Presenting: After Dark winter concerts at the Two Oceans Aquarium
The Two Oceans Aquarium & Texx and the City present: After Dark 2024
Following its third straight sold out run, After Dark returns to the Two Oceans Aquarium and brings with it some of the finest talent around. The Two Oceans Aquarium, and entertainment website Texx and the City, are joining forces once again to host their third, stripped down, series of events this winter featuring some of the exceptional music talent performing in South Africa.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to experience the musings of Coasters and Blue Vow, Metro Villa and Yellow House, Steve McKellar and Tessi, and Mila Smith, and Micaela Kleinsmith, who make up the line this year.
This year, we're excited to announce that we'll be adding a fourth night to the After Dark experience. The four events will be spread over the months of June, July, August, and September 2024. Guests will be witness to a transformation of the I&J Ocean Exhibit for a night of mesmerising stripped down melodies expertly crafted and delivered by two bands on each evening. There really is no better or more beautiful backdrop for any event, than the blue glow of the I&J Oceans Exhibit featuring a host of marine life.
Doors open at 18h30 sharp, so come early before the music starts at 20h00 and explore the Two Ocean Aquarium when the lights are low!
26 June 2024 - Coasters and Blue Vow
After Dark kicks off with the harmonious blend of sounds that is Coasters, and an intricate storytelling journey provided by Blue Vow.
Tickets: R395 (get your tickets here)
Coasters
Coasters is a duo that hails from sunny Cape Town, South Africa. Katarina (vocals, music and lyrics) and Luke (multi-talented musician and producer) met through mutual music friends and quickly realised their creative compatibility. Their connection swiftly grew into a deep friendship and musical partnership resulting in a long-awaited exploration of their favorite genres. In 2023, Coasters released their debut album, ‘Heartbreak Looks Good On You’ and began performing regularly at music venues and festivals. The duo quickly gained traction and landed shows opening for local legends such as Jeremy Loops and Will Linley. Guided by heartfelt lyrics, seamless chords and captivating synths, Coasters are a harmonious blend of sounds - indie and electro pop with a dash of psych rock - that transcends you through a wave of emotions. And while their music resonates with themes of love and grief, the raw and mesmerising vocals of Katarina enhanced by Lukes's mood-enhancing instrumentals can break your heart and sew it back together again. Coasters are currently hard at work on their next EP and are in the process of organising their debut European Performance.
Blue Vow
Drawing influence that spans from slow-burning ambience to more violent, noise-driven entities, under the guise of Blue Vow, Cape Town-based artist Chelsea Ann Peter plays with sound to exorcise her dissection of and attempt to comprehend inner and outer worlds. While moving through self-reflexive, existential doors, her debut album, ‘Sunfall’ (2022), and her forthcoming album ‘Death of a Big Black Dog’, set to release in 2024, sink fully into the dark and the light, finding their pulse on the edge where the two forces meet. Dipping in and out of dream landscapes, storytelling, and memory, both bodies of work simultaneously destroy and breathe anew. Presently morphing into a full band comprising Joy Markus, Damon Miles, Cam Lofstrand, and Stephan Erasmus, Blue Vow is re-imagining itself, slowly shedding skins and transitioning into something new. Her sound explores and exorcises her internal and mirrored external worlds, driven by the merging of conscious and subconscious realities. It is an attempt to perceive while being realised as a conduit.
31 July 2024 - Yellow House and Metro Villa
July's After Dark promises to be a treat, with a distinct sonic spectrum from Yellow House, and the alternative rock sound from Metro Villa
Tickets: R395 (get your tickets here)
Yellow House
A sound shaped by years of living between bustling cities and serene isolation, the music of Yellow House is a unique blend of stark reality and escapism. As Van Gogh’s painting of the Yellow House contrasts bright shades of yellow with deep blue, so too does Yellow House’s work encapsulate the same moods of light and dark. These elements exist in parallel, yet always in harmony. Sombre, yet hopeful. Yellow House juxtaposes the folk ideologies of reflective poetry with the ethereal nature of Dream Pop. Grounded by a rhythm section inspired by RnB and Hip Hop, these elements combine to create a distinct sonic spectrum. The upcoming album, “Psalms of Yellow House,” promises to build upon this ethos. More than a collection of songs, it is a culmination of a journey that is both artistic and deeply personal. The album stands as a testament to the relentless pursuit of meaning and beauty. It is an invitation to the listener to step inside the Yellow House and find solidarity in the shared human condition.
