Festive Lights 2025: City ready to host 80 000+ crowd for free open-air concert

23 November 2025

The City of Cape Town’s flagship event, the Festive Lights Switch-On, is taking place a week from today on Sunday, 30 November 2025 on the Grand Parade. The City would like to advise concertgoers, residents and motorists on logistics for the event.

The City is preparing to host upwards of 80 000 people for the free open-air concert to officially usher in the festive season.

Multi-award-winning music producer DJ Zinhle will headline a concert line-up that also includes GoodLuck, Kurt Darren, Tarryn Lamb, Karabo Mogane, Early B & Justin Vega, DJ Masoodah and Heavenly Quartez.

Emo Adams, Loukmaan Adams, Alistair Izobell, Jody Abrahams and Fancy Galada, along with the Street Stylers dancers, will come together for tribute performance that celebrates Cape Town’s rich cultural legacy and its people’s enduring spirit of hope.

The six-hour event will also include the official switch-on of the lights on Darling and Adderley Streets, as well as a video mapping projection on City Hall. 

‘The Festive Lights Switch-On is an event that scores of people across the city look forward to every year. Months of planning go into making sure everyone can enjoy the show in a safe, welcoming, and well-organised environment. Our teams, in collaboration with service providers, work tirelessly across every detail from production and logistics to safety, security and transport management to ensure we deliver an excellent show for the around 80 000 residents and visitors who will join us for the evening.

‘The City’s safety and security personnel will be keeping a close eye on the event from the ground, with some help from an eye in the sky. As always, we’re ready to respond swiftly to ensure the event runs smoothly from start to finish,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

Important safety guidelines 

The open-air concert, hosted by Joe Barber, Bubblegum & Boere Jules, and Carl Wastie as MCs, will kick off at 16:00 and will run until 22:00. 

The festival footprint will be open from 13:00 with access through 13 chutes on Adderley, Castle, Lower Plein, Shortmarket, Longmarket, Hout and Church streets. 

Patrons will be searched while going through the chutes and they are reminded that alcohol, illegal substances, fireworks, and weapons are not allowed at the event. They will be confiscated, and patrons in possession of the items will be turned away.

Umbrellas, gazebos, gas spray cans or any other corrosive materials are also prohibited. 

Parents and guardians attending with minors are encouraged to make use of the KID SMART Project, which will be onsite on the Grand Parade with its monitoring system to help reunite any lost children with their parents. 

Children will be kitted out with a temporary ‘SMART’ bracelet on arrival at the event, with contact details of their parents. This is not compulsory, but the City encourages parents and guardians to make use of this free service.
 
Water points will be available inside the event footprint, including four on the Grand Parade, one on Upper Adderley Street and one on Lower Adderley Street.

Transport Management 

Motorists and residents are advised that roads in the vicinity of City Hall will be impacted during build up, event day and post the event. 

Darling Street will be impacted from Tuesday, 25 November until Tuesday 02 December as crews prepare to construct the stage in front of City Hall. 

Darling, Adderley, Longmarket Streets and several others in the immediate area will be closed to traffic from 05:00 on Sunday, 30 November until 05:00 on Monday 1 December. 

The full list of road closures is available  here: https://bit.ly/3XN4sp2
 
Due to the road closures on 30 November, service on several MyCiTi routes will be impacted, including Route 106, which will deviate via Strand Street. The bus will therefore miss the Groote Kerk stop in both directions.

A comprehensive list of service deviations will be available on the MyCiTi website.

For more information on this and other events in Cape Town, visit: www.eventsincapetown.com

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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office