More Than a Sunset: How Corona Sunsets Brings Music, Nature and Community Together in Cape Town

There’s something about a Cape Town sunset that makes people want to stop what they’re doing and take it all in. Add a good soundtrack, a dancefloor overlooking the Atlantic and a crowd there for the same reason, and you’ve got the foundations of something special.

That’s the thinking behind Corona Sunsets Festival. Rather than building the entire experience around a headline artist or a particular genre, the concept places the setting, the music and the feeling of being together at the centre of the event.

The Cape Town edition at The Glen Country Club brings that idea into one of the city’s most recognisable coastal settings. With Anything Goes involved in the creative direction and production, the festival combines electronic music, visual art, food and lifestyle experiences with a growing focus on more responsible event practices.

It’s a different approach to the traditional festival format, and one that raises an interesting question: what happens when the setting becomes just as important as the music?

The Idea Behind Corona Sunsets

Corona Sunsets Festival isn’t a new arrival on the international festival circuit. The event made its South African debut in 2015, bringing together music, nature and outdoor experiences around the idea of celebrating the sunset. In 2023, the concept expanded into the Corona Sunsets World Tour, taking the experience to destinations across multiple countries.

The idea is relatively simple: make the natural surroundings part of the experience rather than treating them as a backdrop. The music, setting, food and creative elements all contribute to an atmosphere that encourages people to slow down and enjoy where they are.

For Cape Town, that’s a particularly good fit. Between the Atlantic coastline, mountain scenery and long summer evenings, the city already has plenty of what the concept is built around.

Anything Goes: Bringing the Vision to Life

A concept is one thing. Turning it into a fully functioning festival is another.

Behind the Cape Town experience is Anything Goes, the South African entertainment agency responsible for producing the event alongside Corona. The agency works across festivals, artist partnerships, branded entertainment and large-scale event production.

A particularly interesting part of that relationship is the involvement of Shaun Duwe, better known to many in the music scene as Shaun Duvet. With more than 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Duwe has worked across artist programming, event production and some of South Africa’s major festival properties. He is also the founder and CEO of Anything Goes.

For a festival like Corona Sunsets, that experience matters. Building an event around a particular atmosphere requires more than securing a lineup. The production, sound, staging, technical infrastructure and overall flow of the site all need to work together.

That’s where the behind-the-scenes work becomes just as important as what attendees see on the day.

More Than Music: Art, Food and the Festival Experience

One of the things that makes Corona Sunsets interesting is its approach to programming beyond the dancefloor.

The Cape Town experience described here included Daniel Popper’s sculptural installations, restorative yoga at the More Than Music pavilion and farm-to-fire dining. These elements gave attendees different ways to engage with the event, whether they wanted to spend the afternoon dancing, exploring the grounds or taking a break from the music.

The setting at The Glen Country Club also plays an important role. Positioned along Cape Town’s Atlantic coastline, it provides a natural environment where the transition from afternoon into evening becomes part of the occasion.

Of course, the music remains central. The festival has featured established local and international performers over its various editions, with artists such as Purple Disco Machine and Zakes Bantwini among the names highlighted in the original F101 coverage.

The interesting part is how these elements work together. Rather than making every moment about the next performance, the experience gives people room to enjoy the wider environment.

Can Music Festivals Be More Sustainable?

Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important conversation within the global events industry. Festivals bring together thousands of people, temporary infrastructure, food vendors, transport and significant production requirements. All of that has an environmental footprint.

Corona Sunsets has made sustainability part of its wider festival identity through its partnership with Oceanic Global, a non-profit organisation that works on ocean conservation and environmental initiatives.

The partnership uses the Blue Standard, a sustainability verification framework that assesses areas including materials, waste management, energy and environmental education.

The Corona Sunsets World Tour achieved Blue Verification across its 2023–2024 festival series. Importantly, the Cape Town edition received a Blue 3-Star Plastic-Free Seal, recognising its efforts to eliminate single-use plastic from the event experience.

Some of the initiatives implemented across the tour included:

• Plastic-free food and beverage packaging.

• Waste sorting and composting facilities.

• Reusable and alternative drinkware.

• Locally sourced food experiences.

• Repurposed event structures and design elements.

• Carbon offsets and renewable energy initiatives.

  Oceanic Global

It’s worth understanding what this means. A Blue Verification is recognition against a defined sustainability framework, not a blanket guarantee that an event has no environmental impact. It’s nevertheless an important step towards making responsible event production a practical part of the industry.

For festival-goers, it also provides a useful reminder that sustainability isn’t only about what happens behind the scenes. The choices organisers make around suppliers, waste and infrastructure all contribute to the experience.

Why Cape Town and Sunset Festivals Make Such a Good Match

Cape Town has a natural relationship with outdoor music events. Its coastline, mountain views and long summer afternoons create opportunities for experiences that make the most of the surrounding environment.

Sunset festivals tap into something that doesn’t require much explanation. There’s a natural shift in energy as the afternoon progresses, the temperature changes and the light begins to disappear. A well-planned soundtrack can make that transition feel like an event in itself.

It’s also a format that brings together different audiences. You don’t necessarily need to be a dedicated house or techno fan to enjoy an afternoon of music by the ocean. The combination of a good setting, accessible music and social experiences can appeal to people who might not usually attend a traditional electronic music festival.

That’s part of what makes events like Corona Sunsets interesting within Cape Town’s wider festival calendar.

What Makes a Great Festival Experience?

There’s no single formula for a successful festival. For some people, it’s all about the lineup. Others are there for the sound system, production, community or the opportunity to discover new music.

But events like Corona Sunsets demonstrate that the surrounding experience can be just as important.

A thoughtfully chosen venue, interesting creative elements, good food and attention to the environmental impact of production all contribute to how people remember an event. When those details work alongside a strong musical programme, the result is something that extends beyond simply watching DJs perform.

And perhaps that’s the biggest takeaway from the Corona Sunsets concept: sometimes the best festival experiences aren’t about trying to fit as much as possible into a day. They’re about getting the right elements together and allowing people to enjoy the moment.

Final Thoughts

Cape Town isn’t short of events that promise a good time, but there’s something particularly fitting about a festival built around the relationship between music, nature and the setting sun.

Corona Sunsets brings those elements together through its global concept, while the local production team helps give each South African edition its own character.

From the involvement of Anything Goes to the festival’s sustainability initiatives, there’s more happening behind the scenes than simply putting a DJ on a stage.

If you missed the Cape Town edition, keep an eye on Corona and Anything Goes for future announcements. And if there’s one thing living in the Mother City teaches you, it’s that there’s always another sunset worth making plans around.

Key Takeaways

• Corona Sunsets Festival combines electronic music, nature and lifestyle experiences around the idea of celebrating the sunset.

• The festival made its South African debut in 2015 and expanded into a global World Tour in 2023.

• Anything Goes, led by Shaun Duwe (Shaun Duvet), plays an important role in bringing the South African festival experience to life.

• The Cape Town edition incorporates elements beyond music, including art, food and wellness experiences.

• Corona Sunsets partnered with Oceanic Global to implement the Blue Standard sustainability framework.

• The Cape Town World Tour edition achieved a Blue 3-Star Plastic-Free Seal.

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