Centrestage - Entertainment Port Elizabeth

Born to be Wild - Guitar Legends! - One Night Only!!!
Fri 11 Jan OLD GREY 19H30 R120 - Book at Computicket - CLICK HERE

The stage is set for the clash of the titans of guitar as Jhb-based guitar giant and arguably SA’s most accomplished session musician, Jethro Butow, joins local lad Donovan Hattingh and the “Not the Centrestage Band” for a one-night only performance of Born to be Wild at Old Grey on Friday 11 January.

Presented by Centrestage in association with Francois Hugo and following on from the enormous success of the recent staging of The Kickass Guitar show, Butow will be flown in from Jhb by special invitation to celebrate the short holiday return stint of one of PE’s greatest musical sons, Donovan Hattingh.

Supporting them as they celebrate the great guitar legends are PE stalwarts Francois Hugo and Deon and Kevin Mattheus, with Lani Botha on guest vocals.

Jethro Butow is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest guitarists in SA – he has played on more SA albums than can be found in the average South African household!

His accolades are too many to mention, but lately he was the official guitarist for the Idols band, he has played for the likes of Pavarotti and the 3 Tenors and performed in bands such as Kariba and Steve Linnegar`s Snakeshed, as well as for Lesley Rae Dowling, Little Sister and John Ireland, to name a few.

Jethro is highly sought after as a live guitarist and as such has appeared on stage with many top South African artists, including having featured on a long running TV series produced for Radio 702 called Solid Gold, where an elite group of musicians and singers appeared on stages all over the country.

Older music fans will remember singers fronting the series such as Eugene Havenga, Dennis East and PJ Powers to name but a few.

Butow’s own band, Morocko, also starred the very top musicians at the time, with the likes of Cedric Samson, Les Goode and JB Arthur in their line-up.

Jethro brings total professionalism to any show, years of honing his craft as a guitarist, thunderous rock riffs and heavenly solo’s. His passion is 60/70’s rock music in a live format and judging by the thousands of young guitarists who still try to emulate him, he remains a role model and mentor to many.

It was Butows links to Port Elizabeth that made this union possible.

Said Francois Hugo ” I met Jethro when I was in the South African navy band and he was a national serviceman in the navy. He was at the tender age of 19 already starting to make waves nationally as an in-demand session and live guitar player.”

“I did various projects with him during that time frame – and more recently, Jethro toured with me for the launch of my Afrikaans blues/rock cd. Deon and Kevin were also involved in some musical projects with Jethro in Gauteng after he moved up to Johannesburg”, Hugo continued.

“Jethro was actually born in Port Elizabeth so he is another exponent of the awesome musical talent that this city has produced and still produces!”, enthused Hugo.

His local counterpart, Donovan Hattingh, has achieved extraordinary things as a rock guitarist in the Eastern Cape in a very short space of time. He is the darling of Port Elizabeth and has been wowing the audiences with his guitar skills for the last few years.

Hattingh actually started his career with Hugo as a rock duo before becoming the musical director for Centrestage and overseeing some of their biggest hit shows such as The Magnificent 7.

Along with long-time fellow performer and girl-friend Lani Botha, they have been performing as a duo in the United Arab Emirates over the last 3 years since leaving Port Elizabeth.

Lani Botha will be on hand to belt out some classic female rock numbers in Friday’s show.

This is the last official Centrestage performance for Donovan Hattingh and Lani Botha before they head back to the UAE the following week.

The awesome songlist promised for Friday evening includes such greats as Steppenwolf’s Born to be wild, Metallica’s Whiskey in the jar and Enter Sandman, Bad Company’s Feel like making love, Heart’s Barracuda, Bob Segar’s Turn the page, Jethro Tull’s Locomotive Breath, Gary Moore’s Still Got the Blues, McCully’s Workshop’s The Buccaneer (on which Butow co-incidently played the original guitar parts!), Def Leppard’s Two Steps Behind, Alanah Miles’s Black Velvet, ZZ Top’s Le Grange, Golden Earing’s Radar love, Jimi Hendrix’s Purple haze and Deep Purples’ Smoke On the Water!!!

One Night Only!!!
Fri 11 Jan OLD GREY 19H30 R120 - Book at Computicket - CLICK HERE