3 October 2012 - Day 3:
Today’s weather was horrid! We realised that it would not be a good day for hitting the markets as planned. Olof decided to use this time to visit some people he was planning on seeing later during his visit. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to do some journal writing of our experiences so far. I also did some research on events/gigs happening in Cape Town for the week to come. (Obviously I ended up jamming for the rest of the afternoon...)
At about 7pm Olof and I met up at &Union, a local music venue. What makes this venue special is not only their no-fuss outside bench setup but also the fact that they are the renowned craft beer bar of the town (and the first in South Africa). Their menu offers a variety of flame-grilled German sausages of the best quality. As well as stakes, Prego-rolls and hamburgers, all grilled on the open flame to make sure you drool long before you are served!
One of the best things about this place is their friendly, well-trained staff whom are eager to serve you another Bucket ‘O Love (3 of your choice of craft beers served in a bucket of ice, at a very reasonable price).
As soon as our bellies were filled, the band of the evening started their set. Sannie Fox, the leading lady, definitely knows her blues. She hits her notes gracefully, and the soulful moans together with her crisp clean guitar work, interprets every song’s story spot-on.
Whilst manoeuvring around the stage, we bumped into one of Olof’s friends who told us that there was another gig happening later that evening at Carnival Court. So as soon as Fox’s set was done, we marched over to the backpacker cum bar cum music venue.
This place had such a warm and welcoming feel to it! The fact that it is a backpackers, gives it an international vibe where everybody seems to be ready to make friends! While a friendly barman served us some drinks, the band set up... I discovered that the guitar-playing lead vocalist is actually the owner of Carnival Court, after he jokingly told me, “This is the only place where they let me play!”...
The rest of the band was just as interesting...The drummer (my personal favourite) was a well-over-his-60s, tall and skinny man, with long grey hair and an even longer grey beard! He was dressed rock ‘n roll style: jeans, t-shirt and a badged-up waistcoat with a tattoo lurking from underneath his sleeve...The bass-player was a relaxed gentleman with a stylish, black leather cap on and boy, did know his stuff! Olof’s friend also added some harmonica and pretty awesome vocals to some of the songs.
Afterwards, a small lady with a BIG voice took to the stage with the bass player whom then showed us that he also plays excellent jazz guitar! Together they ran through some jazz classics that had me singing along all the way!
Before we knew it, it was already past 1am, which meant it was time for the journey home!
