Last night it finally arrived, the evening that had been marked on my calendar for months now, and a time of absolute approaching dread – the Michael Bubl’ Kirstenbosch Gardens concert. Chantelle is a big fan of the man, but as you might be able to tell by now, I’m not. Well, I don’t really know his stuff, but he seems like a poser and that style of music died out years ago with the Rat Pack as far as I’m concerned.
Nevertheless, being the loving boyfriend that I am, I admitted defeat, picked up the jam-packed picnic basket that Chantelle had prepared for the occasion, grabbed the blankets (under duress – the one was pink you know!) and hopped into the car for a race to Kirstenbosch. We were running perfectly on time for a change (despite Chantelle’s devious efforts in stalling us), but it turned out that there were just a couple of hundred people who had been even more on time than us. We did eventually find parking in the back of some dodgy, secluded park next to a big tree and set about on the long trek to the Gardens.
Actually, I’m pretty glad I did decide to park where I did, as the traffic officers were there in full force to make money by handing out parking tickets to any transgressors of the parking law. Did you know that parking on a red line nets you a whopping R500 ticket!?! Anyway, the plan for the evening was pretty simply. Michelle who had actually purchased all the tickets for all her friends (at R400 a shot mind you!!) was going to go through early, set up base camp, and then wait for the rest of the groupies to arrive. Everyone was going, even Andri and Malcolm who left baby Corben behind for this one, so Chantelle was really, really looking forward to the evening.
Unfortunately for us, our plans were dashed when for some inexplicable reason we were made into the black sheep of the family and no place was kept for us – which we happily discovered on our arrival. In a crowd a couple of thousand strong, this is obviously not an easy situation to rectify, and in the end C and I trekked right to the back of the huge lawn to eke out a little camping site. So now we were pretty far away from the stage, but thankfully this was a big production and the absolutely massive stage was complemented by two massive screens, meaning we weren’t missing too much.
On that note, I wasn’t sure about Kirstenbosch Gardens as a music venue in the first place, but now having been to my first concert here, I can’t believe that I haven’t done it before. There is nothing nicer than chilling out on the huge lawn in the open with picnic basket in hand. The sound is perfect, no matter where you sit and as long as the weather holds up like it did last night, you get treated to the extra spectacle of gazing up at a gorgeous star-filled evening sky.
Which brings me to the actual show for the night. Michael Bubl’, the young upstart crooner, delivered one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen. The man is a natural entertainer, with an easy-listening voice, both speaking and singing, and he managed to keep the massive crowd thoroughly entertained for the entire duration of the show (which was just under two hours long in the end). The live …big band’ band behind him are all absolute musical geniuses and the show was jam-packed with all his hits (admittedly I didn’t recognise most of his self-penned pieces, but the classics were instantly recognisable) and you couldn’t help but sing with or tap your foot along with the infectious beat.
I can safely think that there couldn’t have been a single person who didn’t enjoy last night’s extravaganza – unless of course they’re deaf which would then make sense because they would be able to complain about the slight chill in the air. The night’s entertainment was fabulous, the surrounding with breathtakingly gorgeous and the weather played along beautifully, even giving us a magnificent view of the night time starry sky. I’m still not a fan of the genre, but that aside, Michael Bubl’ without a doubt deserves all the hype and praise that gets bestowed upon him.
The almost perfect evening (spoilt only a little by our friends’ behaviour – which was fine in the end because they didn’t get to share in all the goodies that C had stuffed into the snack basket) ended on the perfect note as Chantelle and I were afforded some quality time under the night sky as we patiently waited for the mess of a traffic jam to finally clear up – before heading home for a well-deserved snooze.
It has to be called a snooze because I still haven’t gotten the opportunity to get a good night’s rest. But tonight is the night, mark my words!
Related link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Buble