Thomas Krane at the Waiting Room

A few months my friend, Stephen the Meaven, introduced me to a band called Thomas Krane. I really enjoyed the album and when I heard they were coming to Cape Town we decided that we’d have to go to a gig. So last night they played at the Waiting Room and we trundled down Kloof Street to the gig.

We arrived early and played some foosball upstairs. I’d like to say that the Waiting Room is awesome. I haven’t been in a while, but its great and it just reinforced the fact that it is my favourite live venue in Cape Town. Sure the sound can suck sometimes but the sound usually sucks at live venues, it’s almost a prerequisite.

Anyway, back to Thomas Krane. The two-piece band (apparently sometimes there’s four of them) is made up of lead singer, Dan Hampton, who plays guitar and distorted bass, and a girl, Mary-Anne Hampton, who stands and plays drums and sings backing vocals.

They have such a unique and new sound which is great to hear from a South African band. It gets tiring listening to G-C-D all the time, and it’s great that there are people making interesting music. I really hope they get more recognition and start playing bigger gigs. South Africa needs music that is interesting, well written, and expressive like Thomas Krane.

The entrance for the gig was free, but still the Waiting Room was hardly packed. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the gig, I just wished more people were there to enjoy the music. It saddens me a bit that people have to make gigs free, and have to give away music for free (you can go to https://www.facebook.com/thomaskrane to download songs for free).

I say “high five” to Thomas Krane, and hope to go to more gigs.

PS. One thing though, they seemed a bit down. Maybe they’d had a long day, or just were tired after the tour in Cape Town but the energy wasn’t fully there. Although it does compliment the deepness of the music, possibly a smile or two more would’ve been the order of the day. But other than that, definitely a band to watch.

The Brothers Streep and Julia Jakobsen

This is probably one of the first gigs I have ever been to in Cape Town where the opening act started within 30 minutes of the advertised time. I arrived at 21:30 and was surprised to see that Julia Jakobsen was already on stage.

 

Originally from Denmark, Julia has lived in South Africa for about 12 years. Her speaking between songs was endearing in a ditsy kinda way, but when she sung, you listened. She sung mainly about boys, and while her guitar playing is rather simple her voice is definitely the most intriguing part of her performance.

Next up were the Brothers Streep. They sing silly, satirical songs with funny repartee in between, some of which is rehearsed but it’s still amusing. The Brothers Streep have been growing in popularity touring around South Africa and overseas. Their style worked well at an intimate venue like the Waiting Room and offered a fun evening of light entertainment.