Our tickets were bought months ago and the looming date of the Faithless concert was almost too exciting for words. The British electronica group which began in 1995 returned to South Africa this month and I was (almost) front-row to check them out.
It all went down at the Grand Arena, Grand West Casino, and we made sure we were about an hour early to get into the vibe and get some drinks. People were lining up to get inside and the atmosphere was electric. Young, old, hippies and punks all came together to watch the greatness of Maxi Jazz, Rollo and Sister Bliss onstage.
Local band Goldfish opened and got the crowd amped. The onstage energy of Dominic Peters and David Pool is infectious. They mix it up with electro-beats, guest-singers and some pure instrumental fun. Sadly I only managed to catch the first song; I went outside to “quickly” get a beer and ended up spending an hour in the queue.
And I wasn’t the only one who wasted away the Goldfish set; the Grand Arena had concert-goers standing in line for ages while they sloppily and slowly organised beer, whine and fizzy drinks. They even managed to run out of beer completely (thankfully after we had bought three). The frustration of being made to wait so long was almost enough to put me off, but thankfully Faithless came onstage next and all my worries washed away.
Initially the sound seemed a bit muffled with the bass going crazy, but just two songs into the set the sound guys managed to get it all sounding great. I watched in awe as Maxi Jazz sang the songs I know so well, topless under his evening jacket. Sister Bliss is sassy and takes control of her station, sending the notes out into the frenzied crowd.
The sound and light explosion was intense; I looked around me and saw thousands of people entranced, revelling in the powerful sound of Faithless. The night seemed to rush by in a beautiful blur. And when the band’s great hit, Insomnia, came on the audience enjoyed a collective sense of awe.
The music was great, but the atmosphere was amazing; this British band really knows how to enrapture its audience. Even in a large, cold venue like the Grand Arena they came out tops.
The madness became too much and we left a few songs early, just to get out of the heat and take a rest. What a band, what a concert, what a memory.
Jade Scully is a copywriter excited about writing copy and stories, blogging about the world and editing. She currently and regularly publishes her stories on a number of blogs. Jade loves animals and hopes to begin writing copy for the animal rescue charity TEARS as her contribution to the cause.
