bobby skinstad

South African media praises The Lightyears

Our recent tour to South Africa was one of the highlights of our careers so far. The gigs were superb, the crowds were incredibly receptive and, most importantly, the food blew my mind. 😉

Due to the interest surrounding our release of the song “Johannesburg”, as well as our status as INDY Award winners and our previous international touring adventures worldwide, we attracted quite a bit of press attention whilst we were out there. Follow the links below to read more:

“The Lightyears have crafted a moving indie-pop slow song in Johannesburg…” (read more)
THE ARGUS, CAPE TOWN

“Johannesburg, with it’s strummed acoustic guitars and surprisingly uplifting chorus, appears to be hitting the right notes with locals…” (read more)
iAFRICA.COM

“The real stars of day one, though, are English band The Lightyears, who’ve flown in from London to play the tournament, and blow the marquee apart with a roaring display that sees four encores, and has the police sent to check noise levels dancing in the crowd…” (read more)
RUGBY365.COM

“When The Lightyears hit the stage after Saturday’s rugby and played that first song, I thought the roof of the beer tent was going to fly off! It was without doubt the best party I have ever been to in my life…” (read more)
ROBBIE FLECK, FORMER SA INTERNATIONAL, INTERVIEWED AT CAPETOWNTENS.COM 

“The Lightyears are an internationally-renowned pop-rock band…”
PEOPLE’S POST, CAPE TOWN

“The best band in the world!”
BOBBY SKINSTAD, FORMER SPRINGBOK CAPTAIN

Lightyears rock Cape Town

We arrived back in the UK a few days ago after one of our most successful tours yet – South Africa ’09.

All the usual adventures were had, stages were rocked, mountains were climbed (literally) and beaches were stormed. We headlined at the first-ever Cape Town Tens Rugby Tournament on 7 and 8 February in front of a crowd of thousands, and the gigs were definitely amongst the best we’ve ever done. Tournament host Robbie Fleck – a man who has won 31 caps for the South African rugby team – commented: “When The Lightyears hit the stage after Saturday’s rugby and played that first song, I thought the roof of the beer tent was going to fly off! It was without doubt the best party I have ever been to in my life.” 

Click here to read the rest of Robbie’s reactions to the 2009 CT Tens.

Fleck’s co-host Bobby Skinstad, former national rugby captain and all-round sporting legend, described us as “the best band in the world”, which I guess is about as high an accolade as you can get!

We’ll be posting all kinds of media from the tour on the site over the coming weeks – press articles, photos, blogs and so on – so watch this space for updates.

And thanks to everyone who made this tour possible – we had the time of our lives.