Sunday morning and I have a weird Strawberry Daquiri hangover and an early flight to catch back to Durban. Normal behaviour would dictate that I would head straight home from the airport and catch up on some much needed sleep. Pffft, I’ve never pretended that normality is a quality I am familiar with. So I retrieved my car from Long Term Parking area B, collected my friend and her picnic goodies and headed straight to the Botanic Gardens. The gig wasn’t scheduled to start for another hour, but we learnt our lesson last year when we ended up sitting riiiiiiiiiiight at the back of the two thousand strong crowd, so we had already sent in advance troops to secure us an up front spot. Unlike last year, it was a beautiful balmy Durban day (last year we got soaked to the skin!) and thousands of Durbanites had brought out their picnic blankets, Campmasters and Woolies snacks to enjoy the day’s entertainment. This really is a lovely setting for a chilled out gig… I think more bands should give it a whirl.
Love Jones hail from Durban so they certainly had a strong fan base present at the gig, including a gaggle of youngsters sitting right up against the cordon tape, all decked out in their band tees. I don’t know why I thought I didn’t like this band. Then when I heard Esjay repeating for the umpteenth time the Jones family fallacy I realised that I am usually so distracted by this that I’m not focused on the music. In my head I’m going “do they expect people to believe this?”….. “do they believe this?” round and round ‘til it drives me crazy. I don’t know why it irritates me so much but it really really does! But maybe because I was hungover, or maybe because it was such a serene setting, this time I was able to focus more on their performance. And they were good. They have had yet more line-up changes and it seems like yet another new drummer is on the cards (the Jones family appears to be just a wee bit dysfunctional!), but they put on a tight performance with some catchy melodies and fun songs. I prefer their ballads because in the rockier songs, Esjay (vocals) seems to be trying too hard to be quirky. In the ballads she lets her voice speak for itself, and there is a purity there that she should not underestimate. She proceeded to tell the audience that she has been booked off for a month due to damage to her voice….I wish her well in her treatment, because when all is said and done, I think this could be a band that will do big things for Durban. Assuming of course they can drop the arrogant attitude.
And then there was Arno. This time he had the backing of his full band, and it certainly makes for a rockier, fuller sound. It’s still not the Nude Girls but it is beautiful nonetheless. The crowd put down their chicken wings and their cupcakes, and were riveted by this spectacular performance. First he wooed us with gentle dulcet tones, and then he cranked it up a notch and had thousands of people up on their feet, dancing their little hearts out right there on their picnic blankets. A sight to be beheld in the late afternoon sunshine. I was proud to see that there were people who knew more than just the Tuareg ad song! After an hour the band wandered off stage, only to be cajoled back on by a chanting and clapping throng. And these boys don’t play with encores, they give it another 30 minutes so you really feel you’ve been treated. Towards the end they played a song I haven’t heard before which sounded like it belonged on an SNG album…it was great and the crowd lapped it up. I think I’ve said enough about Arno in the past to just leave it at that. And yes, Mr Carstens, we will do a ‘little singalong thingamajiggy’ with you. It will be our pleasure. After all, you cured my hangover far better than the airport’s French toast did!
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