Tyler ‘pumped’ to rock SA on KOC tour

Published Aug 20, 2014

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ROCK ‘n’ roll star Steve Tyler will be performing in South Africa as part of the second annual Kings of Chaos (KOC) tour.

This was announced today by tour promoters AMP Events.

The first KOC took place this time almost a year ago at Sun City and Cape Town’s Grand West Casino. It featured Guns n Roses musicians Slash, Duff Rose, Gilby Clark and Matt Sorum as well as members from various other all-time-great rock bands like Def Leppard and Deep Purple.

All shows were sold out.

The idea comes from GNR drummer Matt Sorum and it sees world-famous musicians from various rock bands getting together to perform each others’ hits while touring the world.

This year the all star line-up comprises Sorum, Clarke and Duff Rose. They will be joined by Aerosmith’s Tyler, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, vocalist Robin Zander from Cheap Trick and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt from Extreme.

Said Andy Mac of AMP Events: “Last year turned out to be the massive success I hoped it would be. The artists were over the moon with the tour and we got glowing reports from every band member. They loved playing for the South African audiences.

Indeed, Slash is quoted as saying: “The shows were truly great. What unbelievably fantastic audiences and the venues them- selves were brilliant.”

Sorum also enjoyed his time so much that it was agreed the KOC tour would return to South Africa this year.

“Sorum and I decided that the one big target would be an Aerosmith angle and have Steve Tyler as the lead singer. We were talking about doing it around this time but then Aerosmith wanted to do a (European) summer tour and take Slash and Myles Kennedy on tour with them.”

The tour dates are now November 29 at Sun City Superbowl and December 3 at Grand West Arena.

Continued Mac: “Steve is super excited and pumped to play in South Africa. He is very much the driving force behind KOC at the moment. He is also making a couple of calls and we are expecting a couple more rock stars to come on board.”

Mac said he did his research before deciding on Tyler: “There are certain rock bands at every braai where people ask me when are they coming and Aerosmith is one of them. Plus he has crossed over in terms of his iconic status. He is now a superstar on American Idol and is one of the most recognisable faces in the world.

“He is in very good shape and Aerosmith are the business in the States right now. No has-beens are entertained on this line-up. These are guys who are on the top of their game. The energy is there. The passion is there.”

Referring to the other members of the latest KOC line-up heading for South Africa, Mac said: “Gibbons was referenced by Jimi Hendrix back then as his favourite guitarist and expected him to take over after him. Gibbons will be doing the ZZ Top hits and playing guitar and singing.

“Robin Zander of Cheap Trick is highly respected among his peers. Cheap Trick has been cited by everybody from Kurt Cobain to Joey Ramone as one of their favourite bands. He and Steve are very good friends so they will be singing together.

“Nuno Bettencourt from Extreme wrote that famous acoustic ballad More Than Words. Tyler is excited to play that song in the strip down part of the show with Bettencourt. Effectively this year we have music from Guns n Roses, ZZ Top, Cheap Trick and Extreme with a very strong Aerosmith angle.”

Mac says that AMP Entertainment has decided to make the events more intimate compared with last year.

“We noticed that the seated area flew in ticket sales last year. We have put in extra premium seating blocks and have less standing, so the capacities are not huge this year. Grand Arena will be about 5 500 and Sun City will be reduced to 7 000. Fans can expect an intimate arena with perfect sound. We are giving the audience almost a one-on-one experience to see these guys as opposed to the usual stadium experience.”

 

• The event is presented by 94.7 Highveld and 94.5KFM in association with Sun International. Tickets are available at Computicket.

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