Durban — Fans of international rock band Queen have the chance of savouring a live performance of their songs on Saturday, September 3 at The Globe, Suncoast, in Durban.
After two-and-a-half years on the road, the all-South African cast of hit international tribute concert Queen: It’s a Kinda Magic is bringing the show home for two big arena gigs in Durban and Cape Town.
These will be the long-running production’s first South African performances in over three years after public events were halted across the country in March 2020 due to government’s pandemic restrictions, and events were only reintroduced at full capacity last month.
The show’s young stars – Cape Town’s Warren Vernon-Driscoll who performs as Freddie Mercury, Durban local Rusty Red on lead guitar as Brian May, Durbanville’s André van der Merwe as bass guitarist John Deacon, and Hilton-based drummer Michael Dickens as Roger Taylor – were forced to spend the last two-and-a-half years overseas in a desperate bid to keep their music careers alive.
To bypass travel bans in South Africa, the four-piece outfit based themselves in Australia at the Gold Coast head office of their promoter Showtime Australia and experienced a veritable roller-coaster ride of tour postponements, lockdowns, quarantine and international “red tape” – and also, believe it or not, held some actual concerts.
In the past year, the show managed to successfully perform in New Zealand, Australia and Singapore, and undertook a mammoth 36-show tour through Canada, which ended just this month.
“It has been challenging for us not being able to get home… I speak for all of us when I say we are extremely excited to bring what we’ve worked so hard on back home, to show everyone a performance that we are so proud of. Hopefully, we can blow away our home audiences, just like we’ve been doing overseas the past few years,” says Vernon-Driscoll about performing for friends and family in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
The two large-scale arena venues provide the perfect backdrop for producers to create “the ultimate rock concert experience”, says director Johnny Van Grinsven.
“This is exactly how Queen’s music should be heard – live and loud in these huge spaces full of people and buzz and atmosphere. It’s going to be incredible, something the audiences will never forget.”
Queen fans will get to hear all of the band’s biggest hits – including Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, I Want to Break Free, Somebody to Love, Don’t Stop Me Now, Under Pressure and more – performed live on stage and brought to life with theatrical lighting and effects.
Next show: Saturday September 3, 8pm, Durban, The Globe, Suncoast. Tickets available at TicketPro.co.za
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Five lucky Daily News readers stand a chance to win two tickets each to the Queen show. To enter, SMS DNQueen followed by your name and surname to 33258. SMS costs R1.50. Competition closes on Monday, 29 August at 8am.
Daily News