The End of Burn

So on Saturday night we went to the Burn farewell party.  Burn is...or was...the last alternative venue in Durban and has been part of the scenery for the last 12 years.  Although I haven’t really been a part of the Burn scene for a long time now, it was still a bit sad to see it go.

Blurry photo on the left taken while walking

I remember the first time I ever went, how anxious I was to look cool and alternative.  I laugh at myself thinking back to that because when I got there I realised that it really didn’t matter that much.

I remember how cool it was walking in on a Wednesday night and seeing so many friends and familiar faces.  And how great it was having a place that played my kind of music where I could go dance and make a fool out of myself.

I remember my friend getting clawed by a scary goth girl on the dance floor and getting my nose ring nearly ripped out in a mosh pit at the Blindside show.  And speaking of that Blindside show, I remember how stoked I was that Christian, the singer, grabbed my hand out of all the ones stretched out to him!  I may have threatened not to wash it...

I remember all the bands I watched there: The Narrow, Dorp, Fokofpolisiekar, Blindside, Stealing Love Jones (the band the husband was in), although those are the only ones I can remember right now!

I remember many Thursday and Sunday mornings filled with blurry eyes and stiff necks.

I remember dancing to I'm Not Okay by My Chemical Romance and meaning every single word.  I also remember that I was so obsessed with the Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge album that I wore a sparkly bracelet that said Revenge...just like Gerard Way did.  Like I said, my small self makes me laugh sometimes.  I remember at the time I was also obsessed with Brand New, Lost Prophets, Taking Back Sunday, The Refused and The Used.

And finally, I remember each embarrassing vodka-induced thing I did there that I will not mention here.  Good times:)

Some of my best memories come from Burn in Umbilo road, the graffiti behind the building, the pies at the Moore Road petrol station, the weird incense man outside and hanging out in Side Burn or whatever that little offshoot was called.  I never quite got the same vibe from Burn in Stamford Hill road and I know a lot of people stopped going because the crowd changed and the music changed.  Personally, I guess life just moved on for me and there were other commitments, other places to go and a job that wasn't conducive to feeling a bit rough on a Thursday morning.  Change is part of life I guess.        

Before I end this post, here is a photo of small me before heading out to Burn at some point:

Can we say emo?  Yes we can.   I also seem unable to pull a nice face in a photo.  Oh well!

And that concludes our trip down memory lane.

PS.  I apologise for all the "I remembers" but there really wasn't any other way to put it.