A day before the world witnesses the beginning on the one month FIFA soccer world cup that will be held on African soil for the first time ,a 3 hour concert that could feature performances from Beyonce,Jay Z among other artists will be held in South Africa.
According to a recent press release,the event will take place on June 10 2010 at the newly rebuilt Orlando stadium and will celebrate the “ music, sport and visual pageantry of South Africa”.The soccer world governing body FIFA have employed Kevin Hall,the producer behind the emmy winning Live 8 concerts to stage the event which is predicted to draw in about 5 billion viewers globally.
When asked about challenges that may be faced by staging a concert of such prestige ,Wall was quoted as saying ,
“Going into Africa during the World Cup will present a huge amount of logistics, like figuring out local transport, flights, hotels, all the stuff that a year ago people already reserved.Still, how often do you get to work on an Olympics or a World Cup?”
He further went on to say ,
“We’re really trying to highlight football and the cultures and colour and music of Africa so you will see a lot of great international artists. I think this will be one of the greatest shows ever produced for Africa“.
Other celebrities that may headline the concert include the Black Eyed Peas ,Yolanda Soares , football legends and a host of african musicians that have yet to be named,although there is speculation that senegalese artist Akon may make an apperance as he is performing at the opening game between South Africa and Mexixo .Somalian lyricist K’naan whose song “Waving Flag is the official 2010 Soccer World cup theme song may also be in attendance.
Tickets for the concert will go on sale in January 2010 and all net proceeds will go towards the “20 Centers for 2010″ which aims to build 20 centers around Africa that will offer basic education and healthcare services as well as provide football training for disadvantaged communities.
