Love, positive energy and evolving. This was the message that US singer Erykah Badu left her fans with at the DStv Delicious Festival on Sunday.
The most anticipated act of the night, and the festival as a whole, Ms Badu lived up to the expectation and then some.
Preforming classics such as “On & On”, “Bag Lady”, "Window Seat" and "Love of My Life", the neo soul pioneer showed that having not a released an album in years she still has the catalogue to draw in the biggest of crowds.
Her jaw-dropping entrance with the much-loved “Hello” song set the tone for what would be a goosebump-inducing set.
Badu had the crowd so under her spell with her soulful serenades that it all seemed to end much too soon. She had just about finished her set when the roaring crowd called her back onstage to perform “Tyrone”.
At least 18 000 fans descended on the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday to see the “analogue girl in the digital world”, who was a perfect end to the Heritage Day weekend.
Speaking to media after her performance, Badu said she felt so overwhelmed by the love from the crowd that she teared up just a tad.
“I was received like a kid coming home from college that made the family proud. It was so much love and appreciation; I was overwhelmed [and] kinda choked up a little bit,” she said.
She added that she only hopes her South African fans got in return what they gave to her.
She ended her performance by urging her fans to never stop evolving, growing and loving.
The 6th annual two-day festival brought together food and music lovers alike and was, again, the year’s springtime outdoor music attraction in Johannesburg.
Other songstresses that graced the main stage were Lira, Simphiwe Dana and Amanda Black who performed on Saturday offering powerful performances as the leading women of the festival's celebration of Womandla.
Keeping the crowd on their feet were DJs over at the adjacent Vodacom Dance Arena stage where the likes of Grammy award-winning US DJ Louie Vega, Oskido, DJ Fresh, and Vinny Da Vinci brought out the Spring vibes.
Food lovers were spoiled for choice at the Delicious Mile, the festival’s gourmet street food market, and at many other food stalls.
Despite the variety of food and drink on offer, there were a few grievances over the long queues, many of which were due to malfunctioning speed point machines.
Regardless of the hiccups in between, the festival was definitely one for the books.