For those of you creative, mad, fun people heading off to Up the Creek Music Festival, remember to start building your floating masterpieces for the Lilo Anything that Floats competition. If it floats and its cool, bring it to Up the Creek!  Boats, lilos, inflatables, swirling zoos, colourful crates and balloon-driven-boudoirs - anything is welcome. Let your imagination go wild in creating the ultimate winning water feature.   Lilo is making a splash at this year’s UpThe Creek music festival. Literally! They`ll make sure you have a ball. Literally! They`ll keep you afloat on the river too. Literally! Lilo will be handing out lilo’s (jip, double take that) and beach balls at the festival. So you and your friends can float, play catch and make a splash. They are also running a super fun competition where you can stand a chance to win 2 full weekend tickets + a VIP paddle...

As a self proclaimed festival junkie, I rate my Up The Creek festival as the best party ever. Only at Up The Creek will you find yourself waist deep kicking it to a beat in the Breede River whilst two guys paddle past in a Victorian style bath tub. Ships Ahoy. Up The Creek, the best fun in the sun every year. See you there 2013    Matt Lotz . HUGE FAN  ...

The 4th Street sweet life is about being at places and being seen at those places, about good times, good tunes and good friends. That means any girl who knows how to live the sweet life will be making their way to Up the Creek this year. And just because you’re roughing it under the stars, it doesn’t mean you can’t live it up like the superstar you are. 4th Street brings you a few tips on how to make sure you have the sweetest camping experience. Location, location, location Get to the campsite early to pitch your tent where you can be seen, and where you can do major people watching. After all, that’s what the sweet life is about! Also, you don’t want to walk too far to get to the action. Comfort is king! Rocking up ready for the weekend, only to realise you forgot your tent, is...

It was at one of those stuffy, post-Christmas, post-New Year, post-anything-exciting family gatherings. My cousin, Katie, and I had snuck down to the swimming pool for a dip. She told me how excited she was for Up the Creek Music Festival and I told her how I wished I could go, but the bank balance of a student just wouldn't stretch the width of the Breede. That's when the clouds parted and the golden sun shone its rays upon me: My cousin offered to buy me a ticket! A few weeks later we were on the open road, blasting the tunes, cracking open our first beer and fast approaching the turn off on the R60.   We'd bought full weekend (Thursday - Sunday) tickets which meant we arrived before the crowds. To the river!" we cried, as soon as the tent admin was finished. We were by no means as...

At the moment you're either one of two people, you can't be both at the same time. You either have the Big Issue Collectors edition (on sale from vendors now) or you don't. If you're part of the latter group, when you find yourself in your car next make sure you hand over R30 to the vendor at a robot near you and ta-da you're now part of the first group.    With the Collectors edition in hand you can now enter the Up The Creek competition that Big Issue is running... Snap a photo of your magazine with something which or someone who means Up The Creek to you and send it via one of three ways: 1. Tweet it to @BigIssueSA and make sure you include #UpTheCreekCompetition 2. Post it on the Big Issue South Africa Facebook page. 3. Email it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  with the subject, Up The Creek competition....

Many foreigners come to our country seeking the real ‘African experience…’  Many however seem to think the Cape is representative of the whole country.  This has become part of many myths my circle of friends have had to dispel over the last two UTC’s, along with building on some solid facts only the cape summer can provide… Each year a Canadian intern spends 12 months working and living in Stellenbosch.  These individuals start meek and nervous but end up as great friends heading home with a year full of experiences and wonder memories too.  As a group of forestry students, not afraid of a party, we have taken it upon ourselves to use UTC as the ideal get-to-know-you, welcome-to-Africa weekend.  With UTC usually occurring within a couple of weeks of the interns arriving in a hot and dry Stellies, Joe (2012’s candidate) was raring to tan away the winter paleness and...

2012 Up the Creek wrap-up I must say that this year's festival has been my best so far. There was a new layout, and the weather wasn't as hot as previous years, which made waking up in a tent with a hangover more bearable in general.   There was a wedding (well, a renewal of vows rather), between Maggie (famous blues guitarist, Albert Frost's mom) and Rob Nagel. Maggie was rowed up to the 'alter' in a boat on the river, dressed in a beautiful white hippy-esque dress.    There were some rather unexpected and unplanned collaborations. One of my funniest moments was something I witnessed out front: It was the Kongos second song, and the lead singer from Shadow Club (smashed out of his mind) came up on stage and proceeded to take over the guitarists microphone and mumbled some random crap before the Kongos guitarist told him to get off......

