Techno in Cape Townthree parties, three impressions

I love techno and raves, so in Cape Town we looked for places to go. We went to three parties, and all three were completely different.

In short

Modular

A local techno fan recommended Modular to me. He said right away that there isn’t much hard techno in Cape Town, everything is more or less “light”, and Modular is the main underground techno club. That won me over. And you can’t film there, which sounded like a promise of something serious.

I wasn’t impressed at all. The club is small, with three dance floors, all in a basement, truly underground, and there’s somewhere to step outside. But for me it was more clubbing than a rave. They let absolutely everyone in, and I, as usual, worried about the dress code. Many people, it seems, came just to hang out rather than for the music. The music itself wasn’t to my taste, but I’d been warned.

On the downside, everyone smokes right inside. The space is small anyway, and that’s unsafe. At our parties indoor smoking isn’t done, I don’t smoke myself, and the smell irritates me a lot. But the culture is different here.

In the end neither the people nor the music clicked, apparently it’s simply not our scene. And I never understood why filming is banned. I know that atmosphere from Berlin clubs, but there it’s something entirely different. Here it felt unnecessary: the place just isn’t that serious.

999:RAVE in Woodstock

There turned out to be hard techno in Cape Town after all, in Woodstock, at the 999:RAVE party at Roxy Woodstock.

Compared with Modular it was simply great. The people were much better. Nobody smoked inside: there was a separate smoking area, and everyone was fine with that.

But Woodstock at night is very unsafe. We took a taxi right to the entrance and back the same way.

Jeff Mills in a warehouse

On 28 March Jeff Mills came to Cape Town, with the programme “Live at the Liquid Room 30th Anniversary”. The party was put on by the Cape Town Electronic Music Festival, and it took place at Apollo Warehouse in the Paarden Eiland industrial area. We bought tickets in advance: 650 rand per person (≈ $41) plus a small service fee.

The place is among warehouses, and is itself built like a warehouse. I liked it: underground enough. But because of Mills there was a crowd, very overcrowded. One big dance floor and a small veranda where you can sit.

On the other hand, there were lots of stylish, fashionable people, more than at all the previous parties. I won’t even mention Modular. People smoked inside here too, alas, that’s how it is here.

We danced a bit and left. But overall it was a good event.

What I took away

• Hard techno exists, you just have to look for it.
• People often smoke right inside. If that matters to you, look for parties with a separate smoking area.
• Taxi only: there and back, door to door. Especially in Woodstock.