The Incubus Concert Experience - Pretoria, South Africa

A few months ago, the news popped up that the American rock band Incubus would be performing two shows in South Africa - one in Pretoria, and one in Cape Town. To put it briefly, this announcement pretty much broke my Facebook feed. You see, large international bands don’t seem to have any knowledge that South Africa exists, with only a few visiting our small corner of the world over the last 10 years. We’ve had Metallica (twice), Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Linkin Park, but that’s about it.

To be honest, I’m more of an Incubus appreciator - meaning, I’m not a die hard fan, but can enjoy their music in the correct time and place. My concert experiences have usually been reserved for traditionally “heavier” bands (think Slayer, Rammstein, Judas Priest, Darkest Hour, Suicide Silence etc - all of which I’ve watched on my regular trips to Europe), but I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to watch an international band in my humble home country. Concert crew gathered and flights booked, it was time to go.

To get to the concert involved catching a flight from my hometown of Durban, up to the much larger metropolis of Johannesburg, and then hiring a car to do the short drive to Pretoria. No matter how old I get, flying always remains a novelty that never gets old. Not to mention, it makes what would have been a 6 hour drive into a 1 hour flight. I’m a sucker for convenience.

Taking a ride on a big jet plane

How someone manages to fall asleep like this... I don't know. Best call the exorcist.

Flight done and accommodation checked in, the Friday evening saw us on the search for a more unique dining option in Pretoria, instead of the regular fast food that one tends to splurge on while on holiday. A quick search of Hatfield (name of the suburb we were staying in) revealed a restaurant by the name of "Mustang Sally's", which was, you guessed it - an old school themed American Diner. The decor and music choice made me feel like I had gone back in time to the 1950’s, and even the food prices seemed to have come from that era. In other words: really cheap. I opted for the Elvis Burger, which had two huge beef patties, avo, cheese, mustard, the regular greens, and a side of potato wedges. I can eat a lot - especially during training season - but even this burger managed to defeat me. However, the person at the table next to us managed to finish a 1kg T-bone steak, a 2l beer, and all the side trimmings in the same time it took me to nearly finish my burger. At least I had some leftovers for the next morning, whereas he probably had a heart attack.

My deathly, but totally worth it, burger

Appropriate to find a Mustang outside of Mustang Sally's

Saturday was the day of the big concert, which unfortunately would really only get underway at about 4pm. Due to the fact that we had half a day to kill, a decision was made to head to the Pretoria Zoo - not too far away from where we were staying in Hatfield. I've never been much of a wildlife person, but it was a great experience to see such a large variety of wild animals up-close. Believe it or not, even though I live in Africa, there are no wild animals roaming the streets. Stupidly, we decided not to hire a golf cart, and ended up walking nearly 12km around the zoo - guess it helped burn off some of the burger I ate the night before?

Not lawn decorations

Asked him if he liked to "move it move it". The look on his face said "I'm done with your shit"

Not your average domestic cat

I've come across a few elephants on Tinder, but this one was a different experience

With a productive morning done, it was time to head on over to the main attraction - Incubus. The concert took place at the Voortrekker Monument Amphitheatre, which was in my mind a slightly unusual place to choose, but it worked out well regardless. I didn’t catch many of the local acts, instead splitting my time between the bar area and food court. Luckily, I had Golden Circle tickets, which allowed be to pretty much waltz to nearly the front of the stage, and not have to fight for space with the rest of the people in the cheap section.

Incubus took to the stage at 9pm for a full hour and a half, playing a selection of their classics that we all know and love, as well as a few new songs off their new album "8". As mentioned earlier, I’ve never been a huge fan, but it was still cool to see them belt out some songs that I knew, such as "Anna Molly", "Megalomaniac", "Wish You Were Here", and "Nice To Know You". They ended the evening with a song probably everyone knows - the timeless "Drive".

The legends themselves

A final goodbye

Due to the tens of thousands in attendance, it took hours to get out, and I only managed to crawl into bed at around 1am. Not ideal, when you have to be up at 6am to head to the airport for the flight home. It was clear we were all still a bit wired from the night before, as the amount of bad jokes and puns while waiting in the airport were on a whole new level. But at least it made the wait and flight home entertaining.

And just like that, 36 hours after originally leaving, I had managed to fly to a city 600kms away, eat vast amounts of rubbish, walk 12km around a zoo, watch Incubus, and fly back home in one piece. Weekend = success. I had every good intention of going to gym this Sunday afternoon to work off all the burgers I ate, but upon arriving back at home, I decided to play some Xbox for a bit, which somehow promptly led to an unplanned sleep session on the couch. Guess I’ll just have to train extra hard this week then, but I have no regrets - it’s good to let loose and enjoy yourself every now and then.

Also, I managed to catch two guitar picks - a nice addition to the collection

DISCLAIMER: I took all these photos on my cellphone. If you had hopes of the regular quality from my DSLR, then sorry - wasn’t going to be bothered to lug that camera around for this.