Waking up in a cheaply built and cheaply sold tent has a few guaranteed results. During the night you will be cold, often freezing regardless of the quality of your sleeping blanket. In the early morning you are likely to be first awake as budget tents have no light protection and the first rays of sun will be magnified onto your head. However, this is no problem as most of my fellow campers were either rising from their tents as they too had not spent a fortune on their two sleeper, or they were still retuning from the entertainment area.
Early Saturday morning consisted of two things, Firstly every male talked about the ever present feeling of needing to visit the toilets. Secondly, we all sat around drinking Chris's coffee and discussing what bands we should witness in the coming hours.
Once the hangovers settled we all set off to get some breakfast. Most of us settled on a breakfast Schwarma. I must add that the owners of these food stalls must have made a small fortune during the course of the event, namely the Burger Express and The Schwarma Stall. These food stalls had people lined up the entire weekend regardless of the time, at R30 a burger or Schwarma, you can do the maths. After eating our breakfast that would make any vegetarian faint, we hung around for a bit, speaking to people and comparing stories of the night's adventures. We soon returned to base camp to prep ourselves for the day's events.
On our return home we swore to make note of land marks, so that returning home during the night might be slightly easier. This might have worked, if we had not gotten lost on the way home. We managed to zig-zag across the Oppikoppi farm for at least an hour before finding base camp by accident. The past night's hooligans began to take their toll as many individuals took mid day naps. Others decided to start midday with a beer.
By 3:30 everyone was itching to get back to the entertainment area as the day's line-up started to become interesting. Individuals stock pilled alcohol in water bottles and what ever would contain liquid. Oppikoppi has made the clever rule that does not allow anyone to bring glass or tins into the entertainment area. This ensure's that no one has the unfortunate problem of a broken glass protruding from their shin.
Pestroy took the stage at 4:30ish and proceeded to rip up the FHM Most Amazing Myn Stage. Ricki from Facing the Gallows filled in on Bass Guitar as Shane, Pestroy's full time Bassist has a broken hand. The set was tight and full of energy. But that is something you expect from Pestroy.
We sat around while Radio Kalahari Orkes entertained the crowd on the James Phillips Mane stage. At 7:30ish Facing the Gallows were set to take the stage and I had never seen the "Thrashcore" metal band on a festival stage before and I had a slight inclination that they might put on a brutal show. I was blown away by these 4 guys from Johannesburg. They beat the crowd with sounds that were reminiscent of a medieval massacre. Facing the Gallows is not everyone's cup of tea I must add. I normally would shy away from such hardcore metal, but their show at Oppikoppi was one of the best of the entire festival.
The line-up for the rest of the night did not excite any of my fellow camp mates. We hung around for a while until most decided that they should return to their tents and beds. I decided that this was the time for a dreaded visit to the Toilets. I made my way to the hundreds of Port-a-Pottys just outside the entertainment area. Luckily enough for me toilet paper was rife is this region and I escaped having to sacrifice one of my socks to this cause. After nearly throwing up multiple times I found my toilet of choice.
I now made my way home to the camp site and within two corners I was lost, this time without a light and on my own. I stumbled along the maze that had now become exactly the same on each road. The festival was a complete sell out for the first time in its history. This meant that every road was at full capacity and made land marks unidentifiable. I walked around for the longest period yet and only once I found a group of people wearing dork lights did I get correct directions. I saw out the evening speaking crap with my friends and drinking beers.
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