What should the share of LOCAL vs INTERNATIONAL bands be at COKEFEST 2009?

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What really worries me is the fact that a.t.m only 6 out of 35 people have voted for than 50% Local and 2 for 70% local bands. What's going on with you guys? Come on, support the great bands that we are producing, i.e, buy cd's (and if you can't afford it, at least go to shows once in a while) and spread the word. There are great bands out there, and, coming from Stellenbosch myself, there are some great bands in here. Why not have a "CokeFest" with a All-Star South African cast? Whilst listening to "Foto Na Dans - Intervensie", all I can add is: ROCK ON!!!

I thinks is actually disgusting how few people are voting for local music.
Shame on all of you... But i suppose its to be expected. The organizers of the festival treat the local bands like shit so everyone else does. Personally I think I wont be attending the next Coke fest unless there is more emphasis on the fact that the local acts are just as good if not better than some of the International acts. Coke you fail to demonstrate how you are supporting local music (as you clame to do) unless you pay more respect to the bands that have and continue to work hard to grow and build a music scene that makes a festival like this possible.

I would love to ask .... what is so amazing about these "amazing local bands" I beleive on an international level the SA bands have very little to brag about when compared to international bands. In the last coke fest (2008) the SA bands were embarressing, especially once Muse came on or Chris Cornell, Kaiser Cheifs. Bands in this country are by right talented musicians but lack the isea of originality, almost every SA band is predictable, and extremly overated by there few adoring fans who are happy cuz their neihbours band sounds like "lLive" or "some out of date post emo screamo act. and to add to this how can we respect or enjoy these SA bands when the MAJORITY (not all) but the MAJORITY are a bunch of pretencious, self adoring, over rated , replicas of there favourite Inrternational band. and to go even further while SA bands should rightfully play cokefest, it should however be remembered that they have not sold out Wembly or the London Astoria, Electric Ballroom etc they may have got 500+ people to go watch them at Tempos once or twice. they have not released three internationally recognized albums, and they have not built a name for themselves all over the world.
Therefore I see it as stupid and ignorant to rant and rave so hard over SA bands as people are, SA bands do have potential but as long as they are in SA they will never be as big or be pushed to be different enough to headline festivals, local bands have become quite content with a subsistance way of existance.

i'm a firm believer in supporting local talent and the efforts they make to entertain, but to have local bands at the gig for the sake of promotion is pointless if they are not up to the standard of the international touring outfit. that said, exposing local talent to a gig like Cokefest and the types of bands at the show is critical, but local bands can be seen on most nights with a little bit effort. international bands rarely come to this side of the pond, so when they're here we want a lot of them while still exposing the local scene.

70% international: 30% local in my opinion

50/50 all the way
besides imagine it was all international, the price would either be huge, or we wouldnt get quality international bands
i like it the way it is now so wy dont we keep it this way

I for one would love to see more effort placed on local, I think we have some stunning bands. They inevitably get the time to go overseas and open for some major band that we too would love to see out here and in the process wow the crowds out there. In the case of CF, just watch how the lights and sound improve as the day continues so why not place more effort on the local. Giving my age way :), in the 70' there used to be "the free peoples concerts" all local rock and alternative music, they were great!! Have not missed rock concert/band for the last 10 years or more, love the opening acts and almost every SA band I have seen in concert, has made me go buy their music. I want to continue to support local and get to see them more often. If not for CF, some international acts, which with all due respect, would not go to as a single act. So rather push for 50/50, mix them with international and give them the respect they deserve.

International... get over it!

South Africans are still suffering from that old perception that ANYTHING international is 'unbelievably' cool and awesome.. simply because it's INTERNATIONAL. When do you guys start listening to the music and stop putting people on a pedestal simply because they were born in a different country?

It's like a virus that people in this country don't seem to be able to shake off. I live in SA and come from overseas. There is a huge amount of bands here who are original, professional and are musicians of the same level as anywhere in the world. Why do organizers here pay huge amounts of cash to fly in overseas bands who basically eat up all the budget and local bands have to play for peanuts, simply because they are local?

Of course those acts will blow away the crowds with their skyscraper screens, light shows, million dollar sound rig ... they are getting the cash and have the record label backing to enable them to do that. When will people here start supporting the amazing talent that's in the country so that they can rise up and get noticed internationally.

As long as concerts like Coke fest don't put national acts on the same level as international ones people will continue to think that they actually aren't on the same level..

It's embarassing that local acts have to play during the day while the foreign acts gets to play the prime time slots. Why???????? You guys need to start respecting your own a bit, it seems to me. I've never been to a festival in the UK where local bands would open up for foreign bands...

