Peak People: An inside look: Bono, Mandela & the 46664 concert

Friday, July 14, 2006

Bono, Mandela & the 46664 concert

Nelson Mandela turns 88 on 18 July, and thinking about him reminded me of all the awesome moments I can remember when I have been near him, and felt his presence. He’s such an unbelievable personality, and I feel privileged that I have been around him during his life time – that I don’t have to just read about him as a historical figure…

One of Peak’s proudest moments was when we were involved in the first 46664 Concert in November 2003. We had Amampondo, Women Unite and Red Zebra drummers on stage with Crazy Town and Paul Oakenfold and then finally with Queen, while Frank Paco was part of the backing band to most of the artists who performed that night, and Stanislav Angulov played the accordion with Sir Bob Geldoff.

So we were pretty involved in the two weeks prior to the concert.

The rehearsal the night before the concert was a cold, windy night; Yusef Islam (Cat Stevens) was standing near me with his family; Joseph Shabalala from Ladysmith Black Mambazo was strolling around with a massive grin; and I was standing there soaking it all in.

When Bono had finished American Dream (changed to African Dream for the concert), he sang Long Walk to Freedom, in honour of the book by Nelson Mandela, and of course the man himself.

At the end of the song, he strolled up to the lectern and pretended to be Madiba, to fill in where the man would start speaking – his question as to “… what is such a handsome man, doing with such an ugly rockstar?” drew applause from all of us watching, artists, riggers, sound techies, and the rest of the staff.

I was just happy to have caught it all on camera. Hell! Lenny and I were just happy to be there!

When I was filming, I was standing next to a guy who had stuck up conversation with me. He had a camera and was clicking away too, when a security guard came and told us he wasn’t allowed to film – I obviously didn’t want to get involved in this story as he hadn’t said anything to me, but I learned later that my ‘buddy’ had actually been taking pics for Bono.

That concert was put together by the artists for Madiba. People will go to great lengths for the man, and having been a part of it makes me proud.