Joburg has a nice taste of Milk & Cookies fest, which left Gayton McKenzie impressed [VIDEO]

Joburgers had a better experience at the Milk & Cookies festival than those in Cape Town, leaving Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie impressed.

“I wanna congratulate the organisers; South Africans are hungry for a good time, we are bringing back the happiness economy,” said an elated McKenzie speaking at the Milk & Cookies fest hosted at Huddle Park Golf & Recreation.

We need to create a platform for our local promoters and artists to host these kind of events, all year round. This is the cornerstone of job creation and happiness. Congratulations to the organisers of Milk and Cookies Fest🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🕺🏿🕺🏿🕺🏿🕺🏿🕺🏿 pic.twitter.com/5bgQx6f3dn

— Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) January 11, 2025

“We’re bringing it back, 2025 we’re gonna [sic] have many of these. International artists are coming back home to perform here, look at this,” he said gesturing at the big crowd at the festival.

Milk & Cookies is a multifaceted production and marketing company based in Atlanta, United States, with clients in London, South Africa, Los Angeles, Toronto, and more.

This was the festival’s first outing in South Africa. It kicked off in Cape Town with New Year’s festivities, yacht parties, cultural experiences, and exclusive fashion pop-ups led by top local designers.

The second week shifted its focus to artist development, offering workshops, panels, and networking mixers designed to nurture South Africa’s emerging music talent.

Some of the stand-out performers this past weekend were Kitty Cash$ and Muzi-any of the two would’ve been better to come before Kaytranada’s set instead of Mörda.

ALSO READ: Patrons complain about disorganisation of Milk & Cookies festival in Cape Town

Kaytranada owes Joburg nothing

There was a recurring theme after Kaytranada’s performance on Saturday night that he owned Joburg patrons nothing after a captivating performance.

new best night of my life just dropped. KAYTRANADA you owe me absolutely NOTHING pic.twitter.com/iBuCs1NJZi

— tunafish in my kota (@jinji_boolin) January 11, 2025

It was not only his selection of songs from his discography, but his stage presence, which was made up of energetic and engaging dancing and communication with his audience.

His set was made up of hits that range from At All, You’re The One, Be Your Girl and GoDJ among the tunes that had the youthful audience captivated throughout the set.

Kaytranada is too cool man. Those dance moves ? I need to see him every month or so. Also JHB crowds ? Insane wdym we were chanting “Go Kaytra”😭🇿🇦 #kaytranada #milkandcookiesfest #KaytranadainJohannesburg pic.twitter.com/rrI4BdHX6J

— big dawg (@fatbiscuitngidi) January 12, 2025

“Honestly, Johannesburg, that was definitely on my top three best performances and best crowd,” averred Kaytranada in a tweet after the show.

“The number of tweets I see of y’all [you guys] saying that I owe y’all nothing? nahhh y’all owe me nothing! Thank you!”

Honestly Johannesburg, that was definitely on my top 3 best performances & best crowd. The number of tweets i see of y’all saying that i owe y’all nothing?
nahhh Y’ALL owe ME nothing! Thank you!

— kaytra-NADA (@KAYTRANADA) January 12, 2025

Kaytranada is a two-time Grammy award-winning producer who was born in Haiti and raised in Canada.  

The 32-year-old was the headline act for the Milk & Cookies festival, where he first performed at Cape Town’s Ostrich Ranch. The Cape Town show left a bad taste in many mouths because of the poor level of organisation.  

The complaints from the Cape Town patrons ranged from exorbitant prices of drinks to the lack of organisation in the parking area, where they claimed there were no signs or marshals to assist patrons.

“The audacity of you to post about the After Party when concertgoers are telling you that they couldn’t leave the venue to even attend this party. Hhayi [no], guys,” commented Lebo Shu on Instagram.

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Improvement in Joburg but could do better

The Joburg edition of the festival was seemingly better than what Capetonians experienced a week ago.

While attendees in the Cape complained about the paucity of marshals and security guards, there were security personnel to assist with parking at Huddle Park. Although it took an hour to drive out to the venue, there was a sense of order. The time to leave the venue was dependent on where one was parked.

The process of having to load cash into a Howler tag is an unnecessary and tedious factor of the festival because it means so much time at the festival is spent queueing.

It’s even worse if you’re a woman, as there were not enough toilets for the ladies, which exacerbated lines to the lavatories — the lines were quite lengthy in the VIP section and worse for the general patron.

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