As an individual who is passionate about the deep house and techno scene, I tend to keep up to date with the up and coming Cape Town events brought to you by organizations such as We Love Summer, Split Milk and occasionally even the more commercialized trance jolls such as Sun Flower Festival - where to the disappointment of my trance junky friends, most of my time is spent under the techno tent. Throughout my 3 and a half years in the Cape I have had the privilege of witnessing some of SA's biggest dance artists perform live, often in accordance with a number of international headliners - Kyle Watson, Black Coffee, Shapeless, Alok and Victor Ruiz are just a few, of the names that I hold fond memories of seeing live in the mother city and its neighboring suburbs.
As a student who holds a degree in marketing, I tend to recognize the marketing tactics put into play by a lot of the above mentioned event companies who use online platforms such as Facebook in order to promote and spread the word of their particular event through hosting online competitions . Having said this, it is not often I enter competitions that promise free VIP tickets along with other luxuries due to the shear 'cringiness' of showing off my desperation in the eyes of my 966 (and growing) Facebook friends, as well as the fact that many fear these competitions are completely rigged in the sense that surely only the event organizers' direct relatives have a chance of winning.
2 weeks ago however, I came across a competition held by Sexy Groovy Love which offered 4 free tickets, a bottle of tequila, 6 red bulls and a free locker in exchange for the person who shared their fondest sexy groovy memory on the events Facebook wall page . After scrolling down the events wall and noticing the poor efforts made by others in an attempt to win tickets, I noticed that it was only a matter of days until the competition winners were announced , so I gave it my best shot - and due to my overly competitive nature I was announced the winner that Friday after I may or may not have told 90 odd friends to go and like my post.
Having just 'migrated' from Stellenbosch to Cape Town, the vast majority of my friends and girlfriend still live in Stellenbosch, so after scheming plans with the buggers on whatsapp it was swiftly decided that Pre drinks for the joll would take place that side. From 12 till 2 pm, fifteen of us clapped vodka mixes at my girlfriends digs on Banghoek road, until we were well fueled for the afternoon ahead and our shuttle bus had arrived. The shuttle took us too and from the event for a mere total of R70 per person with a transit time of about 40 minutes each way - which seemed shorter due to the 'fire' tunes being produced by the person holding the shuttles auxiliary chord (me).
After arriving at my all time favorite venue (Rheboskloof), I was swiftly met by a well mannered member of the Sexy Groovy Love team called Amy who quickly saw to my needs. The locker was delt with first before she then delivered the goods we had all been waiting for (The tequila and Redbulls). Our friendship group immersed itself on the edge of the grassy island in the shade which over looked the dam and was adjacent to the stage. The tequila was polished within the first hour and as more and more of it was consumed the more excitement among the group began to build - so much so that my brother plundered down the rocky embankment slicing his tricep open which required 5 stitches the next day.
Whilst we continued to build steam for the evening ahead, there was a slight dilemma which occurred with the overhanging dance floor decor. The small issue was however delt with in a quick and professional manner by the events security team and 10 minutes later the dance floor had begun too build serious numbers and the vibe had picked up tremendously from the 10 or 11 eager beavers going at it 30 minutes prior.Sexy Groovy managed to achieve the perfectly fine lined balance between an overly intimate trance joll where the crowd wouldn't look out of place on set a game of thrones episode, and a commercial sell out such as ultra festival where 18 year old males hunt in prides for fresh binnay whilst their dilated pupils bulge and their jaws clench like Stimorol is going out of fashion. On quite the contrary, the event always seizes to maintain a unique element of class about it, predominantly attracting those who ooze fashion sense, happy vibes and a mature stigma about themselves.
Sexy Groovy also managed to to restore my faith in the howler system which is a cashless and sustainable method of payment that most event companies are implementing in todays era however some more effectively than others - Throwback to February at the Cape Town Tens where it took 15 painful minutes of the barman holding up the card machine to the gods in hope of a successful transaction being achieved. On the topic of 'barman', the bar service was impeccable and I can safely say that I did not que for longer than 2 minutes at a time, ensuring that I never missed out on any of the dance floor action.
Whilst certain general observations have been mentioned, one definitely cannot ignore the line up that the event put on show for us. Dean Fuel eased us into the sunset set which had the dance floor grooving. Jeremey Olander on the other hand was in a league of his own, producing sounds that could only have been created by some sort of techno guru . Yet again Sexy Groovy had converted me from a casual fan of their headlining act, into a passionate ambassador of a musical genius who deserves better global recognition than he currently attains - The event organizers always seem to grasp the 'nack' of locating these underground gems .
As the night drew to a close, Lady M toyed with our feelings, hinting at a set extension but leaving us heartbroken as the sound cut and the crowds made their way back to their respective shuttles, buses and cars. After an impressive performance made by Joachim Pastor in 2016 at this exact same event, my expectations were at an all time high come march 2017, but yet again these were well and truly exceeded. Thank you for putting together such a spectacular day guys - you continue to have my up most loyalty. The future of Cape Towns festival scenes is well and truly in safe hands ladies and genetleman.
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