We chat to Regan about the 20-Year Legacy of Origin Festival
Over its 20-year history Origin Festival has become the leading outdoor electronic music festival in Cape Town.
How did they do this?
By consistently pushing the boundaries of production, music and art to international standards and delivering this year in and year out.
My favourite comment I have heard so often at Origin Festival is ‘you always see where your ticket money has been spent when you go to Origin,’ and this epitomises what people have experienced for 20 solid years.
At the head of the operation is Nano Records label owner, international psytrance DJ, and protagonist of alternative living [and thinking], Regan Tacon.
Regan has taken risks, changed his lifestyle and even moved countries (and continent) to pursue his ambition to share his music and that of his label, Nano Records, with the world.
But, there’s no place like home and South African lovers of underground music can be thankful that he returns every summer to throw down the best outdoor party of the year – Origin Festival!
Producing Origin over the years has filled us with immense pride and given us the opportunity to create a world class event in the country and musical scene where we grew up and come from.”
Origin celebrates 20 years next year. For any business or brand to exist for 20 years is an achievement of note. For an event to not only still exist, but to be South Africa’s premier outdoor festival must make this milestone that more special. Thoughts?
Regan: That flew by fast! Producing Origin over the years has filled us with immense pride and given us the opportunity to create a world class event in the country and musical scene where we grew up and come from. It is always challenging but seeing people connecting with the music, art and other like minded souls is what makes it all worth it. From my perspective we have stuck to our ideals and tried to create something special and bigger than any of us and that has drawn all the right people towards what we create. Who knows what the future holds but we plan to be here for another 20 years and do what it takes to keep people wanting to be part of the magic.
You are well-travelled and having experienced so many global events, playing and working at them, you’ve managed to bring an real international flavour to Origin, no mean feat considering the size of the market, by comparison. Do you ever sit back and reflect on what you have built?
Regan: I’m constantly sitting back and marvelling at what we have created – careful with those intentions you set, they just might happen. I’ve had a number of moments over the years, walking around Origin when it’s all happening and the people are smiling and the beats are flowing, when it dawns on me that something we dreamed up is happening, or friends from around the world are there, and I think; ”oooooh we did it.. we had that idea last year, or the year before, and now here it is manifested” and that blows me away every time. I always wanted Origin to be a place where like minded party people from across South Africa and across the world knew they could gather once a year and see their friends. It’s like, you know that moment at a festival and you turn to a friend and say “.. this is great, we should see each other more, let’s go to dinner sometime together?” That’s all good and well, but for me that is missing the point why we are supposed to have these events, these festivals, these gatherings, where we meet in larger numbers and spend time with our friends. These are THE moments we are supposed to be seeing each other and hanging-out, and I love being able to facilitate a space where people can meet their friends from all over and have that time together.
“With Origin you always see where your ticket money goes,” is a common accolade from festival-goers when it comes to the quality of the production. One has to have a pretty strong resolve to manage what must be a sizeable budget and stay committed to ‘quality first’ and still not cut corners especially in a challenging economic climate.
Regan: I think we might be certifiably mad, the doctors are still discussing it. People would be shocked to know how close to the wind we sail at times. I have discussed it with fellow event promoters in the UK for instance and been told I’m crazy, but that’s also how things roll in Cape Town. It’s a different approach to life.. last minute :P.. which annoyingly can make an event producer lose years of their life with added stress, but we trust what we have created with Origin, and we believe what we present for people is special enough that people will want to be there and be involved.
Since COVID, you’ve opted to put a cap on attendance numbers, even though there are no longer restrictions. What are your thoughts behind this?
Regan: In 2022 when we first came back after the pandemic, SA was still in level 1 lockdown, so we could only do an event for 2000 people capacity.
We wondered how we could pull off a production anything close to what he had built Origin up to pre-covid on those new numbers, but after looking at it all we saw a new way to approach it. That 2022 event was like a breath of fresh air, everyone there loved the size of it, I saw people who hadn’t been to Origin in years return as they had found the larger crowds too much. So we felt that moving forward with a limited capacity and a slightly higher ticket price to still ensure the production can be world class might be the way to go in these post pandemic years, and so far it has worked a treat. We are treading the fine line between keeping it as intimate as possible and affordable, while still being big enough to feel impressive and allowing us to deliver a mind blowing experience for all attending.
This year we are adding a few hundred more tickets only, and capping sales at 3500 (and we will probably keep it there from now on). I have always liked events this size, it’s just on the edge. Once you go over that amount things always spiral in intensity I felt – which at times is amazing, but we have done this for over two decades now, so we are happy to hit the sweet spot and stay there. It makes for a better party.
It must be said that by knowing our limits, and being confident in reaching them, it takes some of the stress off us, as we can work with budgets more clearly and see where we can keep adding to the event or not. If South African festival goers could afford to commit earlier to events, and buy their tickets sooner rather than later, the event producers can create better events for them, being confident that they have the sales, and then adding another art installation, another stage, another international artist.
I mentioned earlier your globetrotting to events around the world, primarily to perform at them as an artist. Since the event industry has sprung back to life after lockdown, what are some of your party highlights in recent times?
Regan: Glastonbury 2022 was so utterly epic for me on a personal level as a music fan, I bounced between stages for 3 days and caught so much live music, I got a serious injection of what I love most. Then obviously Boom and Ozora festivals in 2022 and 2023, just epic on all accounts every time – and getting to do the opening DJ slot on the Dance Temple at Boom this year was definitely a life affirming moment – what an amazing energy to play too and witness unfold in front of my eyes. Going to Goa with Tristan for our Nano Label night for Xmas and NYE 2021 was a thing – travelling with all the health checks still in place was weird and stressful, but then getting to blast again under the coconut trees once we were there was a very welcome return to what we love doing. Most recently playing at WAO in Italy, Own Spirit in Spain, Wonderland in Germany were all amazing vibe wise, and then attending Noisily in the UK this year (after the amazing time I had in 2022 playing there) was so worth it, mud and all, it was such a vibe – their new site is great and I think it is going to allow them to grow exponentially now.
As owner of NANO Records, a global leader in the psytrance genre, plus a busy DJ career and now back to producing music, which of these do you wish you had more time for? NANO is work, DJing is fun and Producing is creative…. If you were forced to drop one, which would you have to grudgingly pick?
Regan: It’s all fun, and it’s all work too! I definitely wish I could stop everything and just make music all day every day though, but at the same time I love what we have created with Nano Records, I love helping artists grow, and sharing with the scene what we feel is interesting and quality music. DJing is part of both, and its own thing too. They all go hand in hand really, so I’m glad I’m getting back into the music more again to express that side of myself and feed into my dj sets and what we have created with Nano. I do love it all!
Join Regan for Origin Festival 2024
