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At Rocking the Daisies

Starting just three years ago, the folk and rock fest­ival, “Rocking the Daisies,” has fast become one of the best music fest­ivals in South Africa. It takes place on a farm in Darling, on the West Coast, and is one hours drive from Cape Town, mak­ing it a pleas­ure to attend for most loc­als. Combining eco, green and live music themes, it con­stantly aims to edu­cate fol­low­ers on liv­ing more con­sciously, giv­ing back to the envir­on­ment and redu­cing their car­bon footprint.

Although mes­sages are dif­fi­cult to get across to loud and drunk rev­el­lers, the organ­isers pull out all the stops to be con­sist­ent. Most mer­chand­ise is made from Hemp, bio-degradable mater­i­als replace styra­phome, trees are planted to make up for the car­bon emis­sions of all the fest­ival goers driv­ing to the venue, who are also encour­aged to bring at least 2 pas­sen­gers for the drive and even the pro­grams are prin­ted on recycled paper.

“Rocking the Daisies” derives its name from the equis­ite land­scape that bursts to life from September, on the West Coast. The bril­liant flower dis­play has inspired a coun­try wide pil­grim­age for years, and now inter­na­tional tour­ists of all ages and from all ori­gins make the floral exped­i­tion. The kal­eido­scopic land­scape seems like a dream, where the flowers stretch fur­ther than the eye can see and offer an unri­valled exper­i­ence in nat­ural beauty.

At Rocking the Daisies

Folks from all walks of life make their pil­grim­age to the fest­ival for their own exper­i­ence. Whether it be music appre­ci­ation of some of the best bands in the coun­try, the amaz­ing energy of thou­sands of people rock­ing out to the rhy­thyms or to spend the week­end camp­ing with friends and occa­sion­ally strolling over to the main stage, every­one is catered for. This year the organ­isers arranged sep­ar­ate ven­ues for com­edy acts, drum ‘n bass and elec­tron­ica, all within a short dis­tance of the main stage, which show­cased live bands from morn­ing until past midnight.

Music styles var­ied from Midnight Oil influ­enced protest bands, through to ska, hip-hop, rock, blues and folk. They also boas­ted their first inter­na­tional act who fit­ted in well, sand­wiched between pop­u­lar local rhy­thyms. There was a massive bar that catered to the African thirst, a tent filled to the brim with food stalls that largely com­prised of estab­lished res­taur­ants from Cape Town cook­ing furi­ously for the hordes of the hun­gover and a field of crafters ped­alling their wares.

The Dam

A pic­tur­esque dam provided wel­come relief to those want­ing to escape the crowds. I saw some dar­ing souls brazenly take to the waters, even though the tem­per­at­ures must have been close to zero the night before. Streams of young­sters were con­stantly flow­ing through the walk­ways, adorned with rock chic cloth­ing and punk accessor­ies, fest­ival gear and wel­ling­ton boots! The land had turned to mud after the first thou­sand people arrived and you could spot the seasoned daisy-goers because they were wear­ing their wel­lies! Jubilation was con­stantly infus­ing the air, as friends met up and sang along to famil­iar tunes.

The best part of “Rocking the Daisies” has to be chilling on straw bales infront of the main stage with a break­fast roll and cof­fee in hand, recov­er­ing from the night before, to the soft sounds of folk. Before you know it, it’s time to start nurs­ing a beer again, and get on your feet for some soul warm­ing ska beats as you fade into the crowd, the sun warm­ing your shoulders and the music tick­ling your toes!

Site Links & Related Pages:
Official Rocking The Daisies Web Site
Darling Attractions
Darling Accommodation
Visit the Cape West Coast