A bit of America in South Africa

Last night, we celebrated the end of our first week of work by taking a trip to Fourways just outside of Johannesburg. Amid the rolling fields, the Coca-Cola Zero Festival was hosting some South African bands and some international headliners, including Snow Patrol, Oasis and Panic! At the Disco. 

The Coke Zero concert in Johannesburg is a 12-hour music festival, one of the largest in Africa. When we got there, I found that it was somewhat akin to Lollapalooza in Chicago, except with one humongous stage in the middle of bucolic farmland. Concert organizers had estimated that 60,000 people would be in attendance. I don’t know the final count, but there were definitely a couple thousand people there. (EDIT: The Times reported about 20,000 people were in attendance – see the video here: http://multimedia.thetimes.co.za/videos/2009/04/coke-zero-fest-rocks-jozi/)

It was disorienting to see so many white South Africans at Coke Fest. The fact that most of the concert-goers were white wasn’t at all that surprising, since I don’t see many black South Africans listening to Oasis or Snow Patrol. Their sheer numbers were jarring because walking down Jo’burg CBD and driving the streets, you just don’t see that many white people. At least not all in one place.

Another thing that struck me about the concert, besides the awesome music, was how American everyone looked. Seriously, I felt as if I were in the States again just by looking at what the concert-goers were wearing. There were two white Zimbabwean men standing right next to us with cowboy hats and one was wearing a Billabong jacket! Teens were wearing hipster clothes. Coca-Cola signs were everywhere. Albeit, Snow Patrol changed their “Hands Open” lyrics from Chicago to Johannesburg, but still, I never felt like I was in Africa for those few hours we were there. I wish we were able to go to the concert in the daytime to see some of the South African bands like Zebra & Giraffe, but oh well…

Tonight, we’re heading to downtown Jo’burg to see “MacBeki” at Market Theatre. It a tragi-comedy written and directed by Pieter-Dirk Uys, a notable South African satirist. I hope I’ll be able to understand most of the Thabo Mbeki political references and how it’s linked to Shakespeare’s work. (EDIT: There was a lot of it I understood, but then again, there were some things I didn’t get at all. Overall, not too shabby for this “ignorant American”…)

Tomorrow, we’ve arranged for Elvis, our beloved orientation tour guide, to take us to the Cradle of Humankind, a world heritage site, to see some hominid exacavation sites. Then, we’ll go see some rhinos and play with lion cubs. I’m definitely looking forward to it all! 

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