Wrigleys’ has had South Africa in a frenzy over the past month as they announced their international group for the 5 Gum Experience 2013 as the Kooks. The UK indie pop rock band have laid relatively low over the past few years since their break out single Naive took the world by storm. But, as with all things Capetonians, if it’s free people are keen! And so the competition to get the coveted “win these tickets only” race began.
Those who were lucky enough to be picked from the e-mail mailing list, Twitter competitions, blog competitions and Facebook competitions, were instructed to meet at Maitland High School, just off Voortrekker road on Saturday night. Their cars were parked and the queue began to build in the headlights of the awaiting buses. Soon we were chauffeured on board and taken off so a dark railway corner of Maitland.
Once parked, 5 Gum signs marked the path and lead the audience to a giant warehouse. Although bands were playing when we arrived, I was far too interested in getting my first drink as there was quite a queue. Having said that, the bar was massive and there was plenty of barmen, not to mention a VIP bar. Cooldrinks (mixes) were R12, Liquor was R12 a shot, tequila was R18 a shot so everything was really reasonably priced.
The December Streets were the first band that I managed to catch. They were a great supporting group that kept the tone of the night in the right place. Nice to see a band from up country as well. The audience really enjoyed Ho Hey…but I don’t know how many of them know that that’s actually the Lumineers, and is only covered by December Streets. Either way, it was good.
The Kooks was then the next band that I payed attention to as the night was far too fun for me to be there solely for the music. It was fantastic to be in a new venue, with a new audience (I hadn’t seen half those people before) and new surroundings. There were more than enough toilets although not all of them had water in the sinks which is hard to ignore when you’re using porterpotties. None the less, the loo staff kept everything clean and directed people to the open stalls which meant one didn’t need to stand in huge queues, good one.
I enjoyed the Kooks, the sound was awesome and there was a great lighting show. Although I didn’t know many of their songs, they really rocked out and everyone had a fun night. After thanking the event organisers and the crowd they played out with Naive which went absolutely off, the feeling was electrifying.
Kennedy then ended the night with his brand of electro. I like electronic music but as per the usual band scene, those there for the Kooks bailed as soon as the show was over. Others finished their drinks and made their way home closer to 2am by bussing it back to their cars on the bus or getting cabs from the front.
I didn’t have a very good cab experience as the driver wanted to over charge me (R120 from Salt River to town). When I refused to pay I made him stop the car and got out (who knows where he could take me!). He then chased me for the R15 base fare! *Update: 201* This is also why I’ll only ever take Uber again. Use my Uber code to get R150 off your first ride.
Other than that hiccup, the #5GumExperience was brilliant. Thanks very much to 5Gum for having us! Good times 🙂 Oh, and one other random thing…I didn’t get any 5 Gum!!! Usually there’s lots of gum about but I didn’t see any last night! In fact, I asked some random guy if I could have a stick of his as he was the only person I saw with gum!!!
