, Muse came out tops for me, then Chris Cornell, the Kaiser Chiefs and then Korn.

The biggest rock festival in SA, and probably the only one this year - it was all over too soon!

CD Review: The Goo Goo Dolls - Greatest Hits Volume One The Singles

While always a big fan of the ‘Dizzy up the girl’ album, I had never heard anything else from the Goo Goo Dolls, and was not sure on where they stood in my personal ranking of great bands. I think I placed them in that twilight area of mediocre type American rock bands along with Matchbox 20, Collective Soul and Counting Crows i.e. bands that are capable of some very good moments, but also, of far more very average moments.

The Goo Goo Dolls always struck me as a bit different in the sense that they at least had a more distinctive sound, using less traditional open-tuning on their guitars, and the distinctive vocals of John Rzeznik. Tunes like Slide, Broadway and of course Iris came across as very satisfying. Another aspect in the make-up that has impressed me has been the absence of media hype. John Rzeznik keeps a relatively low profile and the Dolls seem to be happy to carry on with their mission, which to me seems to be that of putting out solid ballad type rock.

So then, the question is – how great is a Greatest Hits album from the Goo Goo Dolls? They have stamped it as Volume One (the singles), which must imply that they expect plenty more Hits in the years to come. Of the 14 tracks, 5 are from ‘Dizzy up the girl’ but it must be mentioned that ‘Name’ is in the form of a new version, and 'Feel the Silence' is a remix (and also not from Dizzy...). This does then push the balance over whether to decide to buy the album rather than just stick with ‘Dizzy up the girl’. My question is, however, why not tag on the original versions of both those songs too, for the completists? Sure it’s great to have a new version of ‘Name’ – but it’s not the ‘Name’ that was the single, was it?

OK, I got a bit side-tracked there. How good is the album? It’s got all the best bits of ‘Dizzy up the girl’, and then the best of the rest too, so to me it’s pretty good. This compilation is evidence of a master song crafter and acts as an impressive display of his wares. Great to sing along to as well, who can resist the ‘..there’s a young man sitting in an old man’s bar…’ of ‘Broadway’, or ‘…Oh May, do you wanna get married…’ of ‘Slide’, or even the ‘da na na na da na na na da daa…’ of ‘Iris’ (you know what I mean)?

If you don’t have anything by the Goo Goo Dolls already, this is a good place to start. If you already have all their albums, then maybe don’t bother. Here’s hoping that they can give us another as good as this one at the end of the next decade!

February 2008 what's on the Jukebox

This is a brief take on what I have been listening to recently and what I think of them i.e. my opinion on the current CD’s rotating through my player.

Jeff Buckley – Grace
I suppose that this does not need much explanation. For me it certainly speaks for itself. I absolutely love this album and can listen to it over and over again, gaining a new appreciation each time. It is no wonder that an author based a whole novel on this album (I read about this in a magazine once, but forget the name of the author, if I can find it I will update this post).

Radiohead – In Rainbows
I hope to post an entire separate review on Radiohead with the aim of selecting my favourite Radiohead album. But so far this one is up there with The Bends, OK Computer and Amnesiac. I am not sure how I am actually going to pick a single ‘winner’ as each album, to me, is so refreshingly different to the last. But let’s take one step at a time. Needless to say I have been listening to In Rainbows repeatedly over the past few months, and keep coming back for more.

Jeff Buckley – Mystery White Boy
I bought both Jeff Buckley albums as a combined double CD pack from Sony BMG. Their premise is to cut down on packaging, therefore bringing the music to the listener cheaper than usual. What they do is package the CD’s in a cardboard ‘slider’ pack, and refer the purchaser to their web-site http://www.musicmadesimple.info/ for details such as liner notes etc. This has not really worked for me as of the two packs I purchased, one was not on their web-site, and the other had no information up-loaded. Anyway, back to the actual album. Like Grace this is also a stunning album. It is a set of recordings of Buckley performing live. What amazes me is how he manages to reproduce the incredible vocal acrobatics done in the studio on stage too. Most of the tracks from Grace are here with only a few ‘new’ songs, but this album is well worth a listen.

Ted Nugent – Craveman
I got this in a bargain bin. The Nuge was with me all through my teenage years, and I felt a strong twinge of nostalgia when I saw the CD lying there all price-slashed. After all it was he who helped me through those troubled teenage years with songs and expressions such as ‘My love is like a tire iron’, ‘when in doubt I whip it out’ and of course ‘pretend my face is a maserati’. I have not paid much attention to the Nuge since then, and on hearing Penetrator in my twenties, was not that impressed. However, Craveman is actually quite a good album. The words in some of the songs are difficult to hear (but then so are they for most Radiohead songs these days), but the sound is great. I like it.

Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
OK it’s quite a leap from Ted Nugent to Midlake, but it works for me. The more I listen to this album, the more I like it. From the opening notes through to the end, this band creates a comforting and warm atmosphere. It’s like having an old friend over when you can open a bottle of wine and catch up on the latest news. I find that there are some key albums that I have come across in my life that I return to time and again, and get something new and positive from each time. This is one of them. The sound is rich and full-bodied, somewhere between the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, but completely their own. Apparently this is a bit of a concept album with all the songs relating to a central theme or thread - something about a guy stuck inside a papier-mache panther mask I think. Believe me it works! I really hope that they can match this in the future.