Very, very cool.
Kip Moore has a huge following in places like Europe and South Africa and in fact, in 2024, he was awarded the CMA International Artist Achievement Award in recognition of his success outside of this country.
Country music in general is wildly popular outside of the U.S., and you’ll often hear artists talk about just how into it the fans in other countries are. Contrasting the typically-rowdy and much more raucous crowds here, fans in Europe specifically tend to hang onto every word, and dig very deep into an artists entire album, making for an extremely unique experience when artists who are used to American country fans when they go overseas.
And while Kip was a guest on Tracy Lawrence’s TL’s Road House podcast a while back, he talked about how hard it was for him to wrap his mind around having such a large fan base in a country he never played after taking his Nomad World Tour a few years ago, playing for sold-out crowds in arenas.
Lawrence asked him how that all happened, and Kip explained that it all started with a South African radio host who discovered his music organically and started playing it there:
“In a lot different ways. The South Africa thing was all from one guy. Early 2022, my manager called me and said something crazy is happening in South Africa. We seen a really insane uptick and streams over there. And I just thought, ‘Oh, well the word’s getting out.’ And then the end of ’22 rolled around, and he said, ‘Man, something really wild. You’re streaming just as much in South Africa per week is you are in the states.’
The guy, which we didn’t know at the time, who owns the biggest like pop, rock, little bit of country, he plays whatever he wants because he owns it. It’s a hell of a concept for radio, right? He calls Sean and says, ‘Can he come and do a couple nights? a night in the club in Johannesburg and then like a night in Cape Town?’
And I was so fried at the end of the year, ‘I was like, there’s no way that I’m going over there for two shows.’ Mid 2023 rolls around, once again, he’s calling again. He says we wanna put him in the arena.”
Kip was convinced that there was something fishy going on, though he finally gave in and agreed to do the shows so the guy would drop it. He thought they would sell 100 tickets, and after the weekend went by, they could cancel it and move on.
But he ended up with the fastest sellout in Cape Town history, eclipsing Sting:
“I’m like, this just sounds like a set up, something’s weird. An arena in the country I’ve never been to? And he said, ‘I swear the fan base is here to support it.’ I’m sick of even talk about this. When does he wanna do this tour? He wants to do the arena Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.
By Monday morning when we sold 100 tickets, we’ll just cancel it. And because that’s where I had my mind, this is this is ridiculous. So I go about the rest of my week, and I don’t even give it any thought. Friday rolls around, I’ve completely forgotten about it, and I’m surfing that morning.
I’ve got probably 15 missed calls from my manager, he says, ‘Congrats, it’s the fastest sellout in Cape Town history eclipsing Sting.’ And I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’ It was gone in seven minutes, so they’ve already booked night two.”
Kip ended up selling out the stadium, playing to over 25,000 fans a while back, leading to his aforementioned award and continued success touring internationally.
He continues to grow his fan base over there, he is wildly popular, and he is currently touring South Africa again for for his Reason To Believe World Tour, marking his third consecutive annual run of record-breaking stadium and arena shows in the country.
This week, he played Pretoria at SuperSport Park, and during a very special moment in the show, he brought out the local Mzansi Youth Choir to perform with him, in addition to being supported by openers in South African artists Nadine, Juan Boucher, and Ricus Nel.
The kids were just amazing, and before they sang “Faith In The Wind,” from his recent album Reason To Believe, he told the crowd that he wanted to “inject [him]self into the country” he’s visiting and that’s why he wanted to surprise fans with this performance:
“I like to do my best to really learn about the country, inject myself into the culture. And I want to be a part of it when I go places that I really fall in love with.
I made a call and I wanted to have these kids come sing this song for me, with me, so we’re gonna bring out Mzansi Youth Choir with us right now, and I want you to give them a warm welcome. Let them feel the love.”
The Mzansi Youth Choir shared some videos from the performance too, calling it “an incredible honor” to perform with Kip:
“These are the nights we live for, and they are moments that never fade away! It was an incredible honor to share the stage with the amazing Kip Moore.
From the moment we began working on the song to the final seconds on stage, our hearts were filled with joy and gratitude. Two worlds came together, and magic was created. Here’s to memories that will always be etched in our hearts.”
The Mzansi Youth Choir is an acclaimed South African show choir founded in Soweto in 2003, and you might have seen them on America’s Got Talent Journey in 2023, and they’ve collaborated with huge artists over the years including Beyoncé, Shakira, Coldplay, Jon Batiste and Andrea Bocelli. In 2017, they made history as the only African choir invited to the International Youth Choir Festival at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and they won the first virtual World Choir Games in 2020.
They’re an impressive group, there’s no doubt about that, and hearing and seeing them on stage with Kip was just a beautiful moment… he’s such an underrated artist, but it’s incredible to see him getting the attention overseas. Clearly, the people in South Africa have incredible taste:
“Faith In The Wind”
