Last day of Gaan Bos inniMall draws big crowds to i’langa Mall

With artists such as Ross Learmonth of Prime Circle, Refentse and Coenie Naudé bringing Gaan Bos inniMall this weekend to a conclusion, scores of people from across Mbombela came to experience the Lowveld’s favourite festival, Innibos, at i’langa Mall.

Musician Coenie Naudé played for an enthusiastic crowd at the piazza outside Doppio Zero and Panarottis at 17:00, drawing many cheers from his fans as he sang several covers, such as Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” among others, as well as a few original songs.

Naudé engaged with the audience between sets, telling of how he dreamed of becoming a musician as a young child and how his first guitar was blue, which a kindly music shop owner had sold to him for R350.

The second-to-last performance of the night was Refentse, who belted out a host of Afrikaans songs with his bassist strumming along beside him, occasionally singing in the background.

Scores of people crowded the piazza to listen to and watch Refentse perform, with many grabbing their cell phones to record his powerful performance. Refentse was definitely a crowd favourite; people called out and cheered loudly at the end of every song, almost drowning the musician out.

Last to perform and close Gaan Bos inniMall was the one and only Ross Learmonth, the lead singer of the popular and well-loved band, Prime Circle. Performing acoustic sets of some of the band’s past songs, Learmonth drew a large crowd with his powerful voice and songs, old favourites of the audience.

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Learmonth described how he had been expelled from his high school while growing up and that all he had wanted in life was to be a musician. Tables around the entertainment entrance were filled to overflowing with excited audience members whom Learmonth had clapping and singing along to his songs in a matter of minutes.

Some audience members who were unable to get a seat, opted to spectate from afar, anything to have the chance to see the musician perform.