BASTILLE IN                     JOBURG!!!!!!!!!!!

 Scenic Emmerentia Dam’s peaceful, quiet atmosphere was broken by popular South African artists Matthew Mole, Beatenberg and Bed on Bricks and then, the main event, BASTILLE!!

The day started off with the relentless sun beating down on the beautiful venue, forcing many of us to the shady refuge of leafy trees on the sidelines. The crowd was huge, it may have been almost half the size of the regular stadium concert crowd, but we, Bastille’s fans were out in abundance and enthusiasm to support Bastille(my second favourite British band) in their first South African tour! So enthusiastic, in fact that we all lasted the five hours until Bastille’s set.

But we were thankfully entertained by some of South Africa’s best artists, Matthew Mole, Beatenberg and Bed on Bricks. There were endless stalls selling their delicious fare! One of them, in fact was the official merchandise stall. I managed to snag myself a band cap, that I am now guarding fiercely from my beat friend Leora who couldn’t come to the concert but still loves Bastille!

Halfway through Bed on Bricks’ set, the heavens decided to pour down on us, causing many people to leave, but most of us die hard Bastille fans (and some bored parents) stayed, taking shelter under trees and huddling up under umbrellas. The ‘hosts’ from 5fm, the organisers of the event, came out and apologised and started preparing for Bastille’s set.

It still was nearly an hour until we finally saw Bastille, and when they came on, we screamed, shouted, yelled and whistled for the long- awaited band! They were AMAZING, with Dan Smith belting out song after song, only taking breaks to go retrieve his sunglasses, technical difficulties and to tell us that he and Bastille’s guitarist, William Farquason were cousins and his parents were.....

South African!!!

 We cheered at that and screamed even more when Dan jumped off the stage into the crowd, with his hoodie up to protect his hair from crazed fans! They played all our favourites – ‘Flaws’, ‘Laura Palmer’, ‘Things We Lost In The Fire’, ‘of The Night’ and of course, ‘Pompeii’! They also played two new songs- ‘Blame’ and another song.

It was an amazing experience and I will be going to more concerts this year and after because this was my first concert and it was more than satisfactory! It was a lot different from stadium concerts- it was more family-friendly and easier to get into!

This was an amazing way to end off my school holidays after relaxing enormously for the first few weeks, then driving to Durban, then Bastille and then school camp with my besties tomorrow! And then, right after that..... testsL