
Last Sunday (26th January) Springsteen kicked off the first of three nights in Cape Town, South Africa at the Bellville Velodrome, a small arena compared to the huge stadiums he and his band are used to playing. Springsteen even joked "I travelled 8,000 fuckin' miles to play at the Ashbury Park Convention Hall", a reference to a spot in Ashbury Park, New Jersey where he used to rehearse. To make the occasion of playing South Africa even more memorable, after greeting the audience of 10,000 with "Good evening, South Africa! So glad to be in your beautiful city!" The Boss opened the show with a powerfully rousing version of The Special AKA's 1984 anti apartheid anthem 'Free Nelson Mandela', which rallied the world wide cry for the release of Mandela. The electric atmosphere of their rendition and its reception from the crowd comes across in a dynamic way as shown in this clip from the show.
The original 'Free Nelson Mandela' by The Special AKA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgcTvoWjZJU