Drum n Bass history is made at RAMfest Cape Town 2012
The first time Ramfest 2012 popped up in my newsfeed on facebook the comments were filled with anger, confusion and general dis-satisfaction. For an event that has garnered such hype over the years as a ‘cannot miss’ event on the live music scene, I cannot say I wasn’t sympathetic towards people’s reactions to the event changing from a 3 day music festival to 1.
To top it all off the Cape Town leg of the festival was on a Sunday!!
Days went by till more details were released and one word echoed loudly when they were, NETSKY!!! Currently one of the hottest Drum n Bass producers in the world right now, this Belgium born DJ Producer exploded onto the scene with his first release in 2009 on the legendary Hospital Records, which, not that I have to mention, scooped up the most awards for a record label at the 2011 D&B Awards! Netsky himself took 4 awards home, namely the Best Liquid DJ, Best Breakthrough DJ, Best International Artist and Best Breakthrough Producer. HUGE!!!
The one day only festival announcement now seemed like a paper cut compared to the fact that out of the blue, you know who was headlining!
To say the wait for the 11 of March took forever was an understatement, nearly sick of everyone screaming in anticipation of the show, I finally got hold of my ticket and sorted out my plans for the trip. With a bit of company in the guise of John-henry Bartlett (Rockstar Photographer \m/) we set off westward on the 45 min trip to Ramfest.
Enter the gates of Hell.
Damn it was hot! I finally realized why it was called Ramfest. Because it was frikken hell over there! I drank my first beer in 5 minutes flat, armed with another I headed straight to the electronic stage where P.H Fat were swearing at their audience. Yho the bass was HUGE! Salivating we were, the crowd was picking up and the sun was getting a little cooler nearing the strangely alluring 18h00 mark when Netsky would be gracing the stage with his awesomeness.
Tequila girls trying to entice us but I stood firm on my plans of only hitting the hard stuff at 5 and oh look its 4:30 might as well go for it!
Hyphen & SFR were half way through their set dropping their first dnb track. The audience were lapping it up from the moment they got on stage, it’s no wonder they were chosen to represent CT as an opening act.
The bass music dream team were twisting and turning their way through every genre known to bass! Picking up the pace to 175bpm was an epic move as people were ready, and with the dance floor near full, Hyphen jumps on a boat and into the crowd. HE WAS ON A MUTHAF***KING BOAT!!!! Cliches aside that was pretty damn awesome!
Next up was It Came From the Jungle wonder boy Niskerone. No better choice really than that, the most in demand DJ currently on our scene opening for Netsky and Mc Darrison.
I was a bit worried at first that Niskerone was up before Netsky, he tends to rock it very hard and rarely does he ever tone down his sound.
Why should he really, it’s not like the whole dance floor is gonna storm off and go ‘this is too hard’ they just danced harder, it was a pretty crazy sight to be honest, a 5 o’clock sun beaming down on us, sweaty guys and girls crammed together on a dance floor surrounded by kicks, snares and sub bass. Oh and Tequila girls, shooting tequila down your throats then asking for money afterwards. I got mine from the bar it was colder 😉
I exited briefly to get some food before Netsky entered the DJ booth knowing very well that I would be over indulging in party drinks of various natures. I swallowed my pizza whole, headed to the Olmeca stand, cold beer in one hand, shot in the other and Darrison gets on stage to bigup Niskerone for a smashing set. The crowd responds with a roar, their hands in the air echoing his sentiments!
Mc Darrison, certainly one of the most iconic voices of d&b. Arguably his biggest hit was in 2005 with DJ Fresh on the track ‘All That Jazz’ where his vocals took the song from a dance floor killer to a cultural landmark of a time when Drum n Bass was making a move from an underground subculture to a mainstream phenomenon.
This guy can rap, he can sing and knows how to create mental pictures with his words, connecting the listener to the music and the message. I can’t think of many other emcees who could match Netsky’s positive vibes in such a way that he elevates the music to the next level. But that is what great emcees are there for. And from the first song it was evident Ramfest was about to experience a set unlike any other before it…
The people in the audience erupted at the first bass drop; It was absolutely insane! There were fat drums pummelling though HUGE sub bass lines coated in epic synth melodies, beautiful was a word that came to mind, crazy was the next as every single person nearby were either bouncing their head and smiling or jumping up and down in ecstasy.
This was not your usual 2am set, where everyone is dancing and can’t tell a drop from a breakdown. People were connected with the structure of each track, rising and falling as the filter envelopes from the uplifting leads opened and closed. With each stab the dance floor responded with a jolt of the arm or a sway of the head. I witnessed smiles coming from every direction. It was magical, and so inspiring to see people reacting to such refined music.
After brocking my bad self off to High Contrast’s massive jungle flavoured smasher ‘If We Ever’ Another thing sprang to mind so proudly I smiled more, I saw a guy wearing a Hospital T-Shirt, I had to big him up, Tony Coleman would be proud to see our southern tip of Africa getting healed by the sounds of Hospital Records.
Darrison’s soulful calls to the people lifting their spirits, shifting from singing to rhythm he spits the verse to his 2005 hit All That Jazz “drop drop drop, drop drop another one, whoa-whoa yeah-yeah” Instantly taking me back to the track where I first heard and fell in love with his sound. If only they played that song, but it was only a second thought as I directed my attention back to what was unfolding before my eyes, Darrison bellows out the lyrics to one of my all-time favourite metal songs, Pantera, Cemetery Gates after which he says he loves a bit of Pantera and Metallica.
It then dawned on me that we were only an hour into the set, with another to go!
Netsky is still effortlessly lifting out track after track from his hard drive, a humble smile on his face almost constantly. Never once does he look for attention from the crowd, this is a guy who seems so in touch with the music and art of sharing that he gets all his pleasure from just seeing us enjoy it like he does. A lesson in the craft that I wish more DJ’s could learn from, it’s not about rock star status, or cool sunglasses and trendy bass sounds, it’s about the music and the feeling of it, sharing the wisdom through sound and making people as Darrison said, happy people.
We were happy people, as the sun began to disappear Netsky took us to another world dropping the hip hop classic Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys, as if sensing we needed some time to center ourselves and get our energy levels replenished he switched modes down to a more minimal sound of almost neuro d&b consistency, it was quite a polar shift but I feel as if it was necessary as he smashed out rollers for the next while, I heard some killer tracks I didn’t expect from him, and then the completely unexpected. “BASS DROP” Fatman Scoop’s Be Faithful featuring Crooklyn Clan and Faith Evans. A song we have most probably heard a million times! But it was different this time, underneath the vocals was the thickest most funky bassline I have heard in a while, I think the people were a bit shocked and unable to respond, but I was in heaven. Please if anyone knows that track he mixed in there 😉
This is where the DnB kinda ended except for the last track, but songs like Bob Marley, Jamming and 10cc, Dreadlock Holiday had the dancefloor singing at full volume. Darrison sings as Netsky fliters out the music “ I don’t like Cape Town, I F**KING LOVE IT!!!
Such epic vibes, much respect sent out to the organisers who brought down this class act, hopefully Darrison will spread the word to guys like Bryan Gee of V Recordings (as he said he would).
With one last song after a string of huge electro bangers, Netsky and Mc Darrison bid Ramfest a farewell, it was most certainly one of the best musical experiences I’ve witnessed and it was a shame it had to end, but the sheer awesomeness of it will most probably stick by all who were there for some time, taking our local scene to the next step in our constant evolution we thank you guy’s for gracing us with your presence!
Evidently Cape Town loves Liquid Drum n Bass!
That’s my pinch of salt….
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