Tuesday 29 June 2010

World Cup Kickoff Concert

A colleague won two tickets to the World Cup Kickoff Concert at Orlando Stadium in Soweto. He couldn't make it so I took the tickets over from him.

It was a good time, but it was sadly over shadowed by the poor logistics involved in getting the attendees back to their cars at the Park & Ride carpark. Everyone piled out of the stadium through three small gates, getting stuck in lines and lines of squished people with no idea why they weren't moving. There were no buses outside as we expected. Eventually we realised no-one is going to tell us what is going on and we started walking (in the cold). We started passing bus after bus, but each was full of people who'd had the same idea (but earlier than we did). We must have walked for about 2km before we got on a bus (which then had to fight the throngs of people coming from the station as we had). We got home about 2am (the concert finished at 11 and we live 20mins away...).

I particularly enjoyed the Blk Jks, Parlotones and Black Eyed Peas. Alicia Keys was not bad either, which is true for most of the other bands (except those Algerian guys, which was just cruel and unusual punishment). Shakira was a let down, not least of all because she lip synced. Badly.

The best part of the evening, in my mind, was the spirit amongst the people. There was so much good will, especially between nationalities. The Mexicans we saw were really elated to be there, and we had fun banter with a party of Germans. Steve spent ages talking to some countrymen, too.

All in all, I'm glad to be able to say "I was there" but it won't stand out as one of my top concerts/festivals if judged purely as a music event.

Link to the photo album on Facebook (you don't have to have an account to see it)

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