This was my third Cape Town International Jazz Festival attendance - over the years the audience continues to grow and artists are getting better and better.
This year was the best out of the 3 that I have attended in terms of artist line-up, with the likes of Vusi Mahlasela, Selaelo Selota, George Benson, Bilal, Lira, Judith Sephuma, TKZee, and Jonathan Butler to mention just a few.
Now over the past couple of years the show sells out days before the actual event, this year was no different and apparently they even released a few more tickets which were snatched immediately - by Saturday midday the tickets were apparently sold out.
Now with over 40 artists to choose from one would wonder if it is possible to see everything, if you are not lazy like me you may walk around the massive venue to 5 different stages, Gaad knows how you feet will be by end of day one.... lol....I decided Kippies Main stage will be my focus, of course there was a bit of Basil Mannenberg and Bassline.
Let me give you my take on the performances from Kippies stage on both night's.
Saturday 03 April: First on stage was Judith Sephuma. Now I am not that much of a fan so i arrived in the middle of the performance. Judith belted out her songs and the mood was lukewarm... dunno if it's me but hey, I am just telling you what I saw.
She then roped in her version of Elton John's "Dont let the sun go down on me." I must be honest, she tried and I was certainly not blown away, failing that she roped in a worship song - you know we all love gospel now and then so she did what every Diva would do in her situation - as they say: desperate times call for desperate measures ... Judith - Rating 6/10
Vusi Mahlasela was next. Now I like some of his songs - never seen him live - so I wasn't counting on any miracles... Madzala took to the stage, did his thing like the pro he is and left me with tons and tons of respect for him.
He had the audience, black, white and banana type eating out of his hands, the man is an entertainer of note and one thing i liked about him he is a man of few words and more action. Vusi - Rating 9/10
George Benson was the main act booked on both night's. Saturday he was billed to perform with a South African Orchestra paying tribute to the king of big band swing Nat King Cole. Now let's be honest, I am not a fan of Nat King Cole so I was just not in a mood for this session but I thought let me give it a chance
Well, the tribute went on a tad longer than I could handle... but as George did promise at the beginning of the show, he was going to give us a few of his tracks. He did and the crowd was brought back to life once again. George - Sat Rating 7.5/10
The last act on Kippies stage was Kaapstaad born Jonathan Butler. Now Mr JB is a good entertainer, but having seen him a couple of times I am getting bored of his set. This one was saved by the two "friends" he brought along: Rick Braun and Richard Elliot. Their version of Luther Vandross "Your secret love" was awesome but the rest were nice and like I said i need more now from JB. Jonathan - rating 8.5/10
Sunday 04 April: First on stage was Lira. I love her alongside millions of others - I think she is cute in her own way. I was there before the show started, she got on stage, did her thing as expected - usual set, no surprises and yah that was it.
The girl is an entertainer - for that i got to give it to her, but why oh why was the backing track recorded? It don't look good to her nicely established profile. Lira - Rating 8/10
Rachelle-something rocked up on stage looking as high as a kite. Well if that's how she always looks, my
bad, but that had to be
the worst performance of the weekend ... there was just no feel on her music and she was trying too hard to impress, singing in isiXhosa and mutilating the language in the process...
I left, came back later and she was still on stage. I left again and came back moments later - she was STILL on stage! True when they say evil don't die easily...lol. Rachelle - ratings for what I saw 3/10
Then came the electrifying dude from Limpopo Selaelo Selota. It was my first time seeing him live and Damn the brotha can do his thing. He was like a possessed man who left quite a few revellers horny with his extremely sexually suggestive moves.
When he took off his shirt the ladies (and gays) were screaming their lungs out - yeah he still got a good body, even though it's evident he is not working out anymore.... he danced with some brother and the gays took out their phones and recorded the exotic scene. He left me begging for more and more (music that is) lol... Selaelo - Rating 9.5/10
The final act on Kippies stage was supposed to be George Benson but the schedule was changed due to weather concerns and the Bassline stage was shut down so Bilal was scheduled after Mr Benson. And TKZee was moved onto another stage.
Mr Benson took stage and delivered - he had everyone dancing and singing along to his greatest hits and proved he still got it - the crowd just loved him. George's Rating 9/10
If you were there please add what I missed out on and let me know what was your take on this event.