Sunday at Park Acoustics in Pretoria

About two years ago I hiked to the fort at the top of the koppie at the Wonderboom Nature Reserve. Well, it’s not much of a fort anymore, it’s the ruins of one, but despite it being in a state of disrepair, one of the first things we agreed was that it would be an ideal location for a party.

Two years, and long period of being out of the loop later, this idea has became a reality. Not at this fort, but one on the other side of Pretoria that was built for a similar Anglo-Boer War purpose: Fort Schanskop, the other historical attraction on the hill next to the Voortrekker Monument.

The party is called Park Acoustics, and it’s been happening since mid-2010, when the first concerts where held at the Pretoria National Botanical Gardens. Now, having moved on from plants and prolific hillside dassies, the party takes place monthly on one of the capital city’s koppies, but until Sunday I hadn’t been around to experience how much more enjoyable the party’s become.

Dancing in front of the thatched lapa stage in the botanical gardens was always fun, but it can’t compete with getting to sit in the sun and drink beer in a glass bottle in a historical fort amphitheatre, with the smell of braaivleis coming from above the stage, courtesy of BraaiBoy.

And, as is always the case when you party at home, you’ll have the inevitable run-ins with people you haven’t seen in a while, some who’ll you’ll appreciate for being exactly the same, and some that will insist on reminding you of all your relative shortcomings in the past, within the space of a very brief conversation, while drunk.

Maybe it was the late afternoon swing set, a surprise to family members who hadn’t partied in Pretoria for a while, or just the random friendliness of strangers who joined in on our ridiculous dance moves to “The Cat Came Back”, but it was one of the best parties I’ve been to in a long time. With the addition of the guy who insisted on blocking out my photos with his middle finger, and getting to watch the sunset over the city.

I had to admit I was also surprised to hear Jeremy Loops and circus swing outside of the vicinity of the Hottentots Holland Mountains*, but I think it’s a welcome shift in perspective, and another reminder that even though partying in other places is fun, often the best times are had on unexpected Sundays in the city you’ve always called home.

Park Acoustics