Coming Alive

November 08, 2012

Coming Alive

The ticket said doors would open at 7pm on Wednesday night, 7th November 2012, but we got into our car at 1pm and headed for the Cape Town Stadium. Distracting ourselves with small talk until we arrived at the V&A Waterfront, where we joined the queue of people waiting to park.

Early afternoon and already Cape Town's roads were feeling the excitement of what was to come.

Linkin Park Concert Golden Circle Ticket

After missioning around the V&A Waterfront for both food and cash, we made the short walk to the Cape Town Stadium where the reality of what we were walking into hit us hard. Just outside the stadium, before we could even see the queues leading into the gates, we could hear the slow beat of the drum letting us know that sound check was under way.
We stopped, we breathed, we squealed like kids and of course, we took our first photo of many.

The first photo

We meshed in with the early birds and slowly started to single out the goths, the hippies, the gamers, the hardcore fans and the tag-a-longs.
The doors for Golden Circle promised to open from 2pm, so we had obediently arrived on time, only to be left waiting outside for 2 hours while Linkin Park performed their sound check. Am I complaining? Hell no! We got to listen to the band before any of the late comers - these were precious moments to be recorded and placed into the filing cabinet of my mind.

The really early birds

So close, yet so far.

Checking myself into the CPT Stadium

Moving forward

Into the tunnel we go

Almost there!

Once inside, the first thing we did was take photo's of everything (yes, even when it was uncrowded) and next on the list was heading off to get some adrenaline to keep our blood pumping and our hearts racing - this was no time for sleeping!

Because we were amongst the early crowd, we still had a good 4 hours to kill before 8pm hit and the KONGOS played, so like everyone else, we discovered the merchandise tent and bought a Linkin Park and KONGOS t-shirt for the night. Of course, I'm mad-crazy about the KONGOS so I rushed to the bathroom to put on their shirt and walked around proudly - even though I got many questioning glares that so loudly screamed out "What is she wearing?", "Who are the KONGOS?", "KONGOS?", "Why is a hippy in our midsts! Wound her, wound her!".

Ok, ok, it wasn't as dramatic as that, but imagine this small person in blue shoes, a green t-shirt and a purple beanie floating around in a sea of black clothed people with tattoos, piercings and dark heavy make-up. A little daunting but just the adrenaline rush I needed.

Waiting around with the crowd

Surrounded by assholes

The view from the stairs

The front of the stage

The side of the stage

Waiting for the jamming to begin

Bottomless energy drinks!

Richard Kuiper

The Hippy

Just before 8pm hit, we were standing with a group of girls that were using their BlackBerry phones like a bonus feature to their human forms, when they started talking in loud, rushed, panicked tones.
This was when we found out that the scaffolding of the energy drink company at the event had collapsed and at this point, gossip was on a high and 5 people had been killed. If you're reading this blog, you should be well connected enough to know the real story by now - if not, let me educate you HERE.

Within a space of 30 minutes the shock had calmed and I asked what the time was when*BAAM* out stepped DJ Fresh (our MC of the night) teasing the crowd with taunts of JHB being louder than CPT. This raised the pitch of everyone's screams and after drowning out DJ Fresh, the KONGOS came on stage.
Everyone that surrounded me asked the question "Who are the KONGOS?", in my head I kept replying "If you don't know, go away and let me move to the front."

The excitement is climaxing

The crowds are pouring in

DJ Fresh has come out to play

The KONGOS | Opening Band

And the KONGOS are out!

I couldn't stop bouncing up and down, proving to the rest of the crowd that I really was a hippy and I was loving the vibe - regardless of the amount of stiff, straight-backed Linkin Park fans watching the KONGOS as if to say "WTF?"

The only reason I managed to keep a smile on my face and not lash out at these people with closed minds to the music world, was the knowledge that Linkin Park had asked the KONGOS to play for them. And if Linkin Park had asked them to do that, then they definitely had good taste in music and if the Linkin Park fans were so devoted to them, they would just have to be devoted to Linkin Park's choice in music too. The end.

Unfortunately for me though, the KONGOS set was only 30 minutes long so they soon left the stage and I was left hoping that people would need to pee desperately so I could go move forward for the main act. That was not to be. Not one person left. They all stood and waited the 1 hour it took for Linkin Park to come on stage with such a rush, it literally blew my mind into thinking "What the hell just happened?!". It took at least one song and a rushed "Hello Cape Town!" to snap me out of the fact that here they were, Linkin Park were in Cape Town and they were playing for us!

There was a moment at the beginning of the Linkin Park concert when they kicked out their first three songs as fast as they could with as little communication to the audience as possible, at that point I thought Linkin Park may turn into Muse when playing live. And Muse, I did not enjoy watching live at all. They never spoke to the crowd once, they just gave the crowd what they paid for - the music.
Luckily though, once Linkin Park had thrown enough awesomeness into our faces, they slowed down and acknowledged the crowd.

The two huge highlights for me when I watched this band:

When Chester sang the song Points of Authority and he forgot a line. He turned to one of his mates and said, "Fuck, I forgot the line. I just kept singing the same line over and over again." He laughed while getting ready for the next song - was awesome to see that huge talent can make mistakes too.
Towards the end of the concert, Linkin Park started playing all the older tracks which meant that everyone knew the lyrics. Michael kept running up and down the stage holding the mic out to the crowd, letting us sing into it. He was running around with the biggest and most genuine smile I've ever seen on any international singers face!

The End

It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, to the point where I woke up with my mind cheering Linkin Park on when I awoke from my dreams the next day.

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Just when you think the end of a blog approaches, something extraordinary happens and a fellow Linkin Park fan and reader of my blog asks to share some of his Linkin Park concert moments with us.

Check out these incredible photo's taken by Lance Peterson: