Big Concerts is delighted to announce that the iconic, two-time Grammy Award-winning and platinum hit makers, Kool & the Gang will tour South Africa in November 2024.
Catch them live at the Grand Arena, GrandWest on the 28th November 2024 and at the SunBet Arena, Time Square on the 30th of November 2024 with Special guests Earth, Wind & Fire Experience by Al McKay. In association with 702, KFM 94.5 and CapeTalk. Supported by 947.
More info about Kool & The Gang
Kool & the Gang, officially launched in 1969. Thanks to iconic songs like “Celebration”, “Cherish”, “Jungle Boogie”, “Summer Madness”, and “Open Sesame”, they’ve earned two Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, 25 Top Ten R&B hits, 9 Top Ten Pop hits, and 31 gold and platinum albums.
From Nairobi to Newark, Kool & the Gang has performed continuously longer than any R&B group in history and their bulletproof funk and jazzy arrangements have also made them the most sampled R&B band of all time.
A reviewer recently called their performance “a 24-karat show’ and every year, even after a half-century on the road, yields a non-stop schedule of shows across the globe. The heavily-in-demand band has continued to tour the world, appearing most recently alongside Kid Rock, Dave Matthews Band, Elton John, The Roots, and a 50-city tour with the legendary rock band, Van Halen.
In 1964, Ronald Bell and his brother, Robert “Kool” Bell, joined Jersey City neighbourhood friends Robert “Spike” Mickens, Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, Ricky Westfield, George Brown, and Charles Smith to create a unique musical blend of jazz, soul and funk. At first calling themselves the Jazziacs, the band went through various names – The Dimensions, The Soul Town Band, Kool & the Flames – before settling on their famous moniker.
Over the next several years they solidified their musical chemistry on the rough-and-tumble East Coast music scenes supporting acts like Bill Cosby, Ritchie Havens and Richard Pryor.
The band’s stellar reputation grew with each album, but 1973’s gold disc Wild & Peaceful took Kool & The Gang to another level (#6 R&B, #33 Pop), spurred by the immortal party anthems “Funky Stuff”, “Hollywood Swinging” and the platinum smash “Jungle Boogie”.
Hits like Higher Plane (#1 R&B), the classic “Summer Madness” (featured on the Grammy-winning movie soundtrack Rocky) and LPs Spirit of the Boogie, Love & Understanding and Open Sesame followed.
The latter’s title track was featured on the top-selling movie soundtrack of all time, Saturday Night Fever, earning the group their second Grammy. In 1979, Kool & the Gang unveiled a smooth new sound with “Ladies Night”. Produced by the legendary Pop/jazz musician Eumir Deodato, it became their first platinum album.
The #1 R&B title track reached #8 at Pop. It was followed by Too Hot (#3 R&B, #5 Pop). The 80s would see them dominate the mainstream, starting with the double platinum-selling album Celebrate (driven by the international monster hit “Celebration”, which spent six weeks an top the R&B chart and became a #1 Pop single).
“Celebration”, which played as the American hostages returned from Iran, remains de rigueur at joyous occasions worldwide. The smashes “Get Down On It”, “Take My Heart”, “Let’s Go Dancing”, “Joanna”, “Tonight”, “Misled”, the #1 R&B, #2Pop giant “Cherish” and the #1 R&B anthem “Fresh” (these last three from the multi-platinum LP Emergency) solidified the group’s international stardom.
Today, the group enjoys global fame and recognition and a following that spans generations due in part to the groups widely sampled catalogue. Kool & the Gang’s drum beats, bass, guitar and signature horn lines lace the tracks of numerous artists including the Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Cypress Hill, and P. Diddy.
Kool & the Gang is the most sampled band in hip-hop by far. Their music is also featured on the soundtracks for rocky, Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction, Wreck-It Ralph and countless others.
On the 10th of February 2024, Kool & the Gang received a nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, to find out more about this exciting achievement, click here. Voting ends on the 26th of April – VOTE HERE NOW.
More Info about the Earth, Wind & Fire Experience by Al McKay
Special Guests Earth, Wind & Fire Experience is conceived and rehearsed by Grammy Award-winning and multi-platinum recording artist Al McKay, and consist of an All Star line up, including the legendary vocalists Tim Owens, DeVere Duckett, Claude Woods as well as former EWF member Gregory Moore.
The former Earth, Wind & Fire guitarist was a member of the band from 1973 to 1981, and teamed up with group founder Maurice White to pen the band’s seminal hits “September” and “Sing A Song” and honed his chops playing with Ike & Tina Turner and Sammy Davis Jr.
Get ready for a night of all your favourite hits! “September”, “Let’s Groove”, “Boogie Wonderland”, “Fantasy”, “You Want My Love” and many more.
Kool & The Gang November 2024 SA Tour Ticketing Info
The Discovery Bank pre-sale begins at 09h00 on Wednesday, 6 March 2024 via Ticketmaster and will run until 08h59 on Friday, 8 March 2024. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 09h00 on Friday 8 March 2024 exclusively via Ticketmaster.
Important Note: Fans are strongly advised against purchasing tickets from Viagogo. These tickets are unlawfully resold by deceitful sellers for multiple times the face value and are not legitimate tickets. Should you purchase these tickets you will be denied entry into the venue, and you will not be entitled to a refund.
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