RAMFest is a music festival that took place a couple of times in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n cities. RAMFest caters to electronic and rock music, that offers local acts as well.

Background

RAMFest was started by Dawid Fourie in 2007 in

Worcester, Western Cape Worcester ( ) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is the third-largest city in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It is located north-east of Cape Town on the N1 road (South Africa), N1 highway north to Johannesburg. Bein ...

featuring 20 local talents. Since then RAMFest has grown to multiple South African cities and was one of the largest music festivals in the country. The "RAM" in RAMFest stands for ''Real Alternative Music'' according to Fourie, 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. :* 2008 – Beyond Boundaries (29 February – 2 March) in Cape Town only. :* 2009 – Nekkies (27 February – 1 March) in Cape Town only. :*2010 – The Real Alternative Music Festival (26–28 February; 6 March) in Cape Town and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

respectively. :*2011 – ''RAMFest'' (4–5 March; 9 March; 12 March) in Cape Town,

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

and Johannesburg respectively. :*2012 – A Day of Thunder (2 March; 3 March; 9 March; 10 March; 11 March) in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

, Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town 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. ''It is to be noted that the first Durban show was for electronic acts while the second was for rock and metal acts.'' :*2014 - ''Red Heart Rum presents: RAMFest'' (6–9 March) in Cape Town and Johannesburg. :*2019 - ''Halloween presents: RAMFest'' (16 June) in Pretoria. :*2020 - ''Standard Bank presents: RAMFest'' (13 March) in Cape Town, ''RAMFest'' (14 March) in Pretoria. :*2023 - ''RAMfest'' (1 September) in Cape Town, ''RAMfest'' (2 September) in Pretoria.

Performers

The following table lists the notable artists that have performed at RAMFest.

Controversies

In 2012, a

chain mail Mail (sometimes spelled maille and, since the 18th century, colloquially referred to as chain mail, chainmail or chain-mail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common milita ...

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 and it was cancelled there due to pressure from religious groups. 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. 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. During

Bring Me the Horizon Bring Me the Horizon are a British Rock music, rock band, formed in Sheffield, England in 2004. The group currently consists of lead vocalist Oli Sykes, drummer Matt Nicholls, guitarist Lee Malia and bassist Matt Kean (musician), Matt Kean. T ...

's set at the

leg of the festival for 2013, tear gas was thrown into the crowd which caused fans to cough and tear up. 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. RAMFest announced that the 2016 edition will not feature any international acts, and cancelled the festival.

References

{{Rock festival Rock festivals in South Africa Electronic music festivals in South Africa Festivals in Cape Town Festivals in Johannesburg Festivals in Durban

Background

Previous editions

Performers

Controversies

See also

References