Live’s former frontman, Ed Kowalczyk, has something to share...
Traditionally, 20-year anniversaries are celebrated with gifts of china. But for the marriage of musical minds like legendary rock band Live, its former frontman, Ed Kowalczyk, hopes to celebrate with alternative rock music lovers in South Africa.
Titled An Evening with Ed Kowalczyk – Throwing Copper Unplugged 20th Anniversary Tour, which is presented by AMP Events and Polo Jeans Co, the tour will take place in Gauteng and the Western Cape on September 23 and 25, respectively.
The American singer-songwriter plans to take the audience through an acoustic set of some of the songs that have made him and Live iconic. Kowalczyk, who was at the forefront of that multi-platinum-selling alternative rock band that rose to fame in the 1990s, will perform the entire Throwing Copper album including fan favourites such as Lightning Crashes, I Alone and more.
But he is also likely to treat the crowds to his solo hits like Grace from his 2010 debut solo album, Alive, and Seven off his second album, The Flood and The Mercy, which was released in 2013.
This will be his second visit to South Africa and he can’t wait to come back. He said: “I’m so excited to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Throwing Copper in this new unplugged production. Fans can expect to see and hear me like never before!”
Kowalczyk has already debuted his unplugged-style celebration of the album that made him a household name in the US and plans to take the show to other destinations. The performance of the entire Throwing Copper is significant because while it was Live’s second album, it was also a seminal recording of that era.
Kowalczyk has taken an evergreen approach to putting this tour together. He has reportedly gone as far as to say that it doesn’t feel like this album is two decades old. He also didn’t think that Throwing Copper would blow up the way that it did.
The lyricist told the Lansing State Journal: “I don’t know that when you’re doing something as personal for a song-writing process for any album that you can ever predict that kind of thing could happen. It’s amazing how much success it had in the ’90s and how it’s still relevant to the fans now. That blows me away even more. Songs like Lightning Crashes have grown with people.”
In 2009, Kowalczyk broke away from being the face of Live to pursue a solo career. It was not an amicable split. There were lawsuits (and counter lawsuits) involved in what is said to be a publishing dispute between Kowalczyk and the other band members, Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Gracey. But by the time Kowalczyk released his second album, the suits had been settled.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Kowalczyk reportedly said: “After 20-something years, it was time for a rest, and we all agreed to it. We agreed on a two-year hiatus in 2009: we’d wind Live down, the whole machine, and everybody would go do their thing. We played the last show that summer in Long Island, then there was this nightmare of legal stuff that started pretty much immediately. For me, it absolutely was a natural progression (that I would want to pursue solo projects), but there was this unforeseen, incredible fallout that those guys generated against me that was really shocking.”
While he won’t be performing Throwing Copper with his former band-mates on this tour, he won’t be alone. Kowalczyk will be joined by guitarist, Zak Loy, but the stripped down vibe will not be restricted to just a voice and an instrument. Kowalczyk promises that he will use some very tech-savvy devices – with the help of a video director – to give the audience a multimedia experience filled with cool audiovisuals.
• Catch An Evening with Ed Kowalczyk – Throwing Copper Unplugged 20th Anniversary Tour at Carnival City in Gauteng on Sept 23 and the Grand Arena in Cape Town on Sept 23. Tickets are available at Computicket.