MCQP 2013 has come and gone. MCQP is always a fantastic event. South Africa has one of the most liberal constitutions in the world in terms of sexual orientation and religion. With Madiba recently passing I think we all felt grateful for the opportunities that we’ve been afforded by his vision: including being able to love the ones we want. So MCQP took on a new level of meaning for me this year and it was “good timing” with this year being the 20th year of MCQP. This year’s theme was Space Cowboys so we went as Alien Indians LOL!
For those of you who don’t know, MCQP stands for the Mother City Queer Project. A celebration event of all sexualities in the Mother City. Yes, it doesn’t seem “normal” for straight people to attend a “gay” party, if you’re as closed minded as the Californian government 😉 but in Cape Town, we’ll take ANY excuse to have a jol! I personally love MCQP because it allows me to be exposed to new people that I, perhaps, would not usually mingle with on a party bases.
Plus it’s the biggest dress up party in Cape Town! This year was at Cape Town stadium, an awesome venue but a lot of the party had been moved out doors. With the numbers from last year, this does kinda make sense but unfortunately there weren’t the thousands this year that I had expected. So the split cause some distance in the party I felt. The other thing was VIP. Bless the performers in there but they were NOT good. I don’t mean to be mean, maybe they were just nervous but if I’d exchanged money for the VIP this year, I’d have been bleak. Last year was much more up to standard.
The decor was as awesome and fun as usual, however, the bar prices made me cringe. R30 for a Hunters Dry? Come now. There’s NOTHING loving about that. I ended up having double vodka Red Bulls because it cost about R10 more than 2 Hunters and had more of a kick. I’d rather have drunk Hunters but R30 is silly for 1 cider. Even R25 I could have dealt with at most.
The acts this year were fun too, however, I could have done with a little more sound on each floor! Most rigs were just from the front and I’m used to having a little more surround sound. Maybe I’m just deaf. The act of the party was Trash Cabaret! A crazy, mix up of balkan, ska and rugga beats, what a laugh! I’ve heard a lot about this band and was very happy to final have caught the madness. Make sure you catch them somewhere else!
The stadium is a great venue as there are enough bars and bathrooms and extra loo blocks were added to each floor so I, literally, didn’t have to queue once for a loo. Yes, that does matter to me!
My biggest observation was the lack of people at MCQP this year. I really don’t where everyone was! Also, there were A LOT of straight people there – perhaps more so than other sexualities which was a bit of a letdown for me. I love the extravagance of drag queens, half of them are way more beautiful than I am! Maybe I’m objectifying drag queens, that’s not my intention. I was just looking forward to being exposed a little more to their art form.
Here’s to MCQP 2014. I’m still a huge supporter of the event and hope next year will return to its former glory.
P.S Thanks to Minnetonka Mocassins for my shoes for the night, they were PERFECT! They were pretty beaten up at this point but my feet were happy, thank you!
