It was like being in an eerie tribal-doof church with electric blue beams of light shining from the ceiling, complete with a haunting voice echoing through the venue like a hymn.
Only I wasn’t in a church. I was at Trak, waiting to watch South African zef rap-ravers Die Antwoord, who are in Australia following the release of their 2014 album Donker Mag (meaning ‘Dark Force’ in Afrikaans).
I don’t know how one can be a ‘dark force’ while wearing bright, industrial, orange techno gangsta tracksuits, but Yo-Landi Vi$$er, Ninja and DJ Hi Tek managed. They opened with Fok Julle Naaiers and leapt around the shrine-like stage to white, fit-inducing lights, while images of swarming rats flashed on the screen, mirroring the flailing crowd. It was hectic as.
The entire show was a mesmerising wave of every Die Antwoord personality, edging from a harsh red glow into a dappled underwater ambience, while Yo-Landi thrashed around in tiny red shorts and shiny silver kicks alongside Ninja’s next-level thrusting. Everything was electric. A masked dancer whose facelessness was intriguing enough erupted into the splits and then started twerking. It was hypnotic.
The evil-cute track Baby’s On Fire transitioned straight into freaky-evil with I Fink U Freeky and it was at this moment when I felt my pupils dilating with the intensity of the beat, the light and the crowd. Then suddenly, they were doing some kind of tribal disco trance dance. They looked how I imagined I look when I dance on a podium in da clubs.
They bowed down to the crowd and it was over. No encore, but no encore was necessary. I felt like I should join a gym or something. Wow.
BY ERIN MCCONCHIE
Photo by Kate Davis
Loved: Yo-Landi’s hair. Always.
Hated: That it was on the other side of the river so I had to drive.
Drank: A Heineken.
