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| Meet the grinning cat, and Alice. OK 1, 2, 3: ALICE! ALICE! WHO THE F- IS ALICE!? |
IMPI Concept Events can look back to hosting a very successful
Splashy Fen this past weekend.
Impi are the new organisers and they have certainly succeeded in
imbuing the 27-year-old festival with a new energy and drive, as could be seen
in ticket sales on the first day, when 4 455 fans had their tickets booked,
compared to last year’s 3 338. The ages of the patrons ranged from 89 to less
than year.
By conducting the armband ritual that precedes every festival at
the Underberg Country Club, Impi at a stroke did away with the long queues that
use to bedevil the festival.
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| Can't get more scenic than this. The Riverside Stage. |
Prices for day tickets on Saturday were R450 while
children under 12 years paid R100. The day passes were sold at full festival
site price of R850, but patrons leaving before 9 am the next day were refunded
for the days they did not attend.
Saturday night saw Australian superstars The Temper Trap
entertaining a willing crowd of 5 500 music lovers at the Black Label Main
Stage, who went wild went the band closed with Sweet Disposition. The same cannot be said for the metal of
The Springbok Nude Girls, which went down like a lead rubber duck on a dry but
very fresh Saturday night.
South African favourites Jack Parow, Jeremy Loops and the Veranda
Panda duo, however, had the music lovers jumping with their acts, although
several parents yesterday told The Witness they are a bit
impatient with the local artists, who seem to be swearing a lot more — both in
their lyrics and while addressing the crowd — than what artistic freedom
demanded.
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| Do you really want to shower that much? |
Splashy 2017 also saw the first wedding ceremony held at the Fen,
as Lisa and Gavin Melsh, lead singer of Gus Brown Band, got married under the
trees of the new Treehouse stage, with over 1 000 people there to witness the
beautiful act. After his wedding, Gavin went on to perform at the Black Label
Main Stage — such is the spirit at Splashy.
This year the Splashion Show also offered creative campers a chance
to win two tickets to Seychelles courtesy of Splashy Fen, Eden Island and Air
Seychelles, for wearing the craziest outfits.
Also new to Splashy Fen this year was the very whimsical, already
very popular Treehouse Stage. Supposedly decorated by fairies and woodland folk,
this hub of hippiness offers early morning yoga sessions and digeridoo workshops
for those feeling the creative flair of Splashy Fen.
For experienced Splashers, there was Hotel Harambee, whose glamping
tents were sold out at R4 950 for two people sharing over the four nights. Their
offer included beds, bedding, towels, power point in the tent, lamp in the tent,
toilets and hot showers exclusive to Harambee guests, lounge area and buffet
breakfast every morning.
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| Mike St Clare using the shower on his DIY trailer home. |
A lite option for R2 280 had two single mattresses on the tent
floor and lite glampers had to supply their own bedding. But experienced
Splashers either bring their own caravans, with the most interesting this year a
DIY trailer that Mike St Claire built especially for Splashy (more on this
trailer inWheels on Thursday), or stock up on fire wood. The
clever prize here goes to the people who set up in a row of teepees, which
American Indian tents allow firepits inside to ensure the occupants remained
toasty throughout the cold drizzle on Friday night and minus temperatures on
Saturday. While the freezing weather yesterday morning left centimetre-thick ice
on car windows, it did not manage to dampen some of the hardier spirits who
plunged in the river, or jogged the scenic four-kilometre trail run set out on
the river banks, or stretched out at morning yoga at the new Treehouse
stage.
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| Graffiti artists painting Jack Parow. |
These activities were just a dream when Bart Fokkens and the late
Peter Ferraz had their red-wine inspired idea to host a music festival in the
natural amphitheatres of the farm Splashy Fen, but in the quarter of a century
since then, their bucolic sing-a-long has grown into a rite of passage for all
music lovers in South Africa and a place where musicians have to pay their
dues.
Impi said in a statement they see Splashy Fen as a key development
opportunity and have promised to continue bringing new energy, ideas and value
to the brand and festival experience as a whole, which is all good news for the
2018 edition of KZN’s “most favouritest” fest.
