Review: MTN Durban Jazz Festival
January 4, 2011 by MaBlerh
On the 26th of December I decided to finally attend the MTN Durban Jazz Festival that is always hosted at Hazelmere dam on the north coast of KwaZulu Natal. Since I was a kid I have always wanted to attend this event as, growing up, it was a ritual for the cool kids in the township. This year it finally happened and naturally I had VIP tickets and VIP parking which was a guarantee that I was going to have an awesome time with air-conditioning, food and drinks taken care of.
Let me not beat around the bush, this was the worst VIP experience I’ve ever had!
For starters there were too many people on that marquee. Ice ran out at around 7pm. Bear in mind that this is an event that starts at 11am on the 26th and ends at 6am the next day. Around 8.30pm all forms of whiskey ran out and the only spirit they were serving was Captain Morgan. The catering company called Dumi’s only served supper after 9pm because they could not find serving spoons. Whilst waiting on this queue to get food some girl with a R10 weave pushed a pregnant women and attacked me as I questioned what she was doing. When the spoons finally arrived the caterers decided to dish up for everyone in limited portions. Yes, one drumstick per person. Yes, this was in the MTN VIP hospitality marquee. My friends and I decided to exile our self from the marquee and join our friends who were camping by golden circle. That is where we started to enjoy ourselves.
In terms of the performances everything that happened during the day was just bland. This includes Sindi Nene’s coma inducing performance.
Theo from Boom Shaka had one song that had the crowd going.
Zamajobe should just quit the music game, after all these years performing at Jazz festivals one would thing that she would now know how to deliver a spectacular performance.
Siphokazi was the highlight of the night. The girl is simply amazing live. She sang as though her life depended on it! The crowd lost it from the first song until the last song she sang.
Amstel presented its golden hour featuring Zakes Bantwini. The guy is not a great vocalist but he sure knows how to put on a show. He opened his set with a non flattering and pitchy rendition of “Me & Mrs Jones” and I hope that it was his last attempt at that song. Ever! At the end of his performance with the closing song being “Bum Bum”, there was an amazing fireworks display.
Oliver Mtukudzi had the monumental task of following after the fireworks display and he succeeded by calming down everybody with “Neria” which is a soothing and beautiful ballad.
Then there was Ntando who looked like he sniffed a whole bag of cocaine. He walked on to the stage like a 6 year old after a dozen cup cakes with icing. He drove me to drink. People seemed to enjoy his performance as I gulped down a triple Jameson on the rocks on the camp chair. The night was closed off by DJ King Sfiso who got us dancing at 5.30am.
It was not a bad night, I enjoyed myself. Hated the VIP marquee, hated the incompetent bar service and catering company. If you run a bar service and you run out of ice and whiskey, you are in the wrong business. If you are a catering company and you misplace serving spoons, you are in the wrong business. Lindelani Mkhize should never hire these guys EVER again, in fact nobody should!
By Mablerh ©
Znat on Tue, 4th Jan 2011 11:58 pm
I’ve never been there cause its in an awkward family time. If I decide to desert my faamily on xmas, I might go there. Love that they have goldern circle, other jazz festivals its usually first come first serve. We shouldn’t dismiss up and coming acts that open at these shows. I got wowed by a couple at last year’s Macufe. At least you had a great time. I always say a boring person will be bored anywhere, even when other people had fun
madea on Wed, 5th Jan 2011 10:23 am
I went to this jazz fest and it was the 3rd best I have ever been to. Top 2 were @ Moretele Park(Mamelodi). 2 niggles about this one: the park n ride thing-these ppl should hv just consultated with FIFA on this one, copy + paste gone wrong! The traffic was wayyyytoo hectic-it was ugly. 2 hrs leading up to the gate is not Ayoba MTN! Sindi needs help shem. Theo,Jabu Khanyile’s band,Nondumiso were great. Siphokazi and Tshepo Mgoma were off the hook-SUPER perfomances. Left after Siphokazi. Sadly missed Zakes & Oliver#stillsobbing#.
MaBleh o strict maan!
It was awesome!!!!!!
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manny on Wed, 5th Jan 2011 5:29 pm
@madea o correct ..moretele park was on point ,and they allowed all sorts of alchohol in .it was too nice …shhhhh after moretele i got to work still under the influence heheheheh
Wild Island on Tue, 25th Jan 2011 2:50 pm
habio….i thought the organaiza of this event ke du Ncobo(sp) mos not lindelani… was there as well and i tell u i avoid the VIP section big time …finish and thank god the traffic to the venue was not as bad as the previous years were we had to park down the slope and walk up to the venue for a max of 2hrs ..
Wild Island on Tue, 25th Jan 2011 2:50 pm
*mdu Ncqobo..