SPLICED LIFE /
music festival / In The City 2013
ISSUE 01
by Tim Hulme
Rocking the city
V
odacom In The City 2013 is the second
annual In The City event, planned to coincide
with another Seed Experience event, Rocking
the Daisies in CT. I suppose it makes sense when
you are shopping for a big name band, to be able to
offer two shows, and we’re not complaining! Mary
Fitzgerald square in the heart of Jozi rocked out hard
to Skunk Anansie, Alt-J, The Hives, Boys Noize and
local act Al Bairre.
Al Bairre got things going with a good set, I
would have preferred to hear fewer covers, but I
suppose they were aiming to please a big crowd
that might not know a lot of their work. They
were followed by one of the biggest draw cards,
English indie rock quartet Alt-J, whose debut album
An Awesome Wave was a revolution in an indie
scene that had stagnated horribly. By the music’s
very nature it was a rather mellow introspective
performance, but I’m sure in a couple of years they
will learn to ramp up the stage show a bit. That said,
it was still very cool seeing them live.
But if Alt-J were somewhat underwhelming in the
get up and dance stakes, The Hives were a seismic
slap to the face! This Swedish garage rock group
created such an explosion of energy, the crowd was
heaving by the end of their set. Charismatic lead
vocalist Howlin' Pelle Almqvist's onstage bant \??[??^?H[?X???\?Z[? H ?[\Y \ H \? K????[? X??Y \ ?\?H ^HY???[? ?]??]??X?[?[??YX?HY?[?\??H \???X[??H ?]???[??[?[??YH ]]8?&\?\? ??[Y]?H ] ?H\?
??YX\??????H\? \???X[??H ??Y?^[?B??X? ] ^H\?\??H Z\? ?\ ]][?\??H??H?\?]?HX? ??] \?HB?[?? [?H?YY^ \?Y[??H[???X??KH??????\? ?[? H?] H ? MB?? ??