Oppi net

Watch the gigs on our webcam and chat to us live from the koppi! The main stage action has ended and we are moving the camera to the top of the koppi to see if we can get a signal for the last gigs by Fetish, Firing Squad and Stagepig.

Oppikoppi epiphany

This year's festival marks a turning point in SA music history. Miles Keylock shares the ground-breaking highlights
posted on August 9 at 10am

Still to come ...

A big thank you to all the webcam viewers and those ardent online jollers who contacted us from around the world - London, Australia, Glasgow, America, Canada, France, New Zealand, Scotland and our very own blessed South Africa. We hope it was massive.

Monday August 9, 5pm
It's a wrap! Most of the artists, campers, vendors and portable toilets have left the building ... One of the most memorable festivals ever is winding down, with the faithful few watching the last gigs up at the koppi.

On a Sunday

Hot, dusty and laidback ... Sunday rolled on by. We arbed around before the music started and captured it on digital camera

Saturday night live!

Miles Keylock journeys into the extraordinary soundscapes created by Vusi Mahlasela, Boo!, Sugardrive, Blackmilk and Incense
posted on August 8 at 1pm

And the bands played on

Koos Kombuis, Gert Vlok Nel, Paul Riekert ... Chutney de Ridder of 24.com got snappy happy at Saturday's gigs. He also took digipix of a couple of jollers who are enjoying the festival just a tad too much.

Chilling out on Saturday afternoon

The sun never sets on the jazz stage. Miles Keylock gets rustig up on the koppi with Big Voice Jack, Zim Ngqawana and Afrikaans poet and singer Gert Vlok Nel
posted on August 7 at 9pm

The breakfast show

It's 9am on Saturday morning and everyone's recovering from one helluva party last night. So are all the other people at Oppikoppi - and we've got the pics to prove it. These snaps are dedicated to Daniel, who is stuck in Perth, but had blast at Oppi last year.

Fiendish fun

Friday night's an absolute rip! Miles Keylock forgets about sleep and parties on into the morning with the legendary Valiant Swart and the impressively hard Never Machine Forever
posted on August 7 at 11am

Saturday August 7, 1.30am
While approximately 3 000 jollers streamed in early on Thursday and another 7 000 poured in during the day on Friday, the headcount is still rising ... Word is out that they're expecting around 15 000 people at Infestation. Friday night has come and gone and the queue of cars lining up at the gate reaches back to Swartklip turn-off. It's a three-hour wait, but it's worth it!

Take your pics

Our little "holiday snaps" capture the groot trek to the koppi. Check out the pictures of the main and the metal stages, before the action started, and then compare them with the ones we'll put up on Saturday.

Oppikoppi explodes

Miles Keylock watches the fireworks on Friday night, as Oppikoppi officially kicks into action
posted on August 6 at 12.50am

The party starts Thursday

Unrestrained fun is guaranteed at this year's festival, says Miles Keylock, who was there for the opening night ...
posted on August 6 at 1.30pm

Friday August 6, 5pm
Valiant Swart does a live chat interview with Malu van Leeuwen from 5pm onwards. Watch the live@five broadcast on our Oppicam.

Friday August 6, 2.45pm
We're moving the camera, it will be up again at about 3.15pm. Brendan Jury is still on the

Friday August 6, 1pm
We're up! we're up! Check out the mainstage on our webcam.

Friday August 6, 10.30am
Oppikoppi is filling up, heating up and getting down. Word is out that they're expecting a record number of 15 000 jollers this year. Campsites close to the stages are already a rarity, and the fleamarket's doing a hopping trade. It's going to be mammoth. Good news is that the showers are hot (sometimes), the beer is cold, and your best bet for breakfast is a slug of jerepigo and a schwarma in the make-shift "foodcourt".

First Contact

We're fully operational in the veld! Get in touch with us via e-mail or send us an instant message on ICQ. Our ICQ number is 45739673 (oppi), and we'll be online most of the time. You can also rap to us directly on our chat channel.

WWWe

Responsible for the "techie" side of things, the M-Web Interactive team consisting of Peter Hart-Davis (geek and driver), Lauren Shantall (art surfer and word mistress) and Pieter Redelinghuys (writer, wronger and music lover) has safely arrived at the 1999 Oppikoppi InFESTation music festival. Read about their long trek and catch the latest developments, pics and skinder fresh from the belly of the festival.

Writers and chatters

We'll be featuring live chat sessions with band members and musos during the festival. Check out the list to see who you can meet online. Expect guest appearances from Fetish, Ohm and loads of other surprises. South Africa's top radio personalities and music writers like Michelle Constant, Malu van Leeuwen, Miles Keylock, Chutney de Ridder of 24.com will also be tapping away at the keys so that you can ask them questions about the performers and get them to describe the vibe up at the 'koppi.

Bigger than Woodstock

Oppikoppi, South Africa's largest rock festival, has begun. Riaan Wolmarans of the Mail & Guardian brings you the best of the fest with his guide to surviving Oppikoppi 99. The "1998 Oppikoppi music festival was bigger than ever before, a complete onslaught on one’s senses and sensibilities. And now we’re faced with the 1999 festival, which seems set to make last year’s look like Sunday afternoon tea at grandma’s house ... " See what he has to say about Infestation and watch out for his roaming reportbacks during the event.

Days before the festival revellers were already asking to come to the koppi earlier than Friday August 6. A few eager campers filtered in on Wednesday, but the push for Thursday was so strong that a few bands were booked to play on the evening of August 5 to extend the jol for the early birds. Those who can't make it to Infestation at all, can watch via our Webcam.

Watch Oppikoppi 99 live

This year you can watch South Africa's biggest bushveld blast from the comfort of your own mousepad. You'll be able to send us chat messages at the koppi, and we will zoom in on the area of your choice, otherwise M-Web's webcams will stream continuous live footage of the main stage over all five days of the festival.

Live chat

We'll be featuring live chat sessions with band members and musos during the festival. Expect guest appearances from Fetish, Ohm and loads of other surprises, as well as South Africa's top radio personalities and music writers like Michelle Constant, Malu van Leeuwen, Miles Keylock, Chutney de Ridder of 24.com and more. Meanwhile, there are 24 band interviews and reviews to wet your appetite.

Competition

Thanks to all those who entered our competition, which closed at midday on August 2. We had 308 e-mail entries begging us for free tickets, but the congratulations must go to Liezel Ebersohn and Shaun Mountjoy, who each get to climb the koppi with a partner.

News

For up-to-the-minute feedback from our roaming reporters at the festival, see what's just in ... and then talk about it on our bulletin board.

The vibe

The annual national musical phenomenon commonly known as Oppikoppi is bursting out of its seams once again. For thousands of music supporters nationwide this has become the benchmark of South African festivals. World class bands, stunning production, four days of tunes and a decidely strong eagerness to jol has turned Oppikoppi into a soul cleansing haj for music lovers.

This bushveld bivouac, once described as "an unapologetic apogee of musical hedonism", has grown in attendance from 2 000 people in 1995 to 13 000 people in 1998 - with absolutely nothing but "them tunes" keeping it all together.

This year they're expecting close to 15 000 jollers, and counting ...