As any festival organiser knows, coming anywhere close to pleasing everybody is harder than locating a few pesky weapons of mass destruction. Doesn't stop them trying though.

But if you are part of the less commercially-dispositioned sector, if you like your rock harder and your punk faster, then Splashy Fen 2004 is going to prove your mother wrong. Sometimes you can please everybody.

Pay attention. This is your advance warning. Be well rested for Splashy. On Thursday, eat your bananas and start drinking some crazy cane at about five because come Thursday night you are going to need more energy than that damn Duracell bunny. The trinity of El Camino, 16 Stitch and Wickhead are waving the flag high, keeping the future of S.A. rock looking beautiful and menacing.

The drummer of El Camino will do his level best to break his drum kit, the boys from 16 Stitch will take what you think you know about the quiet/loud dynamic and kill it all over the stage while Wickhead will do their best to show you really can play incredible songs while at a ninety degree angle to the floor.

The only thing that rivals these bands for talent is energy and its up to every single person in the audience to give the guys a run for their money. Look at it as a 'who's going the most off' competition.

But wait. There's more. Because after that's done, and you want to avoid the anti climax that comes after the crazy good bands have finished, you're gonna mosey on over to the marquee for a little taste of what the creative minds behind Durban's hottest hip hop have been conjuring up. Illuminating Shadows, 'they got it covered from the smooth to the rugged. When your head starts nodding you'll notice your hip hopping' (Ewok) And when the four boys have got the party started with their beats and rhymes they will very kindly keep you bouncing with a HipHop party until the early hours. Pretty good night, even on paper.

The main reason why this years line up is so mental is that there's a beautifully crafted balance between the bands just starting to create swell and the bands we have worshipped on stage before. So on Friday, prepare to be sucked into the whirlpool for punk's youngest giants Sibling Rivalry and marvel at the power and sheer enormity that is newcomers Stick Up Kid. And then watch three bands that never fail to deliver less than everything your warped imagination could dream up. The Narrow, Marlowe and Pestroy have not made it this far, this big, this hard by giving fifty percent. Watch and learn. Or rather, scream and jump. More fun.

Splashy Fen 2004 is four crazy nights long. And instead of something for everyone, this year there are many things for everyone. You'll be spoilt for choice. Which is a nice place to be. In a chocolate covered nutshell, there is no better place to be this Easter.

By Leigh Vermaak