Think you’ve got some good photos? Think 2 of them tell a great story? Want to see your story displayed on the stage screens at UTC2013? Well it’s simple…   Here’s how it works: -Choose 2 photos that you think tell a story about Up The Creek (no matter the year) -Send your photos to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday 30th November.   The best ‘story’ portrayed by 2 photos will win a voucher for 5x Titanic cocktails that can be collected at UTC2013. *A winner will be announced on Tuesday 4th December.  ...

Horace's lip liner, faulty water decanting and expedition for hunters in the boot. Purple B#*ch "Shoe-ter" Arab Anne Wet b#"ch Hungry Bum Megaphone: ___________! What fffff are you doing? Frannie bouncing on numerous lilo's. Horace's designer sunnies HENRY ... Brutha! What kaa you draaiv? ITS 10 to 6!!!!! Photos with tent door "Why are you crying???" Shower hour "Eks 'n lekker stukkie .... maar fokof" Tyson - with hoodie "man b#*ches man b#*ches" Tyson sans hoodie "Hi Guys!!!!!!" Bummaling Longsleevejeanpant The hardest and best day of our lives This might just be a bunch of random word to everyone, but each has the funniest story. UTC2012 was the most magical time filled with laughter and dancing! I would do it all over again in a heart beat!!! Anne Hammond  ...

So like we said on Facebook, the t-shirt designs received were all great and a tricky decision lies ahead between ourselves and our trusty printers. The decision-making process is no easy feat, a number of factors get taken into consideration and at the end of the day it usually comes down to simplicity and our enthusiasm around a particular design. So…we would love some help. See below the images of all the design entries received and find them on Facebook too. Like, share, comment; whatever you want to help us get a feel for what you’d all like to see printed and sold at the 2013 festival. ...

As the year goes on byThe memories won’t subside From bubbles flying high To colourful lilo rides… Music on the banks, sunsets and friends It seems the stories never seem to end A marriage on the river bank Kids running free Seems the only thing missing was me! Hot summer days and soaking up the sun Hats, sunglasses and interesting tans Good food, happy times and awesome vibes... I might just become Up the Creek’s biggest fan! Next year, I have to be there At this festival where anything goes A best friend’s birthday will also be shared I’ll be the happiest girl you ever chose I hope you will be so kind Give me a chance to experience the fun And make those two tickets mine! Melanie Beck...

It was the end of January 2008 and I got a call from my good mate Steve Strydom. “What are you doing this weekend G?” “Nothing special,” I replied. “Good, because then you are coming with us to Up The Creek – no excuses!” On the Friday morning Steve, Gary Parker and Graham Anderson arrived at my house. I was running late so I threw a pair of jeans, bog roll, a toothbrush, a bag of chips and 2 cases of beer into the back of the bakkie and we hit the road. I didn’t have a tent or any bedding. I just figured I’d make a plan somehow. We stopped in Riviersonderend for a burger and a few beers and then Steve pulled out a T-shirt for each of us which he had hand- painted the night before. These hand-painted T-shirts have become an annual thing and are now...

So we’re looking for a fresh young design to go onto next year’s festival t-shirts, and we want to invite those who know Up The Creek best, or even those who haven’t been before but have a creative edge, to enter. What can I win for all my flair and late night grafting? 2x Full Weekend tickets for UTC 2013 1x Year subscription to Rolling Stone magazine 2x Titanic cocktails 2x T-shirts/vests Feel like you’re up to the challenge, here some tips and NB points to guide you in the least restricting way:Of course there’s a theme: Our festival always screams Rock ‘n Roll!! It needs to be an open design, no borders. BUT keep it simple, nothing crawling over shoulders and wrapping around from the stomach to back. You are only designing something for the front of the t-shirt, our line up goes on the back. You can only use...

Here’s something you should know about me: I have what everyone so loosely refers to these days as OCD. You can eat off the floor of my flat. My wardrobe looks like something out of an old issue of Real Simple, and I colour-code my hangers (white for dresses, black for tops and blue for pants, duh). Oh and I’m the girl who blows you off saying ‘I have to wash my hair’ and actually mean it.  These are not really attractive qualities I know. I’m just giving you some background.  Because there’s one place I throw caution to the disordered, dirty winds, and that’s a music festival. And nowhere more so than the annual whomper of a party we call Up The Creek. Three days of music, camping, a warm river and plenty of gin aren’t exactly conducive to Pantene hair and mud-free ankles. And you know what? I wouldn’t have it...

Just a quick flight down from JoziLiving in Jozi but LOVING the festivities of Up the Creek and also being good mates with Southern Gypsey Queen and The Black Cat Bones, I took a day off work and jumped on the first flight out of Jozi. Friday morning on the Cape Town tarmac meant bumping in to the Bones and Co just after landing! We jumped in our rental and headed out on our road trip for the hills!After checking ourselves in to the Heartbreak Motel at UTC we headed to the bar and started our love affair with TEQUILA! From Friday morning until ermmm, Sunday morning we kuired, jumped non-stop through our favourite gigs (of which there were too many to actually start mentioning), nursed our hangovers in the shade of a tree sipping on slushies and devouring the divine selection of food on sale, and caught up with old...

Road trippin’ with my two favourite allays Up The Creek 2010 was a first for myself and two of my friends, Minette and Eddie. All 3 of us worked for Blue Moon in Nelspruit and since Blue Moon is also involved with UTC we decided to drive down to Swellendam from Nelspruit and NO we didn’t sleep over anywhere on the way down. Nelspruit is in Mpumalanga, which is almost 1, 800km from Cape Town. The Mother City is a two hour flight from Jo’burg but a 20 hour car drive from Nelspruit. We figured that if our friends from No One’s Arc (a band) can do it 8 times in one year then so could we – I think my ass is still numb from that drive. But as soon as we arrived at UTC the spirit hit us! I will always carry that long weekend with me in years...

Up The Creek is now our ritualI must say that Up the Creek will be mine and my hubby’s destination for as long as you guys are going!  We have only been going for two years and they have both been the most amazing weekends!  This year in particular as we got engaged at Up the Creek!  It was quite an eventful weekend, when we arrived on the Friday, JP was obviously taken by his nerves and had far too much to drink; he passed out on me before 9pm!!!! I was so upset that for two years in a row I had missed most of the Friday night bands! On Saturday morning when we eventually got up, hangover and all, we bought some breakfast and JP insisted on heading down the hill to the river banks to have our breakfast there.  I could not understand why he chose to go...

What you read below is the account of a true story from UTC2012; It was a warm, hungover Saturday morning. The sun was bright, and the music was loud. SO obviously, the head did not feel too good after that previous night. But what could I do? Simple, pop a few aspirin’s for the headache and throw on a pair of shades for the sun. And there struck the big issue. Smart-guy me forgot to take his glasses off his head before I made a nice dive into the river. So, toodles to my previous shades. Now what? I was stuck in the blistering sun, aspirin starting to work, but the brightness killing me. So, I realised that the shades shop was there for a reason. I go there, along with my girlfriend to fit a few shades. Low and behold I find the most epic, Rock-and-roll Lennon shades imaginable! But for R100,...

We’ve been washing windscreens the past while and applying our fabulous car stickers for UTC2013! If you see us out and about give us a hoot!  ...

Up the Creek 2012 was Rolling Stone’s first official visit to the Breede River. It was also one of the most remarkably relaxing weekends of Rolling Stone’s frenetic birth in South Africa… despite the fact that the team worked to standstill for those four long days. The mood at UTC is generally far more sedate than other, larger festivals, but 2012 was even more so due to the perfect, mild weather (2011 was sweltering by comparison). Great for punters, not so great to keep up the work ethic! Fortunately, the individuals who made up Rolling Stone’s festival team were not UTC newbies. Some had been attending since the 90s. Others may have been born in the 90s – which resulted in some interesting disagreements and discussions about the nature of rock n’ roll - but that’s another story. We were all nonetheless thrilled to be running a couch in the backstage...