Award-winning South African music legend Robin Auld, backed by The Blues Rockers, is set to rock the stage at The Venue@Hemingways in East London in a one-night-only concert on Tuesday the 28th of January 2014.
Auld appears as never seen before, blending his African blues guitar style with slide guitar and harmonica, accompanied by his rocking soulful vocals on a range of much loved blues rock standards, as well as some of his own material. He will be joined onstage by some of the Eastern Cape’s top musicians, collaborating as in a new-look Centrestage band line-up as The Blues Rockers.
Buoyed by the overwhelming response to the show in Port Elizabeth earlier this month, the concert organised by Centrestage and Frontier Events, is expected to attract a capacity crowd to TheVenue@Hemingways.
“It is a huge coup to have Auld to agree to collaborate with us in the way he has done,” says Centrestage’s Gary Hemmings.
“Auld won’t just be performing an isolated set – he will play an integrated role throughout the show, trading guitar licks, wailing on his harmonica – and adding his distinctive vocals fronting songs as diverse as Dire Straits’s Once Upon a Time in the West and Eric Clapton’s Crossroads.”
“He will also do a Hendrix set in which you will see Robin shredding Johnny Be Good, Red House and All Along the Watchtower, as well as showing off his slide guitar skills re-interpreting Ry Cooder, Ray Charles, Robert Johnson and the Rolling Stones.”
An award winning artist with an international CV spanning many years and many albums, Auld has performed and recorded in New York, London, Glasgow, Nashville, California and played events like Womad, the SA National Arts Festival, Belladrum Tartan Hearts, Gold Coast Ocean fest and Cambridge Folk Festival.
Well known to SA audiences from hits such as “All of Woman” and “Baby you been Good to ME”, which will also undoubtedly make the mix. Auld’s music over the years has evolved from the Pop Rock sound of his early recordings to the contemporary mix of blues and roots that makes his sound today.
Auld has recently returned to South Africa after a long stay in the UK and is currently working on his 21st album.
As part of The Blues Rockers, ace guitarist Donovan Hattingh makes his final Eastern Cape showing before returning to Dubai. He will be joined onstage by blues maestro Rob Thompson, Wesley Keet on keyboard, Andrew Warneke on bass and Kevin Mattheus on drums.
Wayne Kallis brings his own searing vocals to the mix with a salute to modern bluesman John Mayer, performing songs such as “Gravity”, “Good love is on the way”, “Stop this train”, “Something like Olivia”, and “Waiting on the World to Change”.
Songbird Lelane Fourie will tear things up as her reputation suggests as she takes on Janice Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” and “Ball and Chain”.
ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughn segments will show off Hattingh and Thompson’s own guitar prowess, whilst rocking classics such as “Little Red Rooster”, “Hoochie Coochie Man”, and “Roadhouse Blues” are also included in the stomping repertoire.
Tickets to the show cost R 120 each and are available from Wendy on +27 82 661 6921 or through Computicket.
