The Road to Oppikoppi – Part 1

Dont Party.co .za Fukkk Offf Germany and Boom Monk Ben UK 6th Augusr 2010038 The Road to Oppikoppi – Part 1

I knew entering this weekend that I was in for something special. We had our very own event at the Assembly on Friday featuring the madness of Fukkk Offf and Boom Monk Ben, which as many of you know ended up being one hell of a party. I was then facing an arduous and lengthy trip to my first Oppikoppi, and I was having flashes of H20 with Vernon Koekemoer lookalikes dancing shirtless with glowsticks, while herds of jocks ran around bench-pressing tree trunks between rock sets. Luckily this wasn’t the case but I was in store for one hell of a weekend, one of the many reasons for this post arriving today and not tuesday.

7th AUGUST – ‘Air’

I managed to fuck things up from the get go when I brilliantly booked my flight for 7:50 on Saturday [No idea what I was thinking, although I do remember saying, "I can handle it to a mate"]. I was then going to be picked up by friends and driven through to Oppikoppi. However on Friday/Saturday I managed to get home at 5:00am from Assembly, where I attempted to stay awake until my flight by playing Guitar Hero and drinking a can of Red Bull. I was pretty much doomed form the start, and as was expected I missed my flight, waking up to numerous missed calls and a ringing alarm. Swearing and shouting I ran out got in my car and sped to the airport [Forgetting my pillow and sleeping bag] now anyone who has gone to Oppikoppi will tell you not having warm sleeping arrangements is a monster fuck up! But more on that later.

“Seated behind three extremely senior citizens who will undoubtedly never forget this flight from Ct to JHB.”

After begging and offering sexual favours to anyone who would listen I was finally booked onto the next flight, which I knew had a load of the artists playing on the Redbull Floor and a couple from our event the night before such as Boom Monk Ben who I had already woken up with numerous calls trying to find out his flight number and Disco [P.H. Fat]. We were also blessed to have the company of Haezer, Voice Tag [Fuzzy Slippers was celebrating his birthday] and 7ft Soundsystem who were all playing on the Red Bull stage.

dont party road to oppikoppi The Road to Oppikoppi – Part 1

While I was waiting around at the airport I also bumped into Anthea our very own Fashion writer who was on her way to Plett for the long weekend so it turned into quite the social gathering as we all waited for flights, sipping on coffee and slowly trying to numb our hangovers from the night before. I eventually found myself on the plane and headed for Jozi. As expected, not much happened on the flight although two thirds of Voice tag & Haezer were seated behind three extremely senior citizens who will undoubtedly never forget this flight from Ct to JHB. I’m pretty sure the atrocities of WWII had nothing on what they overheard on the flight.

‘Land’

Now one thing I can say about traveling with a whole bunch of artists is it’s definitely not a dull experience. The shuttle to Oppikoppi had its fair share of smoking and beer drinking after a well placed bottle store made an appearance and a lot of amusing shit talking went down [a lot of it far too dirty for the humble pages of don’t party], but it definately stands out as one of the most enjoyable 3 hour journeys I can remember.

dont party road to oppikoppi 3 The Road to Oppikoppi – Part 1

We finally got to the festival where we were greeted by stands of Liver Complex and packets of Simba chips at the artist check-in tent, one thing I can say is the liver complex was most definitely needed, as were the Simba chips [It was decided “Snoek and Atcha” FTW]. We proceeded to get the campsite up and running and headed off to the Red Bull stage beers in hand, only to be told at the exit of the camping area we were only allowed drinks in non branded cups which is my one gripe with festivals, but fuck it we all survive in the end.

Now one thing about Oppikoppi is it’s dusty as fuck! Every item of clothing and every vehicle you take to this festival will be forever stained a dark orangey brown, and along with the dust come some seriously “interesting people”, the type of people you can imagine writing up plans for world domination in their own faeces on their bedroom wall. But this is what makes Oppikoppi awesome, you know what you’re in for from day one and it only gets stranger, better and more awesome as the festival progresses.

Now Time for the Music

I spent most of Friday night at the Red Bull floor and all I can say is the sound they had in place fucking killed it. Every act had so much bass and clarity it was insane, it’s definitely the best sound I’ve heard at a festival floor thus far. The acts were truely amazing and a quick gut shot at Mahala here for this -

“DJs and electronic acts meanwhile offered something vaguely “alternative” (but hardly live) down by the Red Bull stage.”

I sort of enjoy Mahala occasionally but C’mon there were plenty of live acts, and pretty awesome ones at that!

Mr Sakitumi

I arrived halfway though his set and from what I got to see it was awesome. I’m embarrassed to say I had actually never seen him play and I extremely enjoyed what I saw. The mixture of live sampling and turntable scratching was crazy and when he pulled out the bass guitar I was truly impressed, it was the perfect music for easing into the madness that lay ahead. I will definately be checking him out again the next time he’s on a line-up I’m at!

Voice Tag

This was the first time I’ve heard these guys, now I know and love Bteam and Fuzzy has always been lyrically gifted. But I must say I had no idea the guys from Bteam were also lyrically inclined and I especially had no idea they could beatbox with the ability they showed us at Oppikoppi, all I can say is it was awesomely unique, sounded amazing and you’ll be catching them at a Don’t Party event soon!

Haezer

Haezer fucking killed it! Nothing new here. I think there were a couple of JHB crowd members left dumb founded by what had just smacked them in the face. Haezer combined with that soundsystem was completely fucking insane!

Markus Wormstorm

I actually missed a lot of his set while making my way back to camp but from what I saw in the beginning the crowd was digging it and as we all know he knows how to command a crowd!

Bed

Now royally pissed and extremely happy, after an enjoyable hour or two of terrorizing our campsite and surrounding areas. I decided enough was enough and looked for shelter, my sleeping arrangements were fucked. The four-man tent I was meant to be in, turned out to be a two-man so that was no longer an option. My final last ditch effort was sleeping in a friends car with a hoodie as a blanket – IT WAS SHIT!