Rihanna to top Gaga gig
ANDILE NDLOVU | 30 September, 2013 00:07
Rihanna celebrates in Barbados. File photo
Pop star Rihanna might have come under fire from the Australian press because of her "tardiness" on tour but she'll have reason to smile when she arrives in South Africa and performs at the FNB Stadium next month.
The Barbadian bombshell is set to knock Lady Gaga off yet another perch - playing the biggest show by a female solo artist at the venue.
The managing director of Big Concerts, Justin van Wyk, told The Times that " Lady Gaga's stage configuration was a lot bigger" so there will be more space available for ticket-buyers.
About 65000 fans are expected to attend and several of the top-end viewing suites have been snapped up.
In June the Diamonds singer became the youngest act to headline at Paris's Stade de France, performing to a capacity crowd of 80000.
Van Wyk poured cold water on speculation that he was in Australia to thrash out a deal with the management of boy band One Direction.
It had been rumoured that he was trying to convince the English-Irish popsters to make a stop in South Africa - local fans were overjoyed at the promise of seeing the Live While We're Young singers in the flesh.
"We're not specifically looking at South Africa for a tour [for One Direction]," Van Wyk said.
"We're launching 1D World, which is a merchandise pop-up store. That's mainly why we're [in Australia] - to look at merchandise, the kids, how they control crowds. It's just a fact-finding mission," he said.
The pop-up store is likely to be launched at the V&A Waterfront, in Cape Town.
After her stop-over in South Africa Rihanna will travel to New Zealand.
She will perform in Johannesburg on October 13 and in Cape Town on October 16.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/...o-top-gaga-gig
