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The editor of Stage Magazine phones me and asks: "Can you possibly photograph the Live concert in Cape Town… and write a word or two about it?"

"Ummmm…let me check my schedule," I say. "Yip - I'm free" is the almost instant reply.

To reflect: Amazing is a word that comes to mind. So, too, is brilliant. And mind blowing. And utter musical magic. And amazing...or have I already mentioned that?

What tells me that this band has the stuff that rock gods and, more importantly, rock history is made of is that the show was nothing spectacular. No brilliant lighting. Pretty simple stuff actually. No awesome stage design. (No U2 lemons - if you know what I'm saying.) Yet they have a stage presence that keeps you captivated (and crying...as some of the screaming teenagers in the front will testify) and wow the crowd with what is, plain and simply, good solid music.

I left astounded - considering my previous Live musical knowledge was confined almost solely of what I have heard on 5FM and an old car tape left in my car by my younger brother. I didn't have to pay to get in - but if I had I would nave left nodding my head, satisfied that my empty wallet was definitely worth it.

The crowd were transported into a frenzy of jumping and pulsating bodies by an impressive mix of old and new songs, including hits that first made Live a household name, such as Lighting Crashes, I Alone and Selling the Drama. (The name Live was, infact, pulled from a hat and liked because of its simplicity…) They even played a couple of tracks off Metal Jewelry a CD that first came out in 1991! Without a doubt, though, their current hits from "Distance to Here", such as Run to the Water and The Dolphins Cry (Which is not about Dolphins claims Ed Kowalczyk - "Its about fucking") were crowd favorites - raising the temperature in the Belleville Velodrome to near boiling.

Perhaps one of the most memorable moments of the concert, though, was a song not found on any of their albums…but, infact, a rendition of John Lennon's Imagine. Hauntingly beautiful, this tune had just about everyone in the crowd singing along, lighters in the air.

Ed Kowalczyk, lead singer and songwriter for the band definitely kept the crowd enraptured with a mixture of sex appeal, saultry voice, bald head and piercingly big eye and a stage persona not often encountered in modern day rock bands (where the emphasize seems to dwell on an attitude of aloofness from the crowd instead of communicating with them - which Ed does so well)

The rest of the band members - Chad Gracy, Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlleimer also failed to disappoint the almost drooling crowd. An added extra included an appearance or two from Ed's brother, Adam Kowalczyk. Following in the footsteps of his brother, maybe?

Live nave been around in excess since the age of 14. It all started when a trio made up of Gracy, Taylor and Dahlheimer had lost a talent show and desperately needed someone new. Enter Kowalczyk - who sang a rendition of Bryan Adams (?) Summer of 69,in order to audition for the trio. The band was first known as First Aid or Action Front and did covers of REM, The Cure and Psychodelic Furs at dances and parties. They them changed names once again - now known as Public Affection. With the new name came their first song "Usless Moves". The rest, as they say, is history.

Not bad for a band whose name was picked out of a hat, that's what I have to say!