Park Acoustics, happy to be back on top of meeting spot
“People did not know how much to appreciate this festival until the did not have it.”
A popular monthly live concert is back again at the Voortrekker monument after the relaxation of national lockdown measures.
On Sunday, music fans from as far as Johannesburg and even Bloemfontein, came to enjoy local indie, folk, rock and rap stars performing live.
“We are extremely happy to be back,” said Park Acoustics spokesperson Henk van der Schyff.
“People did not know how much they appreciated this festival until it was gone.”
He said the festival was not hit as hard as others by the lockdown.
“We were fortunate enough that during lockdown levels 4 and 3, our headliners were still sponsoring us; so we could do live streams for free once a month. But nothing beats a live performance.
He said since level 1, the organisers had to downscale the event.
“From accommodating 1 800 people, we can now only sell 500 tickets.
“We had to adapt and change basic operations such as the bus shuttles.”
He said the bus shuttles had to be canceled as it had become financially unviable to keep them.
Van der Schyff said adapting to the “new norm” was not all bad. He felt that the festival had witnessed a form of intimacy thanks to Covid-19
“People are a bit more comfortable and conscious of who is in their personal space.”
He had noticed that more people were now washing their hands and sanitising after meeting friends.
Van der Schyff said while this was the second Park Acoustics event to take place since the lifting of regulations, he had noticed that enforcing the Covid-19 regulations was a challenge.
“From our side it is important as organisers to ensure constant sanitising and social distancing are in place.”
Van der Schyff said although the festival was running on a skeleton crew, he was happy that the festival was back.
It was unfortunate that the world was hit by a pandemic when the festival was turning 10.
“We had so much planned for this year.”
Attendee Mathew Bugess said: “I feel that we can now enjoy some distraction from the lockdown.”
Bugess said this was his first time he was going out since the lockdown.
“I really like Park Acoustics as you get to see a different side of Pretoria.”
He said even though less people were allowed to gather at the festival, he felt as though nothing had changed.
“It is still a jol.”
Another attendee, Crispin McKenzi, said he felt great about being out and about again.
“Lockdown has been tough on everyone, so it feels good to be out and enjoying people’s company in a safe way.”
He said as a student during lockdown, he had been focused on assignments and tests.
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