Show
Faithless
Venue
Gallagher Estate in Johannesburg
Date
Thursday April 18
©Adrian de Kock / adrian.org.za
A truly phenomenal experience hit Johannesburg on Thursday night as top
British contemporary dance group Faithless performed before a riveted
fifteen thousand people.
The audience's final anticipation was overwhelming as Maxi Jazz's entrance
said it all. So rarely does a band of this incredible calibre reach South
Africa at this stage of their career, that interest in them is bound to be
immense.
Playing from their third album, Outrospective, they managed to produce
sounds that were crisp and lively with songs like Tarantula and Donny X.
The constant change of beat was exhilarating, as in the start of We come
on, merging the best of house, blues, soul, rap and folk. This had most
people raising their hands, some of whom found it the perfect opportunity
to crowd surf.
Other hit songs which they played on the night, such as Maxi's soulful
testament to his childhood hero Muhammad Ali and Zoe Johnston's sublime
Crazy English Summer, has led to great things for Faithless.
Opening acts DJ Spiro and TKZee both kept the crowd absorbed and chanting
Hola 7 (a trademark of kwaito set by Zola and Mandoza). While this was on,
Total Exposure had people entertained with graphics and sms games on big
screen televisions while filling out forms for free t-shirts, caps and
drinks.
Setting the pace with Maxi was Sister Bliss and Rollo Armstrong;
individually each artist is a leader in their respective fields. Together
they are truly indomitable.
Present at the event was Stoan from Bongo Maffin, Bevan Cullinan from the
Toasty Show and Bad Brad of Big Brother, all of who found the show
absolutely fabulous.
Tahnee, Casey, Barbara, Sarah, Andreia and Lynnette, a group of friends who
came through from Pretoria, found the evening to be "totally amazing" but
said it could have been longer as it got them in the dance mix - and then
abruptly ended after just one hour.