Wonderboom – Voodoo Lounge, 02.06.07

At long last, Cito has wended his way back from another hugely successful performance of Jesus Christ Superstar, this time in Greece. Of course, there was much excitement when we realised that we would be getting a Wonderboom performance after a 2 month hiatus….and another low cost airline benefited from my fanaticism once again.

Let me just take the time to explain this endless need to travel the country watching this band to those of you who simply think I’m one crayon short of a full Crayola set. Wonderboom is one of the bands that cemented my ardent love for South African music during my late teens and early twenties. They also happen to be, in my opinion, the best live act this country has to offer, never failing to enthral and enrapture their audiences with their energetic and innovative performances. The memories I have of this band are like bright gems that grow more polished and valuable as the years progress. The first time I saw them as the opening act for Live and realised they were far superior to the international act. Being blown away by their performance at Woodstock 2…and then later that weekend sitting in my car eating dinner with a friend as Cito drove past, both of us turning to each other with mouths hanging open, the words “Isn’t that that guy from that awesome band?” not needing to be said. Other Woodstock memories including Cito and Martin, shirtless, tattooed and wearing giant angel wings, or huge crowds singing along to Africa under a beautiful starlit heaven. Perfect post-break up songs like Bang and Something Wrong. Trying to teach my Irish friends how to pronounce the name properly and watching proudly as they fell in love with the band too. Stealing street posters with the same friend from Woodstock after a gig in Umhlanga where the crowd were a bunch of tennis clappers and the electricity kept cutting out…but still the band shone…we also learned that car keys are not the best tools to cut rope with and that if you want to steal posters you have to be prepared to put up with the drunk heckling of idiots at the nearby fast food outlet! Trying desperately not to have my ‘deer in the headlights’ face on when meeting Cito and Wade in a hotel room before their Greatest Hits CD launch….and then failing dismally when the presenter from AMP jumped out the shower! And later that same night, after kicking his monitor off the stage and nearly breaking my finger, Wade leaning into the audience and hissing “I know where you’re staying” and then laughing uproariously. Tours and launches and standing in the pelting rain for gigs….oh and lots and lots of mud and tequila in Ramsgate. These are just a few of the things that make me love this band.

So, it was in this context that I jumped on another plane to catch this gig at the Voodoo Lounge. This is quite a posh venue and I had a brief moment of panic that they were going to take one look at my Converse shod feet and send me packing. But no, I think they knew they were getting a grungier crowd than usual, and earlier I had to try not to giggle when I booked my table and the guy kept saying, “You know its R100 to get in hey? R100.”, over and over. Maybe I sound cheap on the phone! The band took to the stage at about 11pm, as I was frantically trying to pay for yet another round of strawberry daquiris (mmmm yummy! The benefits of a posh venue!), and I think the bartender was a little afraid that I was going to catapult over the bar if he didn’t hurry up! Once I had scrambled over to the other girls near the front, it became instantly apparent that this was going to be yet another memorable gig. Those boys were fizzling with vitality on stage and it was plain to see that they were as thrilled to be back after their break as we were to have them back. Cito’s voice just takes on new dimensions every time he does JCSS and while we miss him when he’s gone, the added depth to the vocals just brings new lustre to an already incredible band. Martin and Wade were feeding off each other’s energy and working the crowd up into a frothy. And of course it wouldn’t be Wonderboom without Danny’s crazy antics and soliloquies. The dance floor was packed with people screaming and dancing….I even saw a waiter doing the gig jump! Even the girls who were standing quietly on the sides seemed to know all the words. Of course, once the boys inevitably whipped off their shirts, temperatures rose even further and I thought some of the girls in the front row were going to have Beatles-fainting-moments. If we could all learn to move like Cito does on stage, we’d probably be skinny bitches. As it was, we were exhausted by the end of the hour and 15 minute set. But in that happy, satiated, after-glow kind of way.