Glastonfurry is back! The recurring live music event, which raises money for the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, returns for its seventh edition on Heritage Day, Thursday 24 September. Woof! Meow! Whoo-hoo!
For its seventh edition, Cape Town’s cutest music fundraiser is getting a little bigger, moving from its longtime home at The Armchair Theatre to Woodstock Brewery. Since launching in 2024, Glastonfurry has raised more than R103,000 for the SPCA across its previous editions, bringing together local musicians, animal lovers and people who simply like a good excuse to get sweaty for a cause. The move to Woodstock Brewery gives Glastonfurry considerably more room to grow, allowing the organisers to accommodate a larger audience and bigger bands while staying close to the Observatory community that supported the festival from the beginning.
The venue has also barked away its fee for the event, meaning more of the money raised can go directly towards the animals. There’ll be an outdoor market alongside the music, with a curated selection of vendors, as well as Glastonfurry merchandise with all proceeds going to the SPCA. But growing into a new collar size doesn’t mean the event is losing sight of what made it special in the first place. “The new venue gives us the opportunity to grow the festival without losing the things that made Glastonfurry special in the first place,” says organiser Brigitte Stanford.
One of those things is Glastonfurry’s deliberately “chaotic-in-the-best-way” approach to a line-up. Since its inception, the event has mixed genres like cats and dogs, bringing together punk, metal, indie, pop-rock and everything in between. For Stanford, that was partly a response to the cliques she saw within the local music scene. “I never understood why we couldn’t share audiences,” she says. “Cape Town has such a dynamic and diverse creative community, why can’t someone love punk, metal, indie and pop-rock all at the same time?” Alongside the animals, that commitment to building an inclusive space remains central to Glastonfurry, which aims to reflect the many different people, cultures, identities and experiences that make up Cape Town’s creative communities.
What some people might not know, though, is that the music is only half the point. One of the more unusual parts of the Glastonfurry project happens before anyone gets on stage, when the artists booked for the event are taken on a guided tour of the Cape of Good Hope SPCA. Stanford, who has worked with the organisation as a campaign photographer for seven years, says there’s something quite extraordinary about experiencing the SPCA first-hand. “A lot of people think of the SPCA simply as a place for adoptions, or assume that because it has been around for so long, it must be government-funded,” she says. “When you actually experience the organisation, you realise just how much bigger it is and how heavily it relies on public support.”
The Good Hope SPCA’s work stretches well beyond animal adoptions, encompassing everything from its hospital and wildlife centre to its Inspectorate Unit, mobile clinic, farmyard and education team. “It allows them to see where the money they’re helping to raise actually goes,” Stanford explains. “It makes the cause tangible.” Glastonfurry wants everyone involved to understand exactly what, and who, their contribution is helping to support.
For anyone who can’t make it to Woodstock Brewery on Heritage Day, there’s still a way to get involved. Tickets can be purchased even if you aren’t attending, with all proceeds going to the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, or you can donate directly to the organisation.
Seven editions in, Glastonfurry has grown in support by almost threefold, but Stanford is still thinking about how to make each one better. “Even in the photographs we release on social media afterwards, I want people to look at them and immediately know: that was Glastonfurry,” she says. “The visual identity of the festival is really important to me, and I want it to feel different from any other event.” And as Glastonfurry grows, that sense of possibility seems to be the point: each edition is another chance to make the festival a little bigger, a little better, but always focused on the thing that matters most: those cats and dogs.
Woof!
Glastonfurry Vol. 7 features bands including BEAST, Toughguy, and Constellatia. Tickets are available now via Quicket.
Photography by Brigitte Stanford.
