Lets Talk about the Weekend

Fashion, Music, Art, Food.

These are the central themes at South Africa's (fairly) new music and lifestyle, 24-hour festival - Little Gig.

All photos courtesy of Little Gig

Having performed the previous year with my band, The Rudimentals, I was dead keen to go this year. Fortunately, we managed to work out a deal with the festival organiser as she needed a band to play at her birthday party, so we struck a deal on the ticket prices. Why would we? Because the cheapest tickets start at R2000 ($200) for this 24 hour party. They go up to about R15000 if you would like the festival to provide luxury accommodation.

Once inside the festival, everything is free. Feel like a double-vodka and red bull to start you off? No problem. The bar was fully stocked to provide for a slightly older crowd that came there to party hard.

But, the nice thing about an older crowd at a festival is - no drama. People were obviously getting loose, but you didn't see any fights between couples, no paralytic drunk dude being carried by his mates, no women having to have their hair held back. Just good, ~~clean~~ fun.

The Music

The performers were a super eclectic mix.

Stelth Ulvang from The Lumineers played an awesome, chilled set, using some local musicians to support him.

Nonku Phiri played a decent set, but I was not impressed with how she spoke to the audience. At one point, she badgered some audience members for talking, telling them to move away. Now, I understand that kind of behavior if it was a jazz set in an intimate club, but at a raucous music festival, where people had paid upwards of $200 per ticket? I'm sorry, no. But, I enjoyed her music.

The fashion sense of some of these performers was just incredible.

...and then there was this guy...

I think that image alone sums up how outrageous this festival was.

Blinky Bill from Kenya played a super interesting set, although at times it seemed like he was not sure whether to play his own original music or the usual "crowd pleasers".

The highlight set for me was definitely by Black Motion. They played an incredibly diverse set and kept the dancefloor heaving the entire time.

Food

No hot dogs and burgers up in this joint. No, with a premium clientele to cater for, there were stalls handing out beautiful Indian curry, sushi, lamb ribs, vegetarian kebabs, pancakes with all sorts of toppings, and so much more. There was also a central "condiments" table that had Meldon salt, cheese sauce, and BACON BITS!

There was even an area dedicated to wine and food pairing.

There was a "Shop" where you could grab a packet of crisps, some cigarettes, a bag of sour sweets, an iced lolly or even some sunscreen if you suddenly found yourself without. All of it free.

There was an abundance of areas to sit back, enjoy the sun, and chill in style.

The entertainment areas were incredible, with beautiful design everywhere you cast your eye.

And beautiful people.

Some of the weird and wonderful activities you could take part in included a 20-minute "power nap" in a hammock, which included bluetooth headphones to isolate you from the party with relaxing music.

Or a swim in the river.

Or...yoga. Yup, they had yoga.

As someone who doesn't like to party or go to clubs and bars, this really was the ultimate way for me to get out, enjoy some downtime, and let my hair down, surrounded by artfully dressed men and women, beautiful food, great music, and great friends.

Put it on your bucket list and make sure to get down to Little Gig 2019 when it comes around. Many thanks to Georgia Black for putting on such an incredible event.