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7 great things to do in Cape Town this weekend
Our pick of seven of the best events and things to do in Cape Town this weekend from Friday, 24 May to Sunday, 27 May 2013.
Pick any weekend of the year in Cape Town and you’re bound to find a host of events planned through our hip and happening city. On Saturday the entire globe celebrates Africa Day, and, not to be outdone, the Mother City has an appropriate array of activities to make you feel good about our natural heritage. Toast the Cape’s fantastic grape-producing soil with not one, but two food and wine festivals, or choose to commemorate the continent by helping its communities with the 100 in 1 Day campaign. Of course, music is the blood that runs through every African’s veins, and whether you prefer it completely indigenous and traditional, classically served up by the icons of yesteryear or booming out of mega-speakers at a street party, the concert choice this weekend is as diverse as the people on the land. There’s also another nail-biting Stormers game on the cards, and with the spirit of the day in the air, maybe our rugby boys will show the Aussie side a thing or two about African warfare.
Nightlife pick of the weekend: Music Alla Kaap
Rock ‘n’ roll hall of famer and singer of the 1966 classic ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’, Percy Sledge, is set to serenade Cape Town audiences on Friday and Saturday for the Music Alla Kaap show at GrandWest Arena. Along with the American RnB icon, the star-studded night will feature local legends, like vocalist Zayn Adam, PJ Powers and 70s group The Rockets (with two original members Colin “Bones” Delight and Molly Baron). Music Alla Kaap’s tribute to classic numbers and honey sweet notes will be hosted by the Mother City diva herself, Shaleen Surtie-Richards, and a 15-piece band will accompany the acts. Tickets for Music Alla Kaap are available via Computicket.com and Computicket outlets at a cost of R135p/p, R140p/p, R205p/p or R245p/p, depending on seats. The show starts at 7pm.
2. TOPS Gugulethu Wine Festival
Good wine, good food and good times are pretty much guaranteed on the rooftop of the Gugulethu Square Mall when the third annual Gugulethu Wine Festival takes over on Friday and Saturday. The township fiesta offers guests who come from far and near a chance to sample the Western Cape’s finest vintages and tantalise their taste buds at the lively affair’s gourmet stalls. Compared to last year’s event, an even bigger line-up of wineries is on the cards, and festival-goers can expect liberally poured tastings, delicious pairings and shoulder rubbing with local celebs and many members of the ever-expanding vino loving community. Tickets are available via Webtickets.co.za or at the door on the night and cost R90p/p per night for a Friday or Saturday pass. Friday’s session runs from 4pm to 9pm, and Saturday’s session runs from 3pm to 9pm.
3. Stormers VS Reds Super Rugby
It’s all or nothing for the DHL Stormers when they take on the Reds at Cape Town’s Newlands Stadium on Saturday. The boys are back on home turf after a gruelling gauntlet of games in Australia that featured close-call matches and a plague of injuries. Fans can expect a fierce fight from the Western Cape players, who are looking to secure wins from this match forward, while the Queensland team will probably be doing everything they can to stop them. Tickets range in price from R50p/p to R140p/p, and can be purchased at Ticketpros.co.za. Tickets can also be bought at Newlands Stadium starting on the Tuesday before match day (21 May 2013). Kick-off is scheduled for 5:05pm.
4. Cape Town Good Food and Wine Show
Gourmet goodies and culinary bigwigs from across the world await food fans at the Cape Town Good Food and Wine Show at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from Thursday to Sunday. Most notably, the top-class culinary fiesta presents cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs, including everyone’s favourite foul-mouthed kitchen nightmare, Gordon Ramsay, and Australian restaurateur and food writer Bill Granger. Though, festival-goers can also expect sumptuous wines and nibbles to round out a host of activities, like interactive theatres (think the Little Chefs Kitchen Theatre and the My Spar Wine & Canapé Theatre) and hands-on cooking workshops activities. General tickets to the show are available via Computicket.com and at Computicket outlets at a cost of R110p/p for adults and R55p/p for kids between the ages of 2 and 12. Ticket price includes samples of food and wine and entry into selected cook demonstrations and exhibitions. Separate tickets are available for access to exclusive demos, theatres and specific areas of the food and wine show and so are VIP packages. Tickets to the Checkers Celebrity Chef Theatre are priced according to chef. Doors open at 10am each day.
5. 100 in 1 Day Cape Town
Join your fellow citizens of the world and promote positive change by taking part in the first ever 100 in 1 Day Cape Town project on Saturday. The social initiative, which was conceived in Columbia, calls on ordinary people to kick-start interventions, or acts, which will improve the lives of everyone in the community. These communities can be anywhere, from Milnerton to Muizenburg and from the Northern to the Southern Suburbs, and the goal is to launch 100 different projects across Cape Town in one day. You can get involved with proposals already in existence, like the Big Soup Day out in Muizenberg at 12pm, where neighbours come together over a cup of soup, or ART ALIVE: ivukile, which will host workshops for 30 grade-eight learners at a school in Khayelitsha. Alternatively, you can find something that is near and dear to your heart and stage your own intervention.
6. Castle Lite Extra Cold Concert & Street Party
The fun times are spilling out onto the streets thanks to the inaugural Castle Lite Extra Cold Concert, an outdoor party hijacking Buiten Street this Saturday. The SAB beer brand has crafted the ultimate jol with a fan-picked line-up featuring house music duo F. eU (DJs Fresh and Euphonik) and hip-hop kingpin DJ Ready D, plus mini-bar fridges foaming with the good stuff lining the pavement party area/dance floor. The businesses and restaurants surrounding Buiten Street – a connecting road between Loop and Long – will be open for jammers to bounce in and out of to create a unique party experience. Break dancers, bikers and graffiti artists will provide entertainment before the headlining acts hit the stage. Tickets for the Castle Lite Extra Cold Concert street party cost R324p/p for VIP access and R165p/p for general access and are available via Computicket.com and Computicket outlets. VIP access includes entrance to Fiction and Lola’s VIP areas and four drink vouchers.
7. Africa Day Celebrations at Artscape Theatre
Celebrate the Mother Continent and 50 years of Africa Day with a traditional music concert at the Artscape Theatre on Saturday. With performances by the master of marimba, Bongani Sotshononda, and his 13-piece ensemble, the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the SA Youth choir and a cappella group Khayelitsha Mambazo, the act looks to echo the beats and rhythms that pulse through the continent. What’s more, this musical tribute calls on the Youth Orchestra to accompany soprano Friedel Mitas, a Karoo-born soprano, as she gives flight to songs that stir up the sounds and feelings of life in Africa. Africa Day is a worldwide celebration of our home continent’s rich heritage and diversity and a commemoration of the founding of the African Union in 1963. Tickets for celebrations at the Artscape cost R80p/p and are available via Computicket.com and at Computicket outlets, as well as through the Artscape Box office. The show starts at 7:30pm.
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What’s more, students from George Washington University in Washington D.C are conquering stages at various venues in Cape Town on Saturday and Sunday as part of their larger South African national tour.
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