So what makes Synergy stand out, apart from the crazy funfair rides? Well, the festival cast its line into the diverse social scene that is Cape Town and managed to reel in fans from all walks of life - from your dreadlocked hippies to your six-packed jocks, from your tree-hugging earth-lovers to your hip hopping head boppers, from your must-keep-moving trancers to your don't stop till you get enough dancers. Yes, they all came, saw and conquered Synergy Live. In some cases however, the festival may have gotten the better of its tent dwellers...
At 6.30am, on a wee-stop to the NICE toilets (ha ha, nice toilets), many may have had to pinch themselves as we experienced a collective surreal moment. There, ambling around, was a woman with nothing on but a t-shirt - her t-shirt unfortunately was not long enough to cover her completely exposed bottom (half). It was an early morning shocker that left most of us awestruck and somewhat confused. The said pants-less woman went in and out of toilet stalls not quite in touch with the rest of the world.
It's not new that at these festivals people let themselves go - and why the hell not - drinking sumptuous amounts of booze, climbing into wrong tents, pee-ing on cars - it's all part of the fun - but to lose your pants and walk around in broad daylight. I'd like to know A: what in the world was she on and B: where were her friends? Possibly most important of all - where were her pants?
Being busy with the raffle we hosted at Synergy for the Nazareth House there was barely any time to catch the bands playing. One thing no one can complain about though is the super line-up of artists and DJs.
We managed to catch QTTM aka Quiet Time early Friday afternoon. They're an instrumental rock band - yes, they got the drums, guitar and bass but no vocalist. Unconventional indeed but they're awesome nonetheless (and I'm not just saying so because Sean Drummond, the drummer, entered our raffle - and he didn't win anything, by the way).
The Dirty Skirts put on a stellar performance as usual, raising a mini-mosh that did not impress some front-row fans. The Skirts were followed by Zebra & Giraffe, the Joburg indie-rock sensation who are opening this weekend for The Killers. Their night was clearly not going smoothly after taking ages to get their sound check in order. Once they got the ball rolling though it was great to see the energy they had the crowd beaming while singing along.
Another Jozie band down for the festival, The Sick Leaves, took a break from recording their third album for a tour to the Cape.
Says Eksteen Jacobsz, songwriter, vocalist, bassist and guitarist of the band, "Synergy for me was an amazing experience for three reasons: One, the setting for this festival is, simply put, spectacular. I like mountains and there are lots of them surrounding the selected site. Two, there runs a river through it. In the searing heat this was a welcome cooling off spot as was illustrated by the hundreds of skin-showing guys and gals who hung out inside it and around the water. The atmosphere in there was just one of relaxation and good times. And three, our performance. With three big screens and amazing sound we couldn't ask for a better stage to play our music. It was a pity that the set was cut short due to Synergy running late, but we had a good time nevertheless."
Joe Penn, vocalist of The New Academics, summed his band's Synergy experience in one line: "Great festival, cool mix of music, hot, sweaty, beautiful."
The Rudimentals played on Saturday afternoon as the cruel sun began to fall and attracted all the ska fans who'd been dozing off in the shade. They're another Cape Town treasure that has such great stage presence and are real crowd-pleasers. They're vibrant, colourful and put the party mode into fifth gear for Saturday's festivities.
aKING played later on that evening, and one thing's for sure: there's nothing like being cramped up with a 1000-odd of their die-hard fans singing the chorus to Safe As Houses in unison. It gave me goosebumps I tell you, goosebumps!
After rewarding our raffle winners who won all sorts of prizes we headed back to the main stage to check out another brilliant outfit - Goldfish. They make great music no doubt, but the thing that really stood out for me during their performance was the amazing laser-lighting that at times created the most brilliant wave effect I have ever seen. Goldfish were the last act on the main stage for the evening but the electro-tent kept the party people dancing through the early hours of Sunday morning.
The best thing about the entire festival was definitely the river. It saved many from baking, roasting and frying under the hot African sun. The heat was no joke on Saturday so many sought refuge in the gently flowing water and shady river banks that attracted just about everyone.
Ablution facilities were adequate and kept amazingly clean throughout the weekend. No water to have a shower at 7am on the Saturday was a bit of a bummer though, and a few went into the river to cleanse themselves of the dust that managed to get into every nook and cranny.
The setup was great - top-class main stage with impressive giant screens, cool dome-tent for the electro cave.
Nice selection of food and drink stalls though there was a point when there was no still-bottled water to be found.
The only disappointment during the entire weekend was waking up on Sunday morning to a trash-strewn Boschendal Wine Estate where beer cans and bottles, pizza boxes and plastic cups lined the river bank and festival grounds. Perhaps more refuse bins for next year as well as a little more consideration by those attending? After attending an über eco-friendly festival like Rocking the Daisies, it's hard not to notice when the environment is not taken into consideration.
Here's to a bigger, badder, bodacious Synergy Live 2010! (Unless FIFA puts an end to all festivities that don't revolve around football, like it did Obs Fest 09…)
