Neon Dreams aglow in Knysna

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KNYSNA NEWS – What. A. Jol. That is perhaps the best way to describe the phenomenal show that was put on by Neon Dreams and Levi Rowan on Friday 7 May.

Beginning in Cape Town on 1 May, the Canadian alt-pop duo have been making their way up the South African coastline as part of the "Sweet Dreams Till Sunbeams" tour, which is their first tour of SA.

Prior to the show at Blend Country Restaurant Knysna, Neon Dreams had played four gigs in Cape Town and Stellenbosch to vibrant crowds, but they were not prepared for the local audience in Knysna.

Photo gallery: Knysna's dreams of Neon

With organisers Better Live selling a capacity of nearly 200 tickets for the event, the duo was greeted with enthusiastic cheers as soon they stepped on stage to kick off with their 2016 single Marching Bands. The electric opener was merely a taste of what was to come as frontman Frank Kadillac and percussionist Adrian Morris kept up the relentless pace for the next 90 minutes.

Frank Kadillac even called on his ukulele a couple of times during the show.

While cold and wet increased outside the tent, nothing could dampen the spirits of the audience. Guest performer and fellow Canadian Levi Rowan was greeted with equal enthusiasm and warmth for his brief set. Back for a second set, Kadillac performed vibrant acoustic renditions of some of the duo's tracks along with their usual well-amplified fare.

If his vocals and skills with the ukulele and electric guitar were not enough to win over the crowd, Kadillac and Morris were armed with newly acquired SA slang such as jol and lekker.

At one point the singing and cheering from the crowd got so loud that it began feeding back through the microphones into the speakers for an goosebump-producing echo effect.

A first attempt to wrap up was met with a deafening encore-call and after a few more numbers Frank Kadillac grabbed his ukulele and began strumming the chords to their hit song Life Without Fantasies, the track that sparked their tour of SA - the strumming followed by the electrified version before the crowd demanded an AFE (absolutely final encore). It constituted a first for the duo, according to Neon Dreams.

Adrian Morris was not shy on the drums, matching Kadillac's energy throughout the show.

"I asked my tour manager if we could play it a third time, and all he said was 'Yeah f*** it'," Kadillac declared.

"That's the first time we've had to play the song three times. It was unbelievable," said Morris. The duo eventually signed off with a sing-along rendition of Whitney Houston's classic I Will Always Love You.

But is wasn't only the crowd that was blown away by the performance. It also left the duo quite gobsmacked.

"This was our best show yet on this tour," Morris told KPH after the show. Kadillac took it a step further: "This was one of, if not the wildest and best crowds we have ever played for". Dominic Morel of Better Live concurred, calling it the best show they've ever hosted - a true testament to the fun everyone had.

Neon Dreams has since performed in Gqeberha, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, and Pretoria, with more shows to be held in Durban and Potchefstroom.

The crowd could not stop cheering and singing, dancing along to the music from Neon Dreams. Photos: Blake Linder