Monsters Ball Tour 2012

I woke up on the 28th of November at 01h30 in the morning with a little feeling of dejavu  because it was barely a month ago that we made this same trip up to Johannesburg. Only this time around we were going North first and the Captain of our team, Shannon Gaskin decided to join

the frontline (Nigel and Marius) of the branding team. It was obvious that we would be exposed to a few surprises on this trip! J Looking a tad tired here! Been up since 01H30. 

The first surprise came to us in the form of a decision to take the coastal road to Johannesburg and not the standard N1 Route. I have to admit that at first we thought this to be a somewhat strange decision, but welcomed a Breakfast Europa Restaurant in Plettenberg Bay and a stop to ponder about the scenery with open arms.

 

Some of us thought a pose-off was a good idea! And did they pose. It was take after take! I think we almost caused a bit of a traffic build up. You would with a branded vehicle like this!

The second immediate surprise was in fact that we would take the N7, the “shorter route”  (map indicating routes) to divert from being stuck at “Stop and Go's” and to alleviate the irritable 80kms per hour drive being stuck behind trucks.




Fooled we were! A “Stop and Go” in the middle of almost nowhere!

 

So we ventured into unknown (well for some of us) territory. What we can confirm today is that the Tusk Event Branding Team will cross mountains for our clients. No Valley too low, No Mountain too high! Have to say this was a spectacular shot! The Wildernis in all its glory!

The road was tight with uphills and downhills that would leave many 4x4 drivers cautious about how to go about getting safely on the other side. At 30kms per hour in many places it was almost testing our nervous threshold.

I could see Nigel almost wanting to hug me at one point, but luckily we decided to stop as we found a running river with Icy cold water. Shannon immediately decided it’s a good time for a head bath!

Me, still being a little sceptical about the route I found myself rather paging through the photos on the camera for amusement. It was blistering hot.

To more amusement we came upon a little oasis village next to a river bed and were greeted by a bearded man I could have easily mistaken him as Jopie Adam or was this a ZZ Top band member.

It was really an oasis with cold beer and cold drinks. As we were all driving, naturally we went for the coldest Fantas! Orange cooldrink for Orange people. This haven of a halfway house, dubbed “Angie’s G-Spot” (the name rang a bell…from where I would need to find out) was decorated in typical Knysna / Wildernis Bush House décor. 

Wooden features, antique stoves, pots and appliances. The bare minimum , with no electricity or services.

The couple made us feel very welcome! If ever you want to get a little lost, it’s the place to go! They even have little chalets to rent, a little fly fishing and a little bundu bashing and sitting around a camp fire. That would suit me just fine. 

So we proceeded onwards on our unknown adventure and came across Aberdeen. They do have a PEP (one of our clients!) and an ABSA, but that was it! The next town was Graaff Reinet. It was a welcoming thought that we would be able to have lunch in this town! But we were slammed in the face with an afternoon temperature of 43 degrees in the shade. I am sure that water evaporates here!

We quickly made our way out of there as we realised it's not too comfortable in the shade. Eventually as the sun set we got to Colesberg and just had to visit our favourite road trip kitchen WIMPY.

It was a long trip (detour) and so we decided to sleep over in Bloemfontein, with a spirited visit to or favourite Spur we instantly realised that we came to the right place. Again we had an early rise the next morning to make our way to JOHANNESBURG.

We met up with the rest of the JHB team at FNB stadium and had a quick koukus on how we were going to tackle this! With a quick flag hoisting lesson (From Marius cause he was in the Voortrekkers many moons ago) we managed to almost halve our set up time and managed to have a meeting at 5FM’s HQ! All in one day!

The following day, Concert day was pure formality, but could for the life of us not look past the JHB “MONSTERS”. We took a number of pics and I must say that we were very surprised about the effort GAGA fans made! It was a sight! FANS were standing queue since early hours of the morning.

Our Branding team finished the set up on day 2 and again I can say that we TOTALLY ROCKED 5FM’s branding.

After this I made my way towards The Bull Run Restaurant in Sandton at the Balalaika Hotel, where I met up with our Lady Gaga ticket winners from Johannesburg, Charne Smith and friends! Dinner and drinks were outstanding! At 17H45 we left with our Tusk Driver in one of our brand new Mercedes Vitos.

The trip to FNB Stadium was nerve wrecking. A 45min max drive that took us well over 2hours and 30 minutes! But we made it in time for the main act. The FINAL RESULT was that our guests had an amazing experience!

Our trip back was naturally 8 hours faster as we did not venture back onto the N7. This decision was a no brainer! LOL

Back in Cape Town we were welcomed with amazing weather. It was a little over clouded but NO WIND.

I made contact with our very excited Cape Town Ticket winners! Believe you me, these guys were ready to have a great time! The Daikin Cape Town Office was hands down the winners in the Mother City! They liked our Facebook Page, choreographed a video, posted it on You Tube and tweeted the link on Twitter!

Dinner was presented at Crystal Towers Hotel & Spa’s Towers Restaurant in the Private Dining area!

Presentation was outstanding and service flawless. Well done! There was also a little POUT moment by our ticket winners as they got to the Tusk vehicle outside the Hotel!

Tusk driver, Nigel, performed a sterling service and drove us to Cape Town Stadium. The Hyundai H1 we were driving in was about to explode with excitement as we got closer to the stadium! Our ticket winners could not contain themselves.

Would Cape Town be able to compete against the “MONSTERS “ of Jozi? That was still to be seen! Fans arrived with GREAT excitement and spirit.

To my surprise I witnessed Cape Town “MONSTERS” definitely competing for the Best Dressed Award in a BIG way!

Fans were very happy to show off their outfits! I could feel that we were gearing ourselves for one amazing show stopper of a pop cabaret show! “Spectacular, Spectacular” Moulin Rouge came to mind.

I got in eventually and I will have you know with my camera. Not being a “professional” Photographer I think I might have been over looked! So I wiggled my way to the front! Well almost.

We definitely witnessed one of, I not the best showcase I have EVER seen! Dramatic, Intense, colourful, Funny and a show with love for her fans is how I could describe it. All two and half hours of it!

This was yet another all-round AMAZING experience! So JOIN us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! 

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SEE YOU SOON AT RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, JUSTIN BIEBER and METALLICA!