Posts Tagged ‘Parlotones’

Posted on September 17, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

The Parlotones make a Giant Mistake

If you haven’t heard the news yet then let me tell you that The Parlotones are now wine makers and last night we were privileged to attend a private, intimate launch party for their new red wine called Giant Mistake.

It is no secret that I’m a Parlotones fan-boy (as is evidenced by this post) and this once in a life time opportunity event was certainly not going to be missed by me and trust me, I had a fantastic time.

If you know me well enough then you’ll know that I am often mature beyond my years but last night I was like a teenager again. Singing, jumping, irritating Mark Bayly, asking the band for special requests, pestering Kahn for signatures and photos and just generally being an absolute nuisance. I had a blast and now have some cool signed memorabilia including a signed bottle of Giant Mistake by all the band members. Check out some of the pics from the night.

But this post isn’t all about the fun. As I mentioned on the Afrigator blog we actually got involved with The Parlotones on this and did some work with them on their new website and there’s some more exciting stuff in the pipeline.

As for the wine? Well if the crowd last night at the event are anything to go by then Giant Mistake is going to be a massive success. There wasn’t a single person who said they didn’t love the wine and if you’re a sceptic then I guess the proof will have to be in the pudding. I mean we are just human after all…

 

Posted on February 2, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

The Parlotones Concert

I’ve been trying to remember what the defining moment was that got me to listen to The Parlotones for the first time. Initially I thought it was a live performance I had been to but in truth it was actually as a result of a documentary I saw on SABC 3 about the band a year earlier.

The documentary was playing in the background while Colette and I did something else but I do remember telling her that almost every song that they played I really enjoyed. Needless to say a few weeks later I bought their third album A World Next Door To Yours and I’ve been a big fan ever since. I even got their Unplugged album for Christmas!

So yesterday the family and I shipped off to the Kirstenbosch Gardens for the Parlotones leg of the Old Mutual Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts.

Watching live bands is a special thing but even more so when you know all their songs so I had a fantastic time. It was Luke and Ben’s first concert and while Ben slept through most of it Luke was banging away at a tin cookie drum in tune to all the songs. You really can’t ask for a better setting than to have a family-orientated concert in a place as beautiful as Kirstenbosch Gardens. People have told me how special it is but until you experience it for yourself you really can’t appreciate it.

My only criticism of the band is that they played too much of their new stuff. They’re currently working on their latest album and they tested four of their new songs yesterday. It’s great to do this, and I’m sure many fans liked this, but I felt that during these times they lost the crowd a little because nobody knew the words. I would have limited the new songs to two and played more of the hits like Rock, Paper, Scissors (seen in the video below) which never got aired at the concert.

Apart from a fantastic concert I have to admit I was also extremely impressed with the whole organisation of the event.

We arrived at around 16:00 (gates opened at 15:30) and I was expecting chaos however this was not the case. Parking and entry into the Gardens was simple and efficient and despite being 75% full at the time we had no problem at all with finding a place and relaxing in the 30 degree heat.

Similarly, when the concert ended we experienced very little problems in getting to our car and traffic was slow but moving freely. The concert was sold out and there were allegedly over 5,000 people at the event and I have to take my hats off to the organisers (whomever you are) – you did a fantastic job.

I can’t wait to go to my next concert at the gardens! If you want to see more pics I took have a look here.