Six months of jubilant anticipation came to a euphoric climax on Monday 24 March 2008 as 20000-plus fans were treated to arguably the best bill in the My Coke Fest’s three-year existence.

Topping a line-up that included Metallica in 2006 and Evanescence in 2007 was never going to be an easy task, but it can be said with utmost authority that Big Concerts outdid themselves in every respect this year.

The first of three South African acts for the day, The Shy Guevaras got the ball rolling to a growing horde at Kenilworth Race Course, Cape Town. Their first experience of such a large crowd (they didn’t play the Johannesburg installment of the event), the blossoming four-piece kept things simple but tight and delivered a solid performance they’ll undoubtedly recall fondly for the rest of their musical careers.

Fokofpolisiekar spawn, Van Coke Kartel, took to the arena next, with the relatively iconic Francois van Coke and cronies thrashing out their typical brand of Afrikaans punk rock. Keeping it in the rock family, Hunter Kennedy (Fokof’ and aKING), Johnny De Ridder (Fokof’) and George van der Spuy (Taxi Violence) joined VCK on stage for songs throughout their whirlwind set, with ‘September Fools’ and ‘Buitenkant II’ in particular further enthusing the eager masses.

Generic jock rockers, Prime Circle, closed off the homegrown part of the festivities with a surprisingly decent showing despite the annoying pseudo American accent of lead singer Ross Learmonth. Indeed, they whipped out all the tracks that have seen the very marketable foursome climb to the summit of the South African commercial rock market.

With five of the Northern Hemisphere’s finest rock bands to follow, 30 Seconds to Mars got the ball rolling quite literally, as gargantuan red orbs were tossed into the crowd for those gathered to feverishly bounce, punch at and thump into the sky. His eyes caked thick with makeup, Jared Leto and the rest of his posse crafted a truly remarkable set that left all and sundry in awe of their magnificence.

Leto is surely one of the most animated lead singers on the planet, with climbing 30 metres into the air to sing from the rooftop and frequently hailing the baying public as ‘mother f***ers’ all part of his theatrics on the day. With among others, ‘From Yesterday’, ‘The Kill’ and ‘A Beautiful Lie’ belted out with supreme passion, the moshpit thinning and hardcore and newly converted supporters thoroughly spent, a massive stream of tickertape coursed through the air, finishing off the ultimate 30 Seconds to Mars experience.

Brit rockers Kaiser Chiefs came out all guns blazing and soared through their characteristically stadium rock set. Not content to stick to the confines of the stage, vocalist Ricky Wilson stomped his way through the multitudes, lapping the barricade that separated the so-called ‘Golden Circlers’ and those that opted for the cheaper tickets. With event security scampering around like headless chickens, evidently bamboozled by the lack of protocol involved in ‘protecting’ a superstar gone walkabout, Wilson returned to his band as frenzied fans began to calm. Of course, ‘Ruby’ was the sing-along hit of the hour, with international radio play clearly paying dividends in this case.

In a radio interview a couple of days before their maiden gig in the Mother City, Good Charlotte stated they would be ‘mixing it up a bit in Cape Town’. The tattooed crew from the U S of A stuck to their word and rolled out crowd favourites that had adolescents and adults alike jumping around in joyous appreciation. Amongst the revelry, frontman Joel Madden toned proceedings down a smidgen with a cover of The Cure’s ‘Lovesong’, a ballad he professes to sing to his three-month-old daughter every day. Cute. Thereafter though, it was on with GC’s signature style of pop punk — far from clean cut, but oh so catchy.

Chris Cornell, looking rather weathered nowadays, has certainly been around the block. The former lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave swayed from somber to inspired, during a moving performance that included hits from his previous bands and his new solo material. ‘Like a Stone’, ‘Black Hole Sun’ and ‘Spoonman’ highlighted his time on stage — the former a tidy acoustic version, the latter bringing guitarist Theo Crous of Springbok Nude Girls fame in on the act.

Often praised as ‘one of the best live acts in the world’, Muse, donned their respective instruments and put together perhaps the most technically sound performance this nation has ever witnessed. Remarkably groundbreaking in every respect, the genre-twisting pioneers wowed their adoring audience with a zealous sequence of impassioned songs. With key lyrics and complementing graphics emblazoned across the big screen in the background, ‘Knights Of Cydonia’, ‘Starlight’, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ and numerous other hits passed the lips of singer Matt Bellamy majestically, with bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dom Howard masterfully accompanying Bellamy through an overwhelmingly epic journey. Needless to say, the larger-than-life supergroup again etched another brilliant performance into monumental rock history.

Korn, the legends that have seen copious amounts of up-starts attempt to follow in their footsteps and consequently fail, wrapped up the biggest outing of 2008 thus far (sorry, Celine Dion). The anticipant atmosphere was as choking as the dust in the air, as the macabre Jonathan Davis, dreadlocked ‘Munky’, and the fiendish ‘Fieldy’ scorched their way through blistering metal at its most furious. Those gathered in the front of the stage really had to have their wits about them as the hardcore-inclined got stuck in, moshing, crowdsurfing and slamdancing to their metal heart’s content. Davis’ songwriting is angry and ruthless, his demeanour scary, his appearance daunting. Yet he has garnered the respect of millions, thousands of which idolised him on the night as he and the rest of the Korn militia sapped the rampant throngs one final time with the an enraged delivery of ‘Blind’.

With all the obligatory ‘you guys were better than the Johannesburg crowd’ and the ‘we promise to come back soon’ remarks done and dusted, a collective abundance of beer consumed and plenty of money well spent, the memorable day was a thing of the past with thousands of reminiscent tales to be relayed in the forthcoming weeks, months and, surely, years.