When I heard (through a friend of mine) that Chevelle were
on their way to SA, I thought this it, no gimmicks, no props, just a trio of audio assailants planning a mind blowing, melodic attack. To me this
announcement was like what “Belieber’s” felt when they heard Bieber was coming
to SA. Seriously!
Johannesburg’s Carnival city played host to Chevelle’s final,
sold-out performance in SA. The opening
act was ShadowClub. Arguably not the most appropriate support act for Chevelle.,
but a great band nonetheless. And they served as an appetizer to the crowd,
while they all eagerly anticipated the main course of the night- Chevelle.
Soon enough, the lights dimmed, the bands logo appeared and
the crowd roared as techies were making their way to the stage. Every vein in
my body began to pulsate. This was actually about to happen. I was about to see
one of my favourite international bands live. A band that I started listening
to over 10 years ago! At that point I started wondering what Chevelle fans are
called. I mean Bieber has his “Beliebers”, Gaga her “Monsters” and Miss Minaj
her “Barbs”. Surely Chevelle fans need
one too!
My train of thought was soon punctuated by a sudden
echo..”Howzit hanging Joburg!” The sound of those 3 words drove the crowd ballistic
as the band’s onslaught began with Sleep Apnea! Throughout the concert, the
band had quite a few film- themed audio interludes. These were random quotes
from what I assume are the bands favourite films. I’m so sure one of the quotes
was, “Have you ever seen a grown man naked?” Hilarious! Nevertheless, the
quotes were great and reflected the bands sense of humour.
These were some of the Johannesburg highlights:
-
Stage banter between Pete (the vocalist) and
Dean (the bassist)- Pete confessed that
he ate a lot of fettuccini and might bring it up. Just some memorabilia for
those in golden circle.
-
The Brazier- Somehow, at some point, some rather
unflattering lingerie made it onto the stage which Sammy (the drummer) had a
good look at.
-
The baby banner- A woman in general admission
created a banner saying she wants to have the band members babies. Pete read it
out loud and said it would cost her. 10 quid to be exact. But then changed his
mind and said he would do it for free.
-
Pete played unplugged- unintentionally! Yes this
happened during their performance of The Red. I’ve posted it below. Have a look. It’s definitely a memorable moment.
-
The sick set list- Unlike most bands who
deliberately left out some major hits when they toured SA (Think Linkin’s
omission of Crawling, RHCP and Scar Tissue as well as Metallica and The
Unforgiven) Chevelle sang all of theirs. From Vitamin R to Send The Pain below. My
personal favourites being Forfeit, Still Running and Pinata.
- Oh yes, and not forgetting the specially "Made for South Africa" T's!
Overall, their performance was impeccable. Pete’s vocal
talent-undeniable. And the concert- unforgettable. All I can say is “Hats off
to Chevelle!”
The below video is their performance of The Red live in Jozi.
You probably can hear my inner fan girl emerge through some parts of the song. There’s some shaky cam here and there, but overall the highlight was definitely Pete's reaction to getting unplugged!
