Penthousing

There’s a new spot in Town. Well relatively new I suppose, it was the first time I had ever heard about. And that was because of an affiliation with the person who was going to host a show happening there last Saturday.

The place is the Penthouse, located slam bang in the middle of Jozi and that in turn makes it quite special. Not a lot people see the value of driving into notorious downtown Jozi for a jol Boy are they missing out! The only other spot that had been available in town was the Hip Hop hide out Mind Your Head, located on Delvers street and that’s as downtown as you can get.

Partying it up in town has it own allure, there isn’t that familiarity of Melville’s 7^th street or and other places up North you associate with the usual piss up, basically going to town is an experience. The party spots (few of them as there may be) are usually integrated into warehouses and office buildings (which is the case with the Penthouse) and with the inner city re-development process going about at snail’s pace the state of some of these buildings are a shock to your average party-goer.

Not this one. I braved the rather chilly Saturday afternoon and made my way. Okay first things first. The gig was apparently going to start ad three in the afternoon! Crazy talk! And we knew as such and got there around seven.

Yessus Africans don’t disappoint with their running time. Rest assured if they say it’s going to start at a particular time budget a couple of hours on top of that and then some. Apparently it’s a strategy to get the patrons ready for the night by getting them nice and pissed. Some of us discerning party people have caught on and have yet to be fooled!

MXO and Sliq angel were the headliners, both of them amazing performers and it had the makings of an auspicious night out. Yes they didn’t disappoint! Seasoned performers they fed us to the brim with a set of their more popular tracks. Special moments were when they did each other’s tracks. The rest of the line-up was made up of up and coming acts who did their best to engage the crowd but didn’t receive much airtime.

Yes this turned out to be a nice night out actually and I foresee more party places sprouting from the city center. A Dutch friend of mine likened the Penthouse experience to partying in the middle of New York and that’s something on has to experience at least once in their lifetime whether it’s the real deal or downtown JOZI!