Is there anything that apartheid didn’t fuck up? The disgusting policy of extreme segregation seeped through every aspect of South African life, even the music scene.
When white politicians started sensing “trouble” (as in blacks having concerts), they passed a series of laws that kept blacks from playing shows in concert halls in white Johannesburg. This meant that any black musician had to play shows in the Soweto Township, a poor and segregated neighborhood next to the city’s mining district.
On 12/31/00, dropped-D alt-rockers Hum played their final show in Chicago, appearing with the Flaming Lips at the Metro. Now, eight years to the date, the group reconvenes in the Windy City for a double dose of reunion performances.