Live Music in Cape Town

Cape Town Music

Crammed inside a smoky Cape Town club watch­ing a floppy-haired, skinny jean-wearing indie band prance around on stage, it can be dif­fi­cult to put your cur­rent musical appre­ci­ation into its proper his­tor­ical con­text. And con­sid­er­ing that last round of tequilas at the bar, prob­ably unwise. That said, it can be an inter­est­ing trip look­ing at just how much musical his­tory is con­cealed beneath the sur­face of Cape Town's nightlife.

Music has always been part of Cape Town's leg­acy, from the earli­est music of the Cape indi­gen­ous peoples to the folk music brought by European set­tlers to the area. During apartheid music played an import­ant role, with African jazz maes­tros and Afro-pop queens like Brenda Fassi (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Fassie) provid­ing the soundtrack for revolu­tion. Anti-apartheid bands such as Bright Blue also provided musical susten­ance for many of the stu­dent pop­u­la­tion with songs like “Weeping”, an allegory for the ignor­ance and bru­tal­ity of the apartheid sys­tem, becom­ing a ral­ly­ing cry for white stu­dents who stood against the apartheid government.

Like the coun­try, the post-1994 music scene has blos­somed. The recent My Coke Fest and the International Jazz Festival, both fea­tur­ing the cream of local and inter­na­tional tal­ent, are test­a­ment to just how far the coun­try has pro­gressed both socially and music­ally. Unfortunately vis­its from top inter­na­tional acts are still few and far between, but what we lack in over­seas pat­ron­age we make up for with a fer­vently pas­sion­ate local scene.

Cape Town Music

The first place that any­body look­ing for a good live show should visit is Mercury Live., Mercury hosts the best in local rock artists almost every week­end. The likes of Lark, Van Coke Kartel, and Max Normal have all torn the place apart and will no doubt do it again. On the first Saturday of every month Mercury reaches its max­imum capa­city as Cape Towns best drum and bass DJs take to the stage, for its reg­u­lar Homegrown paty. The Assembly is a new venue which is fast becom­ing pop­u­lar. Equipped for both inter­na­tional and local artists, Assembly only invites the biggest names in all genres of music to grace its stage. Look out for local elec­tro bands such as Sweat X and the Real Estate Agents. Guaranteed to impress.

And con­tinu­ing with the elec­tronic music break­down, if you like things a little cra­zier then you can­not pass on one of Cape Town’s legendary trance parties. Already a renowned des­tin­a­tion on the world­wide trance map, Cape Town trance is one of the fast­est grow­ing scenes in the coun­try. The New Year’s Prism party suc­cess­fully blen­ded live and elec­tronic and attrac­ted over 7000 party-goers. These parties take place just about every week­end dur­ing the sum­mer. Local pro­du­cers such Nano records and Timecode have carved them­selves a niche on the inter­na­tional scene but still give it their all when play­ing for a home crowd. However it’s the venue which really makes these parties. Whether they’re in a secluded spot on a wine farm, an apple orch­ard, or some unusual out­door loc­a­tion, trance parties are a great way to blend party­ing and the great outdoors.

Cape Town Music

But if you’re look­ing to enjoy some music in a slightly more sub­dued man­ner, then per­haps visit Zula Bar. Here there is plenty of seat­ing, you can order food, sip on some­thing and watch some of our best jazz artists, acous­tic per­formers and even some of the big up and com­ing rock acts such as. The Armchair Theatre, is also cosy and slightly more relaxed venue as the name sug­gests, and has built a name for itself as one of the top live ven­ues in Cape Town.

During sum­mer the Kirstenbosch con­certs are a big attrac­tion. Set in the botan­ical gar­dens, where you can enjoy a pic­nic before you enjoy the music, these con­certs are incred­ibly pop­u­lar so make sure you get your tick­ets in advance.

But if you’re look­ing for some­thing truly dif­fer­ent, Balkanology is a unique annual musical event fea­tur­ing music from the Balkans. A com­bin­a­tion of per­form­ance art and gypsy music this event encour­ages people to dress up and par­ti­cip­ate in a strange and sur­real gypsy world. It's even cra­zier than it sounds!

Music forms a huge part of the Cape Town cul­ture so more than likely you are going to have to choose between events. The best way to go about it is just to keep your ear to the ground, choose the scene that suits you and let the rhythm of the Mother City get you up and moving!

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Cape Town Attractions
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Cape Town Things to Do
Cape Town Nightlife & Theatre