TALITA CALITZ
Coke Fest 2010 has reportedly been cancelled for the first time since it started five years ago, according to a recent post on jip.co.za. This year, thousands of fans were hoping to see bands such as Paramore, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day playing at the festival. The cancellation of the 2010 festival is apparently due to Coca-Cola’s commitments to the Soccer World Cup. An official statement from the Coke Fest organisers is yet to be made public.
As for the little brother of the main Oppikoppi festival in held in August … Easter Oppikoppi has also been cancelled for this year, according to musiekvraat.com. The reason for this appears to be financial, but it is also likely to be caused by the Soccer World Cup preparations. This comes as a big disappointment to the die-hard fans who make the long trek to the bush every year to see their favourite bands live. Fans will have to hold out until the August festival.
Understandably, some Tuks students are unhappy with these developments. Gerhard du Plooy, a first-year BSc Biological Sciences student, says, “It is heavy lame – this is the first opportunity to live out your student life and now it got cancelled.”
Hein van Vuuren, now in his second year of mechanical engineering, agrees: “For first years it [has been] something special, a tradition, to go to your first Coke Fest or Oppikoppi. Now the first years won’t experience that.” Other students think that it is “horrible, it’s like cancelling spring day.”. Hopefully it will only be for this year and next year these much loved festivals will return.
