The last night in Cape Town was a strange mix: on one hand, it was a throwback to the Wrecking Ball Tour, opening with “We Take Care of Our Own” and featuring standards from that tour like “Jack of All Trades,” “Shackled and Drawn” “Death to My Hometown,” and “Rocky Ground.” It’s almost as if Bruce felt bad that he skipped South Africa on that tour and wanted to give the locals a taste of what they missed.
But it was also a night of premieres (including the first ever performance of “This is Your Sword,” which Steve was clearly not prepared for), sign requests (including a memorable one for “Tougher than the Rest“), surprises (Tom Morello’s brother proposed on-stage to his fiancee), and guest-stars (Mos Def joined the band during the encores for a unpredictable-yet-inevitable cover of “Sun City.”
All three Cape Town shows were unusual in that they were a throwback to the old “first-come, first-in” pit system, instead of the lottery system that had been in place for a decade by this point. Since I’d never been to Cape Town before (and didn’t know if I’d ever make it back), I decided to spend my days seeing the city instead of waiting in the pit line–so for the first two shows, I wasn’t anywhere close to the stage.
But for this last show, I was determined to be up front, so I spent the day making friends in line and got a prime spot leaning on the stage–and had a great vantage point for moments like this:
While the High Hopes Tour would go on to soar to much greater heights than these opening shows, I’ll always remember these three among my favorites–from days spent hiking and exploring with fellow fans to standout performances and surprises each night, for me, this was a very special run of shows.
