So many concerts, so little time to recover... On Tuesday night Durban had the privilege of hosting the best band in South Africa, Fokofpolisiekar. There, I said it. And you know it’s true.

Yes, they’re Afrikaans, they sing in Afrikaans and normally speak to the crowd exclusively in... Afrikaans. It means nothing though, because their music is phenomenal and live performance is world-class.

The key to the band’s overall success on stage is definitely their interaction with the crowd and the crazy stunts and gimmicks Francois pulls constantly; such as swinging from the lighting rig, roping the mic cord over things, using his head to play the cymbals, stealing caps from the audience and crowd surfing. He’s constantly got his head down amongst the moshers in the front row, getting them to sing along (everyone knows the words), spitting water in their faces or just hugging them tightly like they’re his best friends. This level of crazy interaction is so rare, but once you’ve experienced the energy the crowd absorbs from it you’ll realise how pivotal it can be to a live performance.

Francois van Coke, FokofpolisiekarFokof came with their own sound and lighting, which made such a phenomenal difference to Burn that I would’ve sworn it was a different club. Seriously, you don’t realise how crap their existing lighting rig is until you’ve seen what a pro can do. I hope the new venue will be sporting some decent equipment, because those shitty red bedroom-globes they’ve got for the normal gigs are the dog’s bollocks.

Francois looked wasted, but hey, that’s part of the rock-n-roll image right? He got a few snarls from some of the older guys in the crowd who understood what he said when he referred to us ‘Durban-naais’ as ‘the soutpiels’!

Don’t get it? I’ll explain: a ‘soutpiel’ literally translated means saltdick, and was a derogatory term used by Afrikaaners in the army to describe us English folk, as we allegedly stand with one foot in Britain and the other in South Africa, dicks awash in the salty Atlantic Ocean. Saying that on stage would be the equivalent of me going to Pretoria with a band and telling the crowd they’re all bloody rock-spider Dutchmen.

I certainly wouldn’t, and if I was overcome by madness one day and let it slip, I definitely wouldn’t walk around in the crowd afterwards, as they did on Saturday! But this is Fokofpolisiekar, and we know they still love us and it’s part of their don’t-give-a-fuck attitude which makes them so unbelievably popular.

Naturally, our fantastic English sense of humor also helps a bit!

Check these guys out. I’m begging you, nay, TELLING you to get the CD, listen to it, get over the fact that it’s Afrikaans, and appreciate awesome music. Then, when you know all the words but can’t quite understand them, go to a show and sing along in the mic with Francois, head-to-head. You'll never look at a Dutchman the same way again...