Masters of Rock

I managed to get off work a bit early on Tuesday afternoon and drove through to Capetown, the show "Masters of Rock" was due to start at 19h00 and I arrived at the Grand West Casino at 18h30, already the crowds were forming but I was in time to pick up my ticket and have a beer or two.

I had a "Gold Circle" ticket and as I wandered in I could see that it was going to be good, there were quite a few people in already but it was a huge area right in front of the raised stage. It was a standing room only area but that suited me, I imagined the whole crowd would be boogeying anyway.

The time passed quite quickly with the area slowly filling up and before long the lights dimmed and the excitement rose as Wishbone Ash took the stage. I haven't heard their music for many years and I thoroughly enjoyed it, their hour was over all too soon and then Uriah Heep crashed onto the stage. They are now a bunch of old rockers, long grey hair and pot bellies but MAN can they still rock!

Then it was the turn of Deep Purple, known as "the loudest band on the planet" they sure proved worthy of that name! They were brilliant, Steve Morse the lead guitarist is arguably the best guitarist in the world and he played his heart out. Hearing their live rendition of "Smoke on the water" really ended off a perfect evening.

I had a sore back, my feet and legs ached and I was pretty much deaf but I was happy as I drove out of the parking area just after midnight - what a great evening's entertainment.

This coming weekend we are going to the "Wacky wine festival" in the Boland winelands around the little town of Robertson, it is about two and a half hours from home and we are going in the bakkie because I will be buying wine. It's a fantastic, popular festival and I will tell you all about it.

I thought I would end off with some lovely photos of sidecars that came to my email inbox, I am not a fan of scooters or sidecars but you just have to appreciate the loving care that went into the fabrication;

I'm not sure that I would like to sit enclosed in that car, I'd rather ride the 1500 Goldwing, probably very comfortable though.

Here's another Honda Goldwing, the 1100 model with rather a large cumbersome looking sidecar attached! Plenty of space there I suppose.

A classic Vespa scooter with a pretty basic, no-frills type of sidecar.
I'm not sure what this one is, an old British bike with a lovely vintage-looking sidecar.
Another Vespa with a little more protection for the passenger.
A similar sidecar setup, must be a factory model.
This one's quite innovative isn't it? Seems to me it would be quite a heavy rig though. I must say that I am not keen on the sidecar rigs, I love riding on two wheels and being able to lean into the corners but each to his own.
Talking about innovative, this bicycle was parked outside a shopping centre in Kommetjie when we were down there, isn't that something else?!