When you're 200 metres from the arena, there's nearly two hours to kick-off and the hairs on your arms rise, you sense that you've found the key to why World Cup 2010 in South Africa can be a triumph.
The scene is Absa Stadium in Durban, the occasion the first Soweto derby of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) season between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs and the feeling is one of awe and delight as the waves of noise build with each approaching step. But it's not just regular matchday crowd noise that you may know from other great derby games around the world - and make no mistake, that's a category the Soweto rivalry belongs to. No, this sound has a unique quality of musicality and vibrancy.
Vendors in the vicinity of the ground are doing a roaring trade in vuvuzelas, long plastic air horns, which let out a klaxon-like blast. 'It's easy, just do this with your lips,' says one seller, demonstrating the 'raspberry' mouth shape. And for just 30 rand (HK$33) you join the thousands of other fans adding their bit to the decibel meter.
Inside the stadium it's a wall of sound. At pitch-side you get the full blast from free-styling vuvuzela blowers in the packed east stand. But the real noise, yes the horns are just a gnat buzz in comparison, comes from the sound system of the disc jockeys on the sideline, the wicked mixing desk near the halfway line pumping out tunes in the kwaito style, South Africa's own take on hip-hop and techno-pop with a very, very heavy bass line.
It's a throbbing, rhythmically irresistible concerto booming out from half a dozen man-sized speakers pointed up into the crowd. Fans are swaying, dancing, singing and generally participating in an open-air rave party. If you thought that aroma in the air was more than just the whiff of barbecued chicken, say something more like a certain becalming weed, you'd probably not be wrong.
The joint is rocking.
