It’s hard to not be a festival rat when you live in Cape Town. We’re often blessed with blissful temperatures in summer and have a melting pot of strong and diverse musical followings in the city. You can safely bet that a festival will be happening somewhere nearly every weekend around this time of year. From small trance gatherings to large-scale EDM productions to outdoor rock shows, there’s a festival for you in Cape Town this summer.
WOLFKOP WEEKENDER
An intimate festival located in the beautiful Wolfkop Nature Reserve in the Citrusdal Valley, this weekend-long party happens just before the beginning of Spring – the perfect precursor to a festival filled summer! Expect live electronic beats by the river, good food, beer and friendly people. Check out Wolfkop Weekender on Facebook.
ALIEN SAFARI: SPRUNG
Spring hasn’t begun until Sprung happens. This annual trance party is hosted by experienced festival organizers Alien Safari, who always amaze festival-goers with a lovely choice of venue, top selection of international psytrance artists and colourful psychedelic decor. Check out Sprung on Facebook.
ROCKING THE DAISIES
One of the biggest, if not the biggest, festival in Cape Town. Rocking the Daisies is an annual bonanza that encapsulates the Cape Town festival spirit perfectly. This year, a stellar line-up has been confirmed including The Kooks, The Cat Empire and Milky Chance. And that’s just the main stage! Check out Rocking the Daisies on Facebook.
DECEMBER VORTEX
My personal favourite trance party that often lasts longer than most, here you can get lost in the Vortex wonderland for over four days in the breathtaking, forested Circle of Dreams venue. Check out Vortex on Facebook.
SYNERGY LIVE
There has barely been a year when Synergy hasn’t brought down an impressive local act or three to grace the dam-side venue of Synergy Live at Theewaterskloof. It’s a festival with a little something for everybody – from the main stage with headline acts to the recent introduction of the Sirius floor. Check out Synergy Live on Facebook.
REZONANCE NYE
Possibly the biggest trance party in Cape Town, Rezonance is an annual pilgrimage for thousands of Capetonians to usher in the New Year. Check out Rezonance on Facebook.
ULTRA
A massive festival complete with some of the biggest names in EDM music. Ultra has a massive worldwide following and the Cape Town leg boasts the complete festival package, albeit not the overnight/camping type. Check out Ultra South Africa on Facebook.
RAMFEST
This one of the biggest events on the calendar for metal heads, with at least a few international acts gracing the stage on a yearly basis. Electronic music gets some love here too! Check out RamFest on Facebook.
LOVE & LIGHT
Lovers of techno and progressive trance make their way to Love & Light yearly without fail. Although technically not an overnight affair, this festivals pumps into the wee hours at the scenic Mountain Shadows venue outside Paarl. Check out Love & Light on Facebook.
FLAMJANGLED TEA PARTY
A quirky tea party-themed festival that is one of my favourites. One can get as eccentric as they want while jamming to a variety of beats ranging from Balkan gypsy folk to carney swing. Nobody is judging here. Check out the Flamjangled Tea Party on Facebook.
Featured Image Aumega Photography
Dumisa Lengwati
Hannah-Jean Humphreys
Major omission… Cape Town Electronic Music Festival (CTEMF)
Wesley Mark Gouws
Cannot wait for summer!!!
Should have made it at least 15 or 20… There’s a lot of quality festivals missing from this list that deserve a mention. Origin Festival, Earthdance Cape Town, Cape Town Electronic Music Festival (CTEMF) to name a few.
Elise Bouyer 🙂
Ça va être intense !!!!! 😀
Looks like we’ll need to attend some of these to find out more 😉
Vikisha Giga
@ Jéssica Narcy
I’m seriously not missing one of them U0001f645U0001f3fb so ready for summer
me!! can’t wait!! good trance!! yes please 🙂
Dusty Rebels and the Bombshells – Rockabilly should be on this list too ;0
CapeTownEtc Hey guys, thanks for the info. Any idea on dates for love and light?
mariuswestraad Thanks! We haven’t seen anything about a date yet but heard it will be at Mountain Shadows again cc LoveandLightCT
CapeTownEtc LoveandLightCT Thanks. I will keep an eye on it!!
Marinus Greyling
Bonnie Floyd
Up the creek man come on
CapeTownEtc marisashaun
Oh My God!!!! I Will Miss this Great Music Festival because I’M here in India…So, Sorry but I can Watch in YT.
Tamika Booyens
חיים אלה
Awesome CT 😉
Blake Thornycroft
Come on Summer
Jonathan Baum ??
http://electricvines.co.za not to be missed
Dionysis Gold
So over winter…ill go crazy happy over summer
Stanton Hendriks
MoeneebAbrahams you in this picture
Maria Ross
Another one Malibu summer splash in Paarl happening on the 16 dec.www. Malibusummersplash.co.za
Aaron Rhode
Nick Beal Sipho Gule-Davidson
Sam Pugh
Simon Teixeira… Must make your way down to Cape Town for the summer sometime 😉
Lyndall Radcliffe Moses festive buddy!!
Tumi Mothei
Nou weit jy Nou hoe!!!!
Meeeeee
Natalie AickenChloë DownesChloe HolmanDelilah MosesGrace Adams
Kivithra Naicker and Chandrika Naicker get amped!!
No-o-o-o.I am not ready for summer! Our dams are still too empty. We need more rain.
can’t wait for summer
Amped for days 🙂
I’m ready to go dere
Julia Hellmann
Yeeeea buddy
oi oiiii
Yessssssss!!!!!!! Xoxoxo
I am keen for all these festivals…
Lotti April Hawkins
Broc Werner
I can’t wait.
U0001f440
Martin Coetzee
in_southafrica CapeTownEtc apparently they can be, cos I miss it all the time U0001f602U0001f602
nigelforce 🙂