Oppikoppi Smoorverlief

7-9 August 2009

• Too much tunes is usually just enough.
• Think of the festival as a marathon not a sprint. Actually fuck it, think of the festival as a sprint.
• Love the one you with, and yourself.
• Real friends do not braai with their friend’s hands.
• Things often don’t happen for a reason, but go with it. Or them.
• Nobody likes an Eisbein (read:bonehead): don’t be arrogant or irritating. Or irritable.
• This tip came from 2008 festival: No guns are allowed. Also no attitude. Or sexism. Or racism. Or small-headedness. Or big-headedness. So you can relax with your medium head. OppiKoppi is a friendly space, don’t bring a shitty attitude to the gig.
• Tickets are on tunegum.com and the sooner the buy the more stuff you get for free. (Levi’s shirts, free Jose Cuervo, Red Bull and much more)
• Instead of playing zef trashy tunes from your car and irritating prospective friends in your camping neighbourhood, tune in to OppiKoppi radio.
• There is a lot to be said to arrive at OppiKoppi without any agenda, there is also a case to be made to have a few loose ideas about what you want to see or hear. We subscribe to both views.
• The bushveld is cold at night and hot in the day – pick a strategy to work within those two broad perimeters. (Nifty trick: arriving in the dark on Friday and attempting to rig a camp wastes lots of tune time, we recommend sleeping under your car for night number 1 or not at all. Tomorrow has lots of time.)
• The South African Police service has played an integral role in creating lasting memories for many OppiKoppi denizens. Some of them actually nice. However on the whole we recommend not pointing or poking anyone with a moustache.
• There are lots of food stalls for cheating attendees.
• Valuables: the less you bring the better. Some cash for surviving a few days and maybe a bank card should do the trick.
• Thorns: yes.
• Lost: if it is lost it is lost. Acknowledge the change.
• Wrist tag: keep it and don’t share it. It costs double that way.
• Toilet paper: yes.
• You can take your own chow and drinks to the gig. You can take it anywhere at anytime, but you MUST have some sort of safe container to drinks into the entertainment area. This means something like plastic cups, bottles etc. And remember we don’t drink pink drinks... Dave.
• Fire rules: don’t leave unattended fires and don’t make fires bigger than required. Student level Japanese and German sedans have been burnt aplenty in the rich history of the festival.
• Don’t break any trees or branches for your fire, it attracts security personnel and leaves a bad impression. There is lots of wood on sale.
• Pace yourself yourself.
• Friends – we have plenty to offer, but the festival is best viewed through the combined and contorted eyes of a selection of good friends.
• Showers and toilets: At OppiKoppi, probably the dustiest little rock n roll village on the planet, they actually work and they are mostly hot and clean. So the basics are covered, all the rest of your personal hygiene issues are probably only in your head anyway.
• KREEF Hotel: if you are not keen to rig the tent in the middle of the hedonism and chaos www.kreefhotel.co.za
• The festival does not allow bikes after some serious accidents (Even by our standards) in the past.
• No pets are allowed, they get tangled or stewed or scared.
• There are medics on the premises for most of the running injuries which forms part of any authentic OppiKoppi experience. It is not a bad idea to mark this spot early in the weekend. (PS: for bigger non-life threatening wounds we recommend taking photos with the sun from behind the camera as it will make the photos look a lot better when you get back home).
• You can get very far through the weekend by ignoring any pressing issues.