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Johannesburg - This past Friday Marks Park at Emmarentia hosted Sounds Wild.
The entire affair was aimed at those that had finished studying for the year. All well and good, but even that show a little short sightedness on the part of the organisers. Everybody knows that as soon as that last exam is over pretty much every matric in the country, or at least every matric with enough disposable income to afford to buy a R440 odd ticket to an event that is only a single day, packs up and heads down to Ballito or Plett.
As far as festivals and parties go, this has been one of the most chilled I have been to. The crowd was definitely not as big as I expected, and even though size is not everything, even Rise and Shine had a crowd with more gees and they kicked off with Yoga. Not that the crowds didn’t go a little nuts for Bombay Bicycle Club, Jeremy loops and Shortstraw, but most of the time was spent lounging around. Something that I thoroughly enjoyed, but seems a bit incongruous with an all caps SOUNDS WILD.
The line-up was also pretty tame. As much as I love at least half the bands that played they were definitely the safest choices possible, but then I guess when your festival is aimed at high school kids you are looking for swooning girl appeal more than musical progressivity and supporting emerging musicians.
Nitpicking aside I still had an awesome time. The stage and sound setup was spectacular. It is very easy to see where all the money for this event went. Mad Kudos to that. Bad sound would have killed this event in an instant and they don’t have the mythos behind them that Oppikoppi does to survive that kind of disaster. There was also ample food and drink and minimal lines to get to them. At the end of the day what more could you ask for beyond food, drink, and one of your favourite bands on home soil?
(Photos:Alex Bernatzky, Channel24)
