Top South African blues guitarist Dan Patlansky will be the opening act for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band when they perform in Joburg next year.
According to Patlansky’s management, Springsteen does not often allow for support acts as his shows are almost three hours long.
However, Big Concerts’ Attie van Wyk thought Patlansky would be a perfect curtain-raiser for Springsteen, so he took a chance and sent Springsteen’s management copies of Patlansky’s albums. The reply came back that Springsteen was happy to have Patlansky open for him at FNB Stadium on February 1.
Van Wyk said: “They came back to me last week and gave me the heads up that Bruce had approved Dan… we were all surprised as he very seldom has a guest artist.”
“When I heard the news, it was one of those milestone moments,” beamed Patlansky. “It never crossed my mind that I would get this opportunity. It’s a great, great thing.”
Patlansky said he was touring Germany when Big Concerts approached his manager, Franie Kotze, to submit his albums to Springsteen’s management team.
“Big Concerts warned us that he might not accept us as a support act because he does marathon-long sets,” said Patlansky.
Patlansky immediately dismissed the notion until Big Concerts phoned Kotze to confirm Patlansky as Springsteen’s support act.
Patlansky will only be performing on the Joburg leg of Springsteen’s tour. The show is set to be sold out, with over 60 000 tickets already snapped up.
“This will be the biggest audience I have ever played to,” said Patlansky. “I will be playing songs from my acoustic album, Wooden Thoughts, as well as 20 Stones.
“By that time, I will be well into recording my new album, so will be playing tracks from that album too.”
“Normally I play my new songs to a small audience,” he continued. “But now I will be playing to tens of thousands of people.”
Springsteen has already sold out two shows at the Bellville Velodrome on January 28 and 29. There are tickets available for his debut performance on January 26.