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HOW THE EPIC GIG WAS BORN

21/06/2022 08:37:00 Phumzile Ndlovu

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MBABANE - The third edition of the much anticipated festival returns this week after a two-year break.

The Epic Gig Episode III is slated for Saturday, at the Malkerns Country Club, hosted by Toxik Entertainment, under the leadership of Tammy Dlamini. We caught up with the festival director and he shared with this reporter how he came up with the concept. Back in January 2017, Dlamini had a brain wave about hosting a show that would not only bring big names into the country, but he wanted it to be different and the line- up to be too good to be true, hence the name The Epic Gig was born.

Concept

The logo hasn’t changed since the original concept from five years ago. Each year of The Epic Gig is numbered as an episode with the third one set to happen this year, being numbered The Epic Gig Episode III. Before the concept of The Epic Gig was born, Tammy’s dream was always to bring Kwesta into the country for an event, so he reached out to him about his idea. As fate would have it, the South African artist also had an interest in performing in the country. This invitation saw Kwesta perform at the All White Party, which was successfully hosted by Toxik Entertainment at The White House in Manzini, back in 2016.

History

The two have a long friendship history, as Dlamini had dealings before with the superstar at his father’s establishment called Delemz Kitchen, (a shisanyama joint) in Alexandra in Johannesburg. The star used to perform there when he was still relatively new in the game. Dlamini also shared that he also has working relationship with Kabza who, coincidently, is also from Alexandra. Fast forward to 2017, Lamina was in the final stages of preparations for The Epic Gig Episode I which was set to happen at Esibayeni Lodge on June 24. He had an impressive line-up with TLT, Buffallo Soulja, Okmalumkoolkat, Gemini Major, Nadia Nakai, AB Crazy, A-Reece and 15 Swazi acts set to perform. Sadly 3 weeks before the first ever Epic Gig, Dlamini was involved in a life threatening car accident. He was hospitalised for months and missed the first one. “I was coordinating from my hospital bed, calling often to check on everything, fortunately it went very well,” said the festival director.

Due to his lengthy stay in hospital there was no The Epic Gig the following year (2018). The following year, The Epic Gig Episode II was successfully hosted. It was held at the Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre on June 29, 2019. Once again, the line-up was epic, with Kwesta, Mlindo the Vocalist, Kabza De Small, Buffalo Soulja, Mobi Dixon, TLT and 20 Swazi acts. The following year, 2020, there was no festival due to COVID 19.

Enforcement

Dlamini also shared that there will be ample parking space at the festival as well as, health personnel, law enforcement and the fire department for the safety of patrons. Festival goers will also be able to bring camp chairs, picnic mats and hubbly bubbly into the gates, though these will be subject to security checks before entry. Cooler boxes will not be allowed as all drinks inside the venue will be poured into plastic cups.Dlamini encouraged fun lovers to buy the tickets, as there won’t be sales at the gate. “So far we have sold eight tables for VVIP that go for E10 000, only two are left. All of the tables were purchased via Computicket.

VVIP guests will get a platter, mixers, two bottles of gin, whiskey or brandy and a lounge from which the VVIP guests can enjoy all the main acts the day has to offer. Our general ticket costs E300 and VIP are E500. Tickets for The Epic Gig Episode III can be bought at Movie Zone at The Gables, Computicket, Shoprite, and all Galito’s, Pizza Inn and Chicken Inn outlets nationwide. Gates open at 12 noon. The event ends at 10am on Sunday.

This year’s festival promises to be bigger and better with 50 per cent local artists and 50 per cent South African artists who are set to give ‘Epic’ performances. “We believe in promoting our very own artists. The line-up this year proves just that, as we have quite a number of local acts on the line up for Saturday, “said the festival director. He went on to say that local and international artists will all perform on one stage. He shared that some local artists will perform during the day and some later at night. This year we have also launched a concept called The Freshman Stage. We did a selection drive for new talent on Eswatini’s music radar. We received multiple entries and chose 10 ‘Freshman’ to form The Freshman Class of 2022 to perform on The Freshman Stage in 2022.These artists will have a space where they can perform and showcase their talent.”