Rock legends join forces on SA tour

Slash

Slash

Published Mar 11, 2013

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It’s all of them except Axl. The Guns N’ Roses line-up of Matt Sorum, Gilby Clarke, Duff “Rose” McKagan and Slash is heading for South Africa in the form of an all-star supergroup called Kings of Chaos.

The other half of the group comprises Def Leppard’s Joe Elliot and Vivian Campbell, Skid Row’s lead singer Sebastian Bach and Collective Soul’s Ed Roland. Completing the line-up is Glenn Hughes from Black Country Communion and Deep Purple.

Kings of Chaos will play GrandWest’s Grand Arena in Cape Town on June 8 and the Sun City Superbowl, North West, on June 15 and 16 courtesy of AMP Events and Sun International.

The brainchild behind the band is Sorum, the power drummer of bands like Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver and The Cult. He asked a few of his close friends to form a band and tour the world playing each other’s big hits. So far Kings of Chaos have played Central and Latin America and have done small tours across Asia.

The band members are interchangeable, depending on their schedules, with Joe Perry from Aerosmith sometimes making an appearance. This is the first time legendary guitarist Slash will be joining the project.

The idea to perform in South Africa took root when Roland came here perform in Heineken Symphonic Rock, which features South African artists such as Ard Matthew and Francois van Coke performing their hits with a full orchestra. Last year was the first time an international artist participated in the concerts.

The symphonic concerts are put on by Andy Mac, director of AMP Events.

“Ed had such a great time here and really enjoyed working with me and my team,” said Mac.

“When he told me about this all-star supergroup project, I knew I had to bring them to South Africa. When I entered discussions I wanted Slash, but everyone said it would be difficult because of his schedule,” continued Mac.

“Also, he had never played on this project before. I persevered and eventually he said yes. Because of how busy the four members of Guns N’ Roses are, and the dynamics of the band, the likelihood of them normally not playing together is huge.

“I would have given my right arm to just have Slash in the country and now we have Deep Purple, Guns N’ Roses, Collective Soul and Skid Row all in one band!

“Slash alone as a drawcard would probably fill up a stadium.

“But what’s great about these Sun International venues is that its up close and personal,” said Mac.

“You can be about 50m away from the band and the sound will be great.

“This is an amazing two-hour show,” he continued. “Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach has been a long-time friend of the band and he will be singing the Guns N’ Roses tracks. He has the perfect voice for the songs and kills it. He is a cool hairband rock ’n’ roll wild child.

“Besides them playing songs like Paradise City and Welcome to the Jungle, they will also do big anthemic hits such as Def Leppard’s Animal as well as hits from Collective Soul. They have some fun when they throw in the odd Billy Idol cover. This is going to be incredible,” said Mac.

 

• Tickets for Cape Town are priced from R375 and for Sun City from R460 and are available at Computicket.

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