'Africa' by Toto to be played on a loop at Bristol music venue for entire night

'I feel sorry for the bar staff'

Roisin O'Connor
Music Correspondent
Saturday 22 September 2018 10:07 BST
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A still from Toto's official video for 'Africa'
A still from Toto's official video for 'Africa'

A music venue in Bristol will play Toto’s hit song “Africa” on a loop for an entire night to raise funds for an African charity.

DJ Michael Savage is set to play the US rock band's biggest hit on vinyl for “five hours straight” at The Exchange on 30 November.

He told the BBC that people can be sponsored for how long they last or can donate “to not go to the event at all”.

“What started out as a really stupid idea from a stupid drunken night out has become a stupid reality,” he said, adding that he felt “quite sorry for the bar staff."

The bar at The Exchange will also be playing cover versions and remixes of the classic 1980s track, which is Toto's biggest hit and still receives millions of streams.

“I love the track, it's unusual - the ultimate guilty pleasure - but I'm not sure whether I'll fall asleep or not,” DJ Savage said.

The event is raising funds for Temwa, a Bristol-based charity which supports people in remote rural areas of northern Malawi.

Earlier this year a fan campaign successfully convinced the rock band Weezer to release a cover version of “Toto”.

Since 1992, the LA-formed band had performed several memorable cover songs including Radiohead's “Paranoid Android”, “Velouria” by The Pixies, and “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath.

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A fan campaign led by dedicated Twitter account @WeezerCoverAfrica had spent months asking the band to cover the classic 80s anthem, to no avail, although drummer Patrick Wilson responded with “I laughed” to one tweet.Weezer then trolled fans by releasing an upbeat cover of “Rosana”, the original version of which charted at No.2 in the UK and earned Toto a Grammy in 1983 for Record of the Year.

“Weezer seems to be straight-up f**king with us at this point,” Noisey noted.

However, Weezer eventually conceded and released their version of “Africa” on their official YouTube account. The song charted at No.1 on the US iTunes chart.

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