The 17th edition of the Home Coming Concert (HCC) took place on Christmas Eve at its traditional host venue, the Mahalapye Railway Stadium. If this year’s instalment is anything to go by, it could mark a remarkable comeback for one of the country’s oldest festive music festivals.
Notably, the event has had its fair share of drama over the years, from main artists failing to show up to failed shows and poor organisation. The festival has been through it all. At times, it appeared the event would disappear like many others, but it has stood the test of time under the stewardship of veteran promoter and DJ, Easy B.
This year, leading into the festive madness, HCC was seemingly the underdog. Most major festivals had begun releasing their line-ups one by one and creating hype, while for HCC seemed to be lacking behind in releasing its line-up.
Events such as Born and Raised, Gaabo Motho, KFX and the new kid on the block, Pacers, had already started steering confusion online over which would be the biggest crowd-puller. However, Easy B saved the best for last, hosting a press conference in the second week of December to finally announce that the show would go on.
Soon after, South African artist Makhadzi posted on her social media platforms that she would be performing at the HCC event. The concert however did not attract a huge turnout compared to other music festivals, but showed notable improvement when measured against previous years.
Perhaps it was his collaboration with BTC that brought renewed confidence on the event. A number of Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) senior members and foot soldiers flocked the venue. While the President was rumoured to possibly be in attendance, only the Speaker of the National Assembly, Dithapelo Keorapetse turned up.
The overall organisation of the music event also showed some improvement, even though there were delays in the line-up time slots. While local acts such as Ezra Neethings, Charma Gal and FME deejays brought their A-game and stunned the crowd, Makhadzi, who was expected to be the highlight performer on the day, proved to be a disappointment.
Initially slated to perform between 03:15 and 04:00 am, Makhadzi only arrived the following day, Christmas Day, at 9am, much to the disappointment of her fans. However, the few who managed to stick it out until the very end did enjoy her performance.
Her fellow countrymen, Nkosazana Daughter, Trompies and Young Stunner, honoured the event and gave it their all, with the crowd responding positively to their performances.
In the end, despite a few hiccups, it appears that Home Coming is back and may yet redeem itself to its glory days.
