For all the loyal fans and supporters of the Cape Town Military Tattoo, I have compiled a list of all the programme booklets through the years, from 2003 to 2015.
You can download a scanned PDF of each of them by clicking on the relevant image.
I hope you will enjoy leafing through them and that it will bring back some very happy memories of past events!
Tonight was the Dress Rehearsal of the 6th Cape Town Military Tattoo 2010 at the Castle of Good Hope. If you haven’t gone to see it yet, book your tickets now at Computicket! At R80 – R100 a seat, and with a show that is about three hours long, including the pre-show from 19h00 onwards, this is definitely value for money, and a wonderfully colourful and spectacular event.
Here are some more pictures I took during the last day of rehearsals on Tuesday 2 November. They are mainly behind-the-scenes shots of the preparations, with only a couple of the dress rehearsal itself. I left after the first couple of acts because I got a whopping great migraine.
These shots will give you a tiny glimpse of the incredible amount of work that happens behind the scenes and in the background, but without which this event would not be so spectacular.
After spending most of the weekend at the Castle, observing the rehearsals of the various acts for the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2010 (see here and here), Monday was another long and full day.
As the rehearsals didn’t start until after lunch, I joined my fellow photies Brent and Lorraine on an explorative ramble around the Castle grounds. Given the midday temperatures of over 30°C, keeping out of the sun as much as possible and drinking enough water soon became priorities.
Here are some of the pictures of Monday.
The otherwise quiet and peaceful Castle of Good Hope in central Cape Town was a hive of activity on the weekend, with the different acts rehearsing for the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2010.
If you haven’t booked tickets yet, go to Computicket and do so now – you’ll regret it if you miss this spectacular event!
After a busy Saturday afternoon (see photos of the rehearsals here), I was back at the Castle on Sunday morning, and spent the entire day and most of the evening behind the scenes, absorbing the sense of anticipation and excitement, taking photographs, waiting for things to happen, chatting with people, running up and down steps, taking more photographs, waiting a bit more, grabbing a bite to eat every now and then, drinking lots of water because of the heat, discussing ISO, shutter speed and aperture settings with my fellow ‘photies’ Brent and Lorraine, walking around the arena looking for good vantage points, and yes, taking more photographs. I loved every moment of it! 😀
Here are my photos of Sunday’s daytime rehearsals, followed by some pics of the evening’s run-through.
The last couple of days have been really busy, with all the preparations for the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2010 at the Castle of Good Hope in the city centre. Have a look here for some pictures of the work being done on the arena, which included the erection of the lighting towers, the wiring of the lighting and sound equipment, the construction of the seating stands, etc. Over the weekend, the various groups of performers and marching bands arrived, some having traveled from far outside Cape Town, and thus the intensive rehearsals in the main arena were able to kick off on Saturday afternoon.
I spent the day at the Castle and took some photos of the rehearsals of the SA Navy Sea Cadets, the Drill Squad from the Western Cape Schools Marching Drill and Exhibition Association, the dancers from the Celtic Dance Tapestry, and the Drum Majorettes of Curro Private School.
To give you a bit of a taste of what will happen at the Tattoo, here are some pics I took on the day. Enjoy! 😀
With only a few days to go before the Opening Night performance of the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2010, the preparations at the Castle are in full swing.
This is how the front courtyard at the Castle usually looks in the early evening – a big open space
This year, I have been allowed to peek behind the curtain and to hang around backstage, so to speak. Camera at the ready, pen and notepad in hand, all my senses have been absorbing the anticipation and excitement, as well as the frustrations and challenges, which go together with staging an event of this magnitude and complexity.
I confess that I had not given much thought to all the preparations that have to happen behind the scenes.
Welcome to the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2010, organised by the Defence Reserves of the Western Cape
In barely two weeks’ time, the imposing stone walls of the venerable 330-year-old Castle of Good Hope in central Cape Town will be reverberating to the rhythmic thumping of drums, the wailing of bagpipes and the echoing boom of live gunfire, as the oldest military headquarters in the country hosts the sixth Cape Town Military Tattoo 2010.
One of the not-to-be-missed highlights of the Cape Town calendar, the Tattoo has proved so popular among locals and visitors that it has now become an annual event, from its humble beginnings in 2003. This year’s event is the 6th, as there were two gaps in-between. The sell-out success of the last years (2007, 2008 and 2009) has even persuaded organisers to extend the Tattoo by a day: This year, the nightly performances will take place from Wednesday 3 November to Saturday 6 November 2010.
The Castle is a fairly ‘small’ venue, in that they ‘only’ had something like 1200 seats the previous year(s) and there were only three performances. So this year they’ve added another night, and about 300 more seats to their stands, to accommodate more people. I hope they’re going to sell out this year too!
I am delighted to report that bookings for the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2010 at the historic Castle of Good Hope in central Cape Town have finally opened at Computicket.
Yayyy!!
The nightly performances will take place from Wednesday 3 November to Saturday 6 November 2010. The official performance starts at 20h00, but the gates to the Castle will open at 18h00. Seats are reserved, so you don’t need to worry about fighting for seats. And there will be refreshments on sale inside the Castle.
A snapshot from Google Maps showing the Castle and the Parade
When I arrived at the magnificent and historic Castle of Good Hope in central Cape Town early on Friday evening there was a serious party happening at the FIFA Fan Fest on the Grand Parade, in front of our beautiful City Hall.
The music was thumping, the bands were whipping the crowds into a frenzy, the vuvuzelas were blowing, the place was rocking! (If you click on this link, you can see an excellent video of the Parade with 3D models of the FIFA Fan Fest.)
Judging from the loud music, singing and enthusiastic cheering, all the spectators who had just witnessed the 16h00 match between The Netherlands and Brazil, transmitted live on large television screens around the square, were planning to stay and party until the kick-off of the 20h30 match between Ghana and Uruguay.
Memories of the Cape Town Military Tattoo 