it looks even better @SpringFiestaSA #SpringFiesta2016 #CaptainOClock pic.twitter.com/PTLAquG7oN
— Yule (@YuleD) October 1, 2016
Historically, Spring Fiesta has been the leader in providing the best House Music festival offering in South Africa. Powered the amazing team at Soul Candi, would there be any doubt they could deliver a House Music experience that surpasses all other events? Think of every other event and compare it to Spring Fiesta. Things like amazing line-up, more than 1 House Music stage, brand activations, well-timed with the weather and so forth come to mind.
Now, this year was different, they brought Hip Hop to the Soul Candi Live Main Stage which affected a lot of things. That plus the fact that we had 1 less stage this year, which wasn’t so bad but I did bump into a group of people asking about its whereabouts.
The House of Flava delivered as promised, it has the best club like experience with only House Music playing experience you will get. This is stage you walk into at 2pm and walk out at 2am wondering where the time went. The Rock Da Shades, brought more numbers than last year, showing its steady growth within Spring Fiesta. I’m still not a fan of its location, it just seems hidden for me. The Power Play Residency put competition winners in front of event attendees, so if you were passing by, you were literally forced to stop and enjoy the music. They were really well placed this year. The What About Soul Stage filled up the quickest, showing the power of House Music in South Africa. Having spoken to Lulo Café during the event, he said it filled up from around 1pm, which was really good because last year, it packed around 4pm. The stage also has a very loyal following that never leaves the stage.
Did you #KeepItMoving with Smirnoff Electric at @SpringFiestaSA 2016? Here's how it went down! Smirnoff. Everyone's invited. pic.twitter.com/67lMRt7dDy
— Smirnoff SA (@SmirnoffSA) October 5, 2016
So where did the fault lie? Moving Hip Hop acts to the main stage. The We Love Hip Hop Stage didn’t match the numbers it has done historically. Yes, Spring Fiesta is known for House Music and yes, it is on the same night as Home Coming Africa, which is known for Hip Hop but if you have attended Spring Fiesta before, you would know how strong the following for the We Live Hip Hop Stage is. This year didn’t match those numbers, after Nasty C performed, 60% of the crowd ran to Soul Candi Live Main Stage to watch AKA. If you watched from the front, the people loved AKA but if you walked around them, there were so many faces that looked confused and waiting for all of it to end. Those were the House Music lovers who were waiting for DJ Shimza to get on because to be honest, the presence of Black Coffee and Black Motion was missed. I didn’t have to climb a tree this time around, I could navigate behind the crowd with ease. Watching the Hip Hop acts didn’t feel natural to me and whilst saying this, I do feel like I’m being a force against change but even when Kwesta performed, things mellowed really down, it got really slow and then Riky Rick came on, sure there was some hype but not the “rachetness” Spring Fiesta has. F.eU turned things up but it was a bit too late, a vast majority had gone to enjoy the House Music they’ve come to love on the other stages. The We Live Hip Hop Stage got really empty when DJ Supernova came on, which confused me because he has reached International status.
See, Spring Fiesta is a House Music offering, it’s like Soul Candi Sessions but live. It brings the beauty of House Music into 1 event, then it equally distributes it for the people to enjoy. It pioneers House Music at an international level that you will never again see, yes, there are things that have happened at Spring Fiesta that have never again taken place. Like when Black Coffee brought on Mafizolo or celebrated into the night with “We Dance Again”. Those were moments that lived in people’s hearts forever. The Hip Hop acts have their own events to do that, Spring Fiesta does for House Music what other events don’t do. The stage was also turned into a butterfly, which glowed in the dark because that plus the fireworks that went off, made the stage look so amazing when the F.eU came on but looked odd when a Hip Hop act was on.
As much I did honestly enjoy Spring Fiesta this year, I did somewhat wish it didn’t bring Hip Hop to the front because this is a House Music thing, that House Heads love.
Don’t think I am against this year or anything, I got to be backstage of the main stage this year, which was a really beautiful moment for me because I have never reached those levels before.