IGNITE have toured just about everywhere, but South Africa has somehow stayed on the “one day” list. That changes now. The band’s March run kicks off at Mieliepop Festival in Lothair before moving into club shows.
If you’ve come up on A Place Called Home (2000), you already know the pull: big singalong choruses with a hard edge, and lyrics that don’t dodge what’s happening in the world. “Veteran” is still the obvious entry point, but the band’s catalogue runs deep, including Our Darkest Days (2006), which kept that same mix of urgency and melody intact.
This tour also has a pretty human origin story. IGNITE met Fuzigish at Punk Rock Holiday Festival in Slovenia last summer, and the South African dates basically grew out of a quick chat. Guitarist Nik Hill puts it plainly: “We met the guys from Fuzigish at Punk Rock Holiday Festival in Slovenia this past Summer. The entire concept and idea for this tour came together after a 10 minute conversation. Incredible how things happen in life!”
Hill adds: “We’re as excited to play these shows as we are to see the country, meet the people, eat the food and finally experience South Africa.”
Bassist Brett Rasmussen has been wanting this for a while too. “We always wanted to come to South Africa after seeing NOFX and Lagwagon play shows there almost 20 years ago,” he says. “This is a huge bucket list tour for us.”
And it’s a good pairing. Fuzigish have been holding down South African punk for decades, and this feels like a proper cross-scene link-up.
Dates
6 March – Mieliepop Festival, Lothair
7 March – District, Cape Town
13 March – Daisy Jones, Stellenbosch
14 March – Sognage, Johannesburg
Tickets are available via Howler.
