Making heavy metal history
NEWTOWN – Easter weekend is a time for Easter egg hunts and fun with family, but this year, it was the time for heavy metal fans around Gauteng to come out and show their fighting spirit at South Africa's biggest heavy metal music festival, Witchfest.
The first music festival of its kind, it initially faced a number of challenges with a significant amount of controversy from religious groups around Joburg, with the event having to move several times before it found its home at the perfect industrial setting of Bassline.
Witchfest saw record numbers of people attending, with camping tickets at Bassline sold out well before the weekend arrived.
In an amazing feat for South African music, on a platform as small as this, local metal bands shared the stage with some of heavy metal’s meanest mosh machines. There were heavy metal legends, including the likes of Alestorm, Hatebreed, Aborted and Cannibal Corpse who performed at the event.
With the lack of metal radio play, most people would not have thought that an event such as this would draw the crowds from South Africa as it did. But, with a number of artists sharing the stage who normally wouldn’t, the cost of a ticket at R1 000 was well worth it for metal fans. The audience, who donned frightening face paint to complete the epic display of rock stardom, felt that it was well worth the money.With minds blown and in a daze, metalheads thoroughly enjoyed the numerous professional performances they witnessed over the weekend.
