Legendary rock group, Collective Soul, will be adding international flavour to this year’s HEINEKEN Symphonic Rocks, with the announcement that frontman, Ed Roland, will be joining the already impressive lineup. Roland will perform at both Cape Town and Johannesburg legs of the tour when he hits SA shores especially for the event at the end of September.

HEINEKEN Symphonic Rocks is a world class, cross-genre live music show ranging from rock to pop, adult contemporary, R&B, hip hop, electro and soul, all set against the breath-taking onstage backing of a 65-piece symphonic orchestra.

Roland joins a list of impressive artists including award-winning MiCasa and Zahara, Tumi and the Volume, Freshly Ground’s Zolani Mahola and Ard Matthews, as well as the soulful ChianoSky and pop-rock band MACSTANLEY. In addition, the show will also offer unique performances from multi-award winning Van Coke Kartel and Afrikaans Rock favourites F*ofpolisiekar; electro-pop singing sensation, Toya Delazy; and finally, popular rock hit-makers, aKing.

Collective Soul, who have produced double and triple-platinum albums with hits such as ‘Shine’, ‘December’ and rock anthems ‘Where the River Flows’ and ‘The World I Know’, have performed sold out concerts in SA twice before, where they wowed audiences with their unapologetic classic-rock sound. This year, Roland has returned to perform the band’s most iconic hits, with the spectacular symphonic backing of the Cape Town Pops orchestra.

Andy Mac, the event’s creator, says that Collective Soul were the natural choice for the event. “We wanted to really raise the bar for this year’s show, and while we’ve always had only top quality musicians in our lineup, having international rock royalty like Ed Roland on the bill just adds that extra something special this year,” explains Mac. “Collective Soul are no strangers to performing with symphonic backing, having done a live concert DVD with the Atlanta Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2005. This mind-blowing performance, coupled with the simple fact of Ed’s pure musical genius, meant that he was undoubtedly my first choice and I’m over the moon to have him on board.”

The 2012 event takes place at The Grand Arena GrandWest Casino in Cape Town on 29 September, before moving onto The Big Top Arena, Carnival City on the 6 October. Tickets cost R200 to R225 in Cape Town and R225 to R250 in Johannesburg, and can be bought through Computicket from Thursday, 21 June 2012. Capacity at each of the venues is limited so fans are advised to book in advance.