Metro Villa
The Cape Town based, alternative rock band started in 2021 and have made their mark on the local band scene ever since. Their first breakthrough was winning Texx and the City's 'Band Or Bust Vol. 1' at The House Of Machines in 2023. They have shared the stage with South African legends such as aKING, Fokofpolisiekar (Woordfees 2023) as well as Desmond and the Tutus.
27 August 2024 - Micaela Kleinsmith and Mila Smith
The closing night of the 2024 After Dark series starts with former SA Idols contestant and the winner of ''My Kind Of Country'', Micaela Kleinsmith. The night ends with the chart-topping soulful sound of Mila Smith.
Tickets: R395 (get your tickets here)
Micaela Kleinsmith
Micaela Kleinsmith showed a penchant for songwriting from the tender age of 14, and after a successful stint on SA Idols in 2016, went on to perform across almost every stage in and around Cape Town in order to hone her live skills. Her onstage vigour served her well as a contestant on the first season of Apple TV+’s My Kind of Country, as Micaela was first championed by masked country singer Orville Peck, before going on to be crowned the winner. Her three-track EP Butterfly (2023), released through Platoon and available to stream on Apple Music, is exemplary of the type of heartfelt music that she makes, utilising her voice as her main instrument to convey a multitude of emotion using the butterfly as a motif for love and self-actualisation.
Mila Smith
Mila is a 19-year-old singer/songwriter born and bred in Cape Town and signed to Platoon - an artist services, A&R, and music distribution company owned by Apple Inc. With diary-style lyrics that peel back the curtain on her personal experiences, Mila has a soulful heart-on-sleeve sound and soaring emotional vocals that express a maturity and storytelling ability beyond her young years. April 2021 saw Mila’s debut as a solo artist following the release of her first single “Liars and Fakes”. A disco pop anthem that reached number 1 on the 5fm SA Top 10 charts for 3 weeks running, with its Tensnake Remix garnering over 400 000 streams. Setting out on this journey as a solo artist, Mila Smith is ready to let the world in on her soulful essence, moving mountains one song & one performance at a time.
25 September 2024 - Steve David McKellar and Tessi
Night three delivers amazing performances with musician, poet, and former Civil Twilight guitarist, Steven Dayvid McKellar, followed by the soulful sounds that is Tessi Nandi.
Tickets: R395 (get your tickets here)
Steve David McKellar
Steven Dayvid McKellar is a South Africa-born US-based musician and poet. He's best known as the former guitarist and lead singer-songwriter for the rock band Civil Twilight. Steven, along with his brother Andrew and childhood friend Richard Wouters, formed Civil Twilight in Cape Town, South Africa. Steven's vocals are characterized by an eerie falsetto that can be compared to Jeff Buckley and Thom Yorke. He left Civil Twilight in 2016 to pursue a solo career, releasing his debut album "Etherealize" in 2019. In addition to music, Steven is also a published poet and has released two collections of poetry, "Unchartable" and "The Bones of Winter Birds."
Tessi Nandi
Durban seems to be the city which keeps on giving when it comes to some of South Africa’s best musical artists. Its latest export: 18 year old TESSI NANDI. Growing up in KwaZulu Natal, TESSI attended Penryn College in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga where she matriculated in 2023. TESSI already started singing at the age of 2, and started playing guitar from the age of 8. At age 13, she started learning the ukulele and piano. Today she also plays bass guitar. She describes music as her constant companion from a young age. To her, music is not just a collection of notes and melodies, but a language which communicates emotions and connects people on a profound level. TESSI released a brand new single, entitled TIME IS A THIEF in November 2023; a soulful offering expressing the bittersweet reality of friendships. Her 7th official single release and a mixture of RnB, Pop and Jazz - TIME IS A THIEF was written by TESSI towards the end of 2020 when she found herself wrestling with the ever-changing world that she found herself in, yearning for a single moment to pause. The single was recorded at Sound Foundry on a visit to Cape Town, when friend of TESSI, MAJOZI arranged the opportunity for her to record the offering. While TESSI is excited to study film at AFDA in Cape Town in 2024, fans can also look forward to more music and an EP from TESSI in the coming months.
Tickets are limited to 180 pax per event. Doors open at 18h30 with the first act on stage at 20h00 and the second act on at 21h00. A cash bar will be available and food can be purchased before the event and during the interval.
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