The Black Eyed Peas are holding a benefit concert at Ellis Park Stadium on 28 May

RELATED LINKS: A week in Joburg GET to Constitution Hill for the launch of the Memory Project, or get into a whole lot of other stuff: Angolan slides, hiking the Tswaing Crater, gumboot dancing, a book sale, cycling the spruit, shopping at the Design Quarter, visiting the military museum, or some theatre. Follow Lucille Davie's weekly selection of the most interesting city activities. Read more What's on YOUR first-stop guide to city events, our interactive calendar ranges wide, from concerts to lectures to DIY shows. Read more Hot US outfit for The Dome THE US's hottest hip-hop group, Black Eyed Peas, will be bringing the love to Joburg in November. Read more Local musos to celebrate Freedom Day HOT local acts like Zola and Freshlyground are to join international megastars Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams at the People's Concert on Freedom Day. Read more

Black Eyed Peas plan free Jozi concert Charities and previously disadvantaged folk will benefit from the Black Eyed Peas' Joburg concert - through tickets given away and cash raised from sales. The band itself won't get a penny. May 5, 2006 By Tammy O'Reilly FROM naming the band after a legume and having members called will.i.am, to writing songs with lyrics like, "Shut it up just shut up", it's clear that hot hip-hop outfit Black Eyed Peas revel in doing things differently. And the band's performance in Johannesburg will keep up the tradition - the members are demanding that every cent collected from the distribution of tickets goes to charity, and that tickets be given out in a manner where those who would ordinarily not be able to afford one are given first preference. The performance is a benefit concert at Ellis Park Stadium on Sunday, 28 May, with local charitable organisations to benefit from the proceeds. The concert is the first major philanthropic endeavour for The Peapod Foundation, founded by the Black Eyed Peas and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. Alliances have been made with local newspapers and distributors to ensure that most of the tickets are given away around taxi ranks and in historically disadvantaged areas. Die-hard fans, however, were not left out in the cold after 20 000 tickets were made available through an SMS campaign on 26 April. All of them were snapped up within a few hours. To get a ticket, an individual had to send an SMS to the organisers, at a cost of R10. The funds from this scheme alone will go to the Adopt-A-School Programme of the Shanduka Foundation. "We are delighted to have made it possible … for the Black Eyed Peas to perform a benefit concert in South Africa," said Michael Farr, the communications manager of concert sponsors South African Breweries. "The free-of-charge benefit concert is designed to enable as many people as possible to see the Black Eyed Peas perform here live, particularly those who would ordinarily not have been able to afford a ticket." The two-time Grammy-winning group last performed in South Africa in 2004 to sold out venues. And, although tickets were not available commercially this time around, the Black Eyed Peas and the local artists who are expected to perform alongside them, have promised to give the same energetic performances for which they are famous. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za