Once Glen 21 announced the plans for the Hey Neighbour Festival, I was already invested for one simple reason: H.E.R.
The soulful Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, professionally known as H.E.R is my number one new-age RnB artist, and she was the perfect ending to what was one of the best weekends I’ve ever experienced.
Local is Lekker At Hey Neighbour
Day 3 of the Hey Neighbour festival brought rain, clouds, and thunderstorms, but no amount of precipitation and condensation was going to dampen our spirits. We survived boarding the wrong bus and overzealous Kendrick Lamar fans, we could survive a little water from the sky.
To keep our spirits high despite the gloomy weather, local stars like Mi Casa, Prime Circle and Mafikizolo gave us incredible performances. Each artist reminded audiences that despite the international stars gracing the Hey Neighbour stage, South Africa has local stars who can hold their own.
H.E.R and Swedish House Mafia Bring the Heat to a Rainy Finale at Hey Neighbour Festival
Throughout the day the weather remained bleak, and I was admittedly afraid that they would cancel the show, but my RnB golden girl is a professional, and she was going to give us a show, come rain or tornado.
Upon gracing the stage rocking her signature look of a great pair of sunglasses, HER spent the next hour belting out all her chart-topping hits, including Best Part, which she sang along with a Daniel Caesar doppelgänger.
Yes, the rain was getting a little heavy, and I was getting soaked, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting lost in the live artistry that H.E.R. The weather wasn’t throwing anybody off, including H.E.R as she sashayed around the stage whilst playing on guitar. She even took some time to play the drums, showing off her versatility and making us fall even more in love with her.
H.E.R is an incredible artist, and I’m so glad that I got to see her live, and the festival could have ended then and there. Then again, if you’re going to close out the biggest music festival in Africa, you’re going to do so with a bang and a party — enter Swedish House Mafia.
The Swedish house music supergroup had one job, to close out the festival. They exceeded this by dropping the best beats, lighting the sky up with fireworks and reminding us that regardless of where we are, heaven’s got a plan for us and the beautiful moments that we’ve experienced for the past 3 days will live on in us forever.
Hey Neighbour Recap
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