2011-07-09 Vaal Stunt and Drag Day

Now I know the title indicates that this is a Stunt and Drag Race day in the Vaal.

I also know that the pictures show guys being hooligans on their bikes. There were even some people actually drag racing.

However, this is a story of a Father's pride in his children, more than the actual drag racing and stunt riding.

Both my kids are in the Youth Band at Bikers Church, Midrand. The kids needed to be there early so that they could help get everything set up for their first ever live, open air performance as a band.

They have performed in front of a live audience on many occasions before, but mainly in front of their friends at Youth Evenings...and then also in a "controlled" envrionment, like the Church Hall and with "proper" sound equipment.

Here, there would be some serious challenges for them. Like performing out in the open under a gazebo, to start with.

Then there is also the power supply, which would be tenuous, to say the least, because they would have to rely on a generator to supply sufficient power for all the electronic equipment, as well as the sound desk.

There was also the fact that they would be performing while the bikes were making quite a lot of noise in the background.

But none of these is as bad as performing before a live audience...which was not actually paying much attention to the band itself. No applause. No clapping of hands while you're playing. No thumbs up from some of the audience...with the obvious exception of your parents!

Hang on! Those were all MY fears! The kids just took all of this in their stride and performed as if they were playing for the Queen herself! They ignored the roaring of the bikes in the background.

The fact that the generator conked out every now and then didn't phase them in the least. The fact that the guy at the sound desk struggled to sort things out for quite some time didn't bother them.

They just got on with the business of playing their songs for whoever wanted to listen...and they did it with style!


 And you know what? There were even people (other than the parents, of course!) that actually listened to, and enjoyed, the music while they were performing!

I was so proud of the kids...and the older members of the band too! The Youth Band consists of Devon on drums, Duncan, Thinus and Jarod on guitars, Paul on bass, Marthin and Nadine on vocals.

With the exception of Paul and Jarod, all the others were still in school.

Made it worth my while to get up so early in the morning just to head off to the Vaal for a day...without even being able to take the bike along! :-)