MaGaborone, as some of the upper class citizens of Gaborone are called, thronged the Gaborone International Conference Centre (GICC) to dance the night out to all their '70s and '80s favourite hits. It is never a dull moment to listen to some of the best music from these decades and it was indeed an evening of top music in an era when electronic dance music has hit the airwaves.
These days its Insta moments, TikTok videos but the revellers forgot about that for an instant as the evening took them on a journey back to the days when the floppy disks and Pac Man were invented. It was not just the music but more to do with who was on the deck. The line-up already boasted of heavy weights such as Glen Lewis, Otis Fraser and Oneal Africa.
The latter made sure to play some of the high impact sounds of the '70s and '80s and had revellers up on their feet dancing and singing throughout the night. The DJs on the night incorporated a wide mixture of music classics. Patrons relived the golden era of Disco music with amazing DJs who took them on a journey through the classics.
One could listen to popular hits from the likes of Freddy Gwala, Brenda Fassie, all the way through to melodies of Dianna Ross and The Bee Gees. Besides music, there was the fashion aspect of the party with bellbottom pants, big afro hairstyles, and platform shoes. Men wore peaked caps but women were colourful with shiny tops and flared pants. The revellers dressed for the occasion and had all night to dust off their disco flares. Some made the evening even more memorable by digging out those fashion statement outfits and hit the dance floor in style. Speaking of dance floors, the stage and setup literally sparkled all night long.
The setup had the perfect old school vibe that people love, together with a big dance floor and lots of disco lights. It was a magic dance floor where patrons got to move to the hottest and classic tunes metaphorically spun for their delight. It was like patrons had teleported and time travelled into a Disco night club in the '70s expect this was not hypothetical, they were right there in the '70s and '80s themed GICC. They had been transported back to the retro days of the '70s and '80s.
It was a greatest night of classic disco and it was retro party bangers all night with the best crowd Gaborone has to offer. Talking about crowds, one thing that could be observed is that the place was crawling with the mature crowd. The Grand Palm's '70s and '80s annual party was like a time capsule for many of them.
The music, the clothes and the dance moves were all things that remind them of their youths and what they did to get down and boogie with friends. Perhaps some of them do not go out anymore but for one night every year they get to dress up and party hard until it was time to go home just in time for breakfast. Overall, the elderly patrons got glittered up for a fun and fabulous night of dancing with people their own age. Oh yes, it was a boogie night to remember!
