Words by Phil Chard

Since 2014 The DStv Delicious International Food & Music Festival has been trying to celebrate the marriage between food and music in a more sophisticated manner than most of us may be used to as we return home from a concert in wee hours of the morning.

The festival is a truly unique experience for food and music lovers. It's family friendly environment encompassed within the spacious outlay of the Kyalami Race Track that offered a full assortment of food stalls - from American style burger trucks to Belgian waffles and churro stands. It was commonplace to see a celebrities like Zwai Bala or Warren Masemola walking around and enjoying the festivities on offer like the rest of us mortals. The festival also offered a fully kitted out Kids Zone play area that allowed mommy and daddy the opportunity to drop off their little bundle of joy while they explored the festival.

The music line-up was also highly impressive, it featured old school legends like Leee John (Imagination) & Alexander O'Neal,  and coupled them with contemporary stars like Black Coffee and Common. Being held on the same weekend as Oppikoppi, Rock The Daisies and Spring Fiesta the timing of the festival felt a little curious as they would be battling 3 of South Africa's biggest annual festivals for attention.

However Delicious Fest has angled itself to appeal to an entirely different audience as the other festivals mentioned above. Despite the competition and the bad weather Delicious still attracted quite a substantial crowd over the two days it ran.

The rain interrupted the program on both days. Forcing the delay of performances as we were forced to wait out the showers under shelter. The interruptions certainly affected the momentum of the program and forced several attendees away from the main stage area as they sought shelter. On Sunday after the rains returned immediately after Bongo Maffin's set some called it a day and a visible queue of vehicles could be seen leaving the venue while those that remained patiently waited for John Lee's performance.

The biggest draw card for me on the schedule was the return of TKZee and Bongo Maffin. Both acts delivered incredibly enthralling performances as they rifled through a set filled with hits of yesteryear. TKZee have "reunited" on stage before, but they still displayed the energy and cohesion of an act that has never stopped touring even through their debut album dropped 21 years ago. The group was given the 3pm time slot and were the second acts to take the main stage. Despite the early set time they still managed to get everyone off their lawn chairs to enjoy the performance.

Bongo Maffin's reunion however had a more captivating narrative. The group who broke onto the scene as teenagers had since gone their separate ways a decade ago after a monumental rise to success. Since the breakup all 4 members have managed to find success outside of the group. Thandiswa has enjoyed an accomplished solo career - she also performed at the same festival a night earlier as a solo act. Stoan now hosts a music show on TV, Jah Seed helped run the highly popular Reggae Nights as well as his show with Admiral, and Speedy has also enjoyed solo success and is constantly touring - with his trusty towel not far behind.

What Bongo Maffin lacked in a polished and refined live set that is achieved through meticulous hours of rehearsal and performances, they made up with chemistry, nostalgia, and an undeniably powerful back catalogue of music that had the crowd fully engaged.

A particularly touching moment was when Thandiswa invited all the children of the band members on stage to dance to Brave, True and Strong - a song she revealed was written for her daughter Malaika.

Due to the rain delays the band had to truncate their performance which resulted in us only getting a minute of Mari Ye Phepha before the set ended as Stoan announced that the band were reuniting to work on a new album. Almost poetically, just as their set drew to a close the heavens parted once again and we all clamoured for shelter.

The entire delicious festival musical line-up is akin to a legends all-star roster. As a result every performer was highly accomplished and delivered in their own way. Common displayed his skills and dexterity as he rifled off hits from his 2 decade long career while also inviting a woman on stage to be serenaded via a freestyle. Black Coffee put together an engaging set that featured live instrumentation and vocals. Leee John & Imagination also surprised the crowd by inviting HHP on stage to deliver their hybrid version of Music and Lights.

It's hard to blame a festival for something as unpredictable as the weather but the only dampener (see what I did there) to the event was the rain. Everything else made for a truly incredible experience.