If your idea of a good Boxing Day involves being somewhere with a proper sound system, The Groove Room has a reason to leave the house.
The electronic music concept, which started as a stage at ULTRA South Africa, is heading to Cabo Beach on 26 December for its first standalone Cape Town edition. Kelvin Momo, DJ Kent, DBN Gogo, MÖRDA B2B DJ Zinhle and DJ Lag are among the names on the line-up, with Thakzin, JNR SA, International Pantsula and NOT A SHE also joining the bill.
There’s a lot to get through. Amapiano, house, Gqom and Afro House all feature, with artists from different corners of South Africa’s dance music scene sharing the same line-up. Kelvin Momo brings his laid-back, soulful Amapiano, DJ Kent represents the house heads, DBN Gogo brings the energy of contemporary Amapiano and DJ Lag adds his signature Gqom sound. The MÖRDA B2B DJ Zinhle set is another one to keep an eye on.
The Groove Room has been building its own following since its ULTRA debut, but the appeal has never really been just about the DJs. Spend enough time at one of its sets and you’ll notice the rest of it: the dancing, the fashion, the crowd, the chants and all the little rituals that happen when everyone knows exactly why they’re there.
It’s part of the reason the concept has grown beyond a festival stage. As Shaun Duwe, CEO of Anything Goes, puts it, “People weren’t only coming to The Groove Room for individual artists. They were coming for what happened when those artists and that audience came together.”
Cape Town gives it a chance to lean further into that idea. Rather than being one stage within a much bigger festival, The Groove Room will have Cabo Beach to itself, with the production, sound and setting built around the experience.
And there’s something fitting about taking it to the beach in the middle of summer. On 26 December, expect a day that starts in the afternoon and carries into the night, with some of the biggest names in South African electronic music sharing a dance floor with the people who have been following The Groove Room from the beginning.
Basically, if you’re planning your December around where the good music is, this one belongs on the list.
