RAMFest
South African music festival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
RAMFest is[5] a music festival that took place a couple of times in South African cities. RAMFest caters to electronic and rock music, that offers local acts as well.
| RAMFest | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Various alternative genres including metal, rock, punk, hardcore, drum and bass, electronic |
| Dates | Annually in February/March |
| Locations | Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. |
| Years active | 2007–present[1][2] |
| Founders | Dawid Fourie[3][4] |
| Website | ramfest |
Background
RAMFest was started by Dawid Fourie[4] in 2007 in Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa featuring 20 local talents.[1] Since then RAMFest has grown to multiple South African cities[6] and was one of the largest music festivals in the country.[7] The "RAM" in RAMFest stands for Real Alternative Music according to Fourie,[4] thus making the full name of the festival the Real Alternative Music Festival.
Previous editions
- 2007 – Twisted Playground (2 – 3 March) in Cape Town only.[1]
- 2008 – Beyond Boundaries (29 February – 2 March) in Cape Town only.[8]
- 2009 – Nekkies (27 February – 1 March) in Cape Town only.[9]
- 2010 – The Real Alternative Music Festival (26–28 February; 6 March) in Cape Town and Johannesburg respectively.[10]
- 2011 – RAMFest (4–5 March; 9 March; 12 March) in Cape Town,[11] Durban[12] and Johannesburg[13] respectively.
- 2012 – A Day of Thunder (2 March; 3 March; 9 March; 10 March; 11 March) in Port Elizabeth,[14] Bloemfontein,[15] Durban,[16] Johannesburg[17] and Cape Town[18] respectively.
- 2013 – Red Heart Rum presents: RAMFest (7–10 March; 8 March; 15 March; 15 March; 15–16 March) in Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Durban (again) and Johannesburg respectively. The first Durban show was for electronic acts while the second was for rock and metal acts.[19]
- 2014 - Red Heart Rum presents: RAMFest (6–9 March) in Cape Town and Johannesburg.[20]
- 2019 - Halloween presents: RAMFest (16 June) in Pretoria.[21]
- 2020 - Standard Bank presents: RAMFest (13 March) in Cape Town, RAMFest (14 March) in Pretoria.[22]
- 2023 - RAMfest (1 September) in Cape Town, RAMfest (2 September) in Pretoria.[23]
Performers
The following table lists the notable artists that have performed at RAMFest.
Controversies
In 2012, a chain mail was circulated, implying that RAMFest had a Satanic involvement. As a result, RAMFest had trouble organising another venue for the Bloemfontein leg of the fest[37] and it was cancelled there due to pressure from religious groups.[38]
In December 2012, the metalcore band As I Lay Dying pulled out from the RAMFest 2013 line-up due to being double booked to support The Devil Wears Prada on their tour.[39][40] The Devil Wears Prada's tour dates conflicted with RAMFest 2013's dates, making it impossible for As I Lay Dying to have performed at Ramfest 2013.[41]
During Bring Me the Horizon's set at the Johannesburg leg of the festival for 2013, tear gas was thrown into the crowd which caused fans to cough and tear up.[42]
RAMFest announced that the 2015 edition of the festival was cancelled, citing the lack of suitable acts for the line up as the reason for its cancellation.[2]
RAMFest announced that the 2016 edition will not feature any international acts, and cancelled the festival.