Show some original national talent, ditch those who are trying to sound like a cheap copy of foreign acts

and by the way, there are a lot of national bands who have released several albums, have toured overseas and so on. Start listening to our talent.. and listen with an open mind! Stop placing ANYTHING international on a pedestal just because it's international. It doesn't make any sense to me..

Why do we pay insane amounts of money to get some boring acts like 'Good Charlotte' or "30 Seconds to Mars' who can't even sing in tune when we have bands like The Parlotones, Ike Moriz, Watershed or Love Jones who have all had international success??

Anyway, I guess this will take a few more years to sink in. At least we don't have to listen to Michael Jackson or the like (i hope) at the next fest ;-)

Wow, Lisa. I totally agree!

grow up South Africa. Keep it national. Make SA music strong!

Well well well the old local vs international lol ok international bands are way better than local ones mainly because of there absolute masive bugdets i mean muse is jamming with nothing less than a 5k in pounds guitar let alone the drum set giving them the sound they get you may not relise it but the more money you have the more able you are to buy good gear and the better the gear the better the sound and as SA has such a bad way of pricing stuff its near imposible for local bands to afford these things to compeate. Im from SA but living in the UK and i have a £600 acustic guitar and i dont even play professionaly atm so you do the math if im just potting round here and have that plus have 6 electrics wich most are fully customed how much do you thing those bib international bands have to spend on gear. plus well muse is kinda the best preforming band in the world so bad idea to try compare to them they just go all out all the time but local Sa bands will make it there onday just the narrow mided government polociy of pricing that will have to change so people can afford the gear

WHAT Local Bands Do you think are original enough to stand up to international act!!!!!!!! The Problem with local bands is that they copy every overseas band, thay are predictable, they use crap!!! CRAP equipment!!!
Parlatones are just another recreation of a bad indie brit pop band, they have two Cd's sounding exactly the same..... they are goood but nowhere near as GOOOd as most Intenational acts, who explore music and are pushed so hard by the fact that there are 5000 other bands trying to make it in their town they have to be amazing!!!! PLUS if you want to see parlatones so bad go to the local keg and you will find them sooner or later. THESE International bands play in a band for a living ... NO SA band is just a band, the biggest band memebers still have jobs, whats his name "singer for 16 stitch" or the new bassist from "Zebra and Giraffe" he works at music connection. The point here is the industry is not big enough or open minded enough to allow artist growth leading to PROFFESIONAL STANDARDS!!!! To be a big band in SA you have to 1) have a friend who will get you a few shows. 2) have semi decent equipment 3) have your old school friends follow you round as if you have a crowd. NOW ALOT of you after reading this far will say "its cuz of guys like you SA music does n't go anywhere" NO its because people like you bands dont feel the pressure to push the limits, and GROW, Most people in SA suck up the biggest load of CRAP in the way of bands... CRASH CAR BURN there is a band who cant play or sing. Show me one SA band who can sing like Chris Cornell? our one SA rock band who writes songs like MUSE. NOthing noone does it!!! SA bands should play but definatly first and they need to be good cuz they have to represent the countries music, there are good bands out there, Love Jones trully can put on a good show but still nowhere like MUSE, or International acts. heagh thats a long comment.

More Or Less True Mike But There Are Good SA Bands They May Not Just Do Music For A Living But There Good In The SA Way The Music Reflects The Country Its Not Supposed To Compeate With International Bands For Instance Seether/sarongas Im Doubting They Work Anymore There Pretty Big All over Now Even Here IN The UK There Are Also Very Few International Bands That Are That Original Muse I Must Say Are And Eception But They Have A Masive Budgit For Gear As I Said Befor I Probably Own More Music Equipment For Just Home Playing Than Most bands In SA Have To Gig With The Main Problem With Musiciand In SA IS They Play What They Think The Crowds Want And Not What On A Personal Level They Wanna Play. The Industry There IS True No Way Big Enough To Support A Band As A Full Time Job The Only Way to Get tHat IS To Move Somwere Else The Things Iv Seen Just Buy Going To Local Bars Ad Watching Gigs Here Is Amazing There Is Garenteed About 5 or 6 bands Playing In Pubs/Clubs In MY Town Evey Weekend Garenteed Mabey There Not Great But There Deff Out There And Different.

I am HUGE fan of local music, so much so that I believe it deserves a whole festival like cokefest of its own. Its not every day that we get such huge international bands like muse to play here though so I think that 70/30 is a fair deal providing our local talent has a festival to showcase what amazinng stuff we have to offer.

to all those people putting down our local music : YOU SUCK!..Evidently you have not even bothered to listen to the music our country produces, I know that most of you are ignorant and making comments without actually having listened to local stuff. I know this because I- also used to have the view that international bands were just sooo much cooler until I decided to open my eyes to what the talented bands of SA have to offer. and Ive never looked back, south african bands kick ass and im a proud fan :)