It was an evening I shared with the Sun (Arena)

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Sun International’s Time Square in Menlyn Maine hosted it first international concert at the Sun Arena on the 10th and 11th of November. There was no better band to bring than +LIVE+.

 
Not only is the Sun Arena the first venue of its kind in Tshwane, but it is also the largest purpose built indoor seated arena in South Africa, with an area of over 6300m2 of combined seating and mixed use performance space on two levels. With capacity to host 8 500 guests at a seated event and 10 000 for a standing concert, the Sun Arena provides an unprecedented platform for staging grand scale events.

 
                                       

 
Concertgoers are promised the ultimate experience at the Sun Arena at Time Square. The venue boasts an international award winning digital audio system for spectacular sound and acoustics, as well as a high definition, audiovisual system complete with large format LED screens. The Sun Arena provides an unmatched capacity to bring artists wildest ambitions for shows and events to life with state of the art technologies and features such as the roof structure, which allows for a total of 615 dedicated rigging or hang points that boast a combined maximum weight loading capacity of 299.1 tonnes.

                          
                                           

+LIVE+ made sure that the sound and acoustics were not wasted as they entertained the crowd for over two hours each night. From the minute the countdown started to the last note of Lightning Crashes, the crowd sang along to every word. What makes +LIVE+ so incredible is that Ed Kowalczyk”s voice compliments the passion of Chad Gracey, Chad Taylor and Patrick Dahleimer. There is a certain magic when you put them on stage together. Add in Zak Loy and Robin Diaz, who are performing with the band on the Reunion tour and you get a deeper and darker sound.I don’t think they will ever be the same force when performing apart.

 
                                            

I was fortunate enough to experience the concert with girls in high school, men over the age of 50 and middle-aged people, and they all left the experience with massive smiles on their faces. There are very few bands that are able to capture the imagination of all age groups as much as a +LIVE+ performance can.

 
The Saturday concert was live streamed around the world and I hope the people watching it through their screens could get the same kind of vibe as we did at the arena. The power of the music and speakers vibrate through your body as the music builds up. You feel every drum beat. There were over 16 cameras placed around the arena and the plan is to release the shows as a Blu-ray DVD early next year.

The set list was incredible and although they didn’t play Dance with You, The Stood up for Love or Overcome, I guess if they had to sing every song the audience wanted to hear, they would be playing for five hours.

 
The venue itself complimented the show perfectly. Several people complained about the drinks queue, which often happens at sold out concerts, but the production itself was incredible.

 
+LIVE+ are already planning a return tour to Australia in 2018 and we hope South Africa will also be on that schedule.