Up The Creek 2014 – This kind of fun isn’t easy to find…

South African music fans were treated to one killer music festival at Swellendam in the Cape this past weekend by way of Up The Creek 2014. Our trusted journo/ photographer, Mehow made sure to be there and cover what was one amazing festival.

This kind of fun isn’t easy to find…

Wheels finally touch tar at half eight on a perfect Thursday morning. The day started early, and it’s been a short flight thanks to the woman next to me. She was interesting but oddly a little confused that I’ve flown from Johannesburg to attend a music festival. She leaves me with an envious smile, (*phone beeps), my lifts late. I find my bags, and another “just landed” mate. We have breakfast and catch up while our lift arrives, (*phone beeps), lifts here. Now there’s three Joburger’s onward and upward to the Creek.

This one has been on our lists for some time and tickets sell out quickly so a few months ago we jumped on a couple and started our plans. A few hours’ drive past some killer Cape landscapes and sees us a kilometer outside of Swellendam. (A small town that is supposedly the fourth oldest in SA! Yeah, we stopped there first, stocking up on the usual festival supplies and had lunch at a cool spot on its edge.

Finally arriving, the festival is already comfortably filling up with many “Creekers” choosing to tent without their cars. We lay claim to a good chunk of tenting real estate for the teams that will follow. We pitch, settle in, get comfortable, greet our weekend neighbours and give thanks with a cold one, yep, I’m at Up the Creek.

Our reconnaissance begins and ends abruptly, this is a small festival. Usually limited to 2500 people (including crews and bands). This year sees it increased to 3000 (though I don’t have an official count). The crowd is mixed with quite a few families, and plenty of old and young. It’s refreshing. There is plenty of camping space with or without cars, everything is close enough, nothing seems far away and even if you camp late and get stashed at the ends of the farm it really makes no difference.

We find the bar; great festival food courts; the MK and Jagermeister stages; there’s a sponsored chill area with man size Jenga and massive comfortable bean bags. The river is close and the facilities at this festival are cleverly laid out. There are even hot showers. This festival is intimate and yet there’s plenty of space to dance, walk and chill. Easy to find a place to relax and even lie down for an afternoon nap.

Before we know it the bands start up. It’s a proudly South African 100% local artist rock festival and therefore a great place to find some new talent and revisit old ones too. Five acts play on the Jagermeister stage. The vibe is rocking and damn are these guys (and girl) delivering. The sound is really good, the tunes epic, smoke and lights are simple and effective. I’m loving the intimate atmosphere and feel like a VIP even though the website claim there aren’t any.

We finish early and head to our tents, it’s been a long week for me so the fact we have the morning off is fantastic. Friday acts only start at midday which really slows things down and it’s great knowing that Creekers who can’t get out here early won’t be missing all the fun. With no need to rush, we sleep in, then feast on epic breakfast wraps with coffee, blow up our inflatable’s (thanks to our Cape Town Entourage) and make our way to the river.

A short dirt road leads us to the bank. Along it you’ll find a massive chill zone covered by Bedouin tents and some small bars. A great place to hide from the sun. It’s a site seeing hundreds of people floating on every raft and inflatable imaginable. It’s recommended to party on the river to experience the acts properly from the Ray-Ban River Stage. The river dynamic of this festival is very special indeed.

Meeting new people is super easy, and if you don’t like who you are around, like that Joburg Entourage with their massive floating home inflatable, either move them out the way or swim through them. Water fights are continuously occurring and during it all you feel like a kid playing on a slow moving river under the African sun.

Friday holds collaborations between Piet Botha, Akkedis and Kite Rider. Saturday has some favourites like Beach Party and Al Bairre. Both days see all the bands jamming solid rock & fun indie that fit this scene. The stage is small but its presence is felt no matter where you are. Bands come and go, most eventually end up in the river swimming like you do. Alas we all feel special.

At some point we just swim our way to the stage and tie ourselves in to fight the slow current that wants to steal our fun. Smaller inflatable’s dock and connect. More friends are made, even more drink spilt and shared. We sit through another hot African day sipping our cold ones, enjoying the water, enjoying these wet moments.

Only one stage is performed on at a time so you never miss an act. Acts close at the river at about four on each day and slowly the crowds move to the MK Main Stage. With such a small festival you actually get told what’s happening next and where to go to not miss out. I know this happens at bigger fests but it just feels chilled knowing that there aren’t other acts playing on the same time slots and that you’re not missing out on something else, an absolute win in my opinion.

The bar dishes out Ice bergs, Titanics and Life rafts. Life rafts changed our mind about old brown sherry and how it should be used. One bar caters for all liquids and drinking water is provided. It got busy but we never waited too long.

The MK stage holds the better sound and lighting, The Plastics and Jeremy Loops are a few that played on Friday. It’s a fantastic party running at a comfortable pace throughout the night. As things get darker the Jagermeister stage fires up with Red Huxley and After Robot. I miss them however, the sun has drained me and I crash early even missing the Nudies. Saturday holds a ripper of a line up including Short Straw, Hot Water and Black Cat Bones. The bands do their thing and deliver on a killer weekend of fantastic SA rock. The energy was amazing and it’s a comfortable jam the whole night.

When the stages finally silence there’s a Red Bull Electro tent with various djays that are varied and variable. Some lights near this thing could have helped; it’s dark out there but hey we’re at a rock festival, though maybe that’s why it felt like an after-thought. I enjoyed the fact that electro wasn’t on its usual pedestal at this fest.

I wake up on Sunday and start packing up while more bands start the ending to this weekend. For a festival that claimed no VIP, we sure as hell felt special. This was a fantastic weekend leaving me wishing we had something like this closer to home, but I’ll gladly fly down again. At Up The Creek everyone comes together, and we’ll be back for sure, this kind of fun isn’t easy to find.

Photos and words by Mehow