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It was all another world.

It was another world.

Just like you would see people...

over Madonna or...

Like stepping out into the wind

and the paparazzi and all the...

you know, the production assistants

and everybody are there to welcome him

and take us into the VIP suite.

The white carpeting.

You know, that was something that

never would we ever even dream

of walking on white carpeting,

especially in your shoes.

They put him in a limo

and they drove him into the city.

And along the way, on all the lampposts,

were placards advertising the concert.

And he saw his face on every lamppost

as it sped by

and he'd go,

"There I am, there I am, there I am."

So we came

and we got to meet all the people.

We got to meet Craig Bartholomew

and their family and their kids

and Stephen Segerman.

And everybody was just so happy.

Everybody was thrilled.

We were even happier.

Stephen phoned me.

He said, "You will never believe this...

"but Rodriguez is coming to South Africa

"and we can be the opening band.

"Do you wanna do it?"

I said, "Of course we wanna do it."

"Why? Where is he?"

"Now they found him.

"They found him, he's alive, he's gonna

come and tour in South Africa."

"Are we gonna be the opening band?"

So I couldn't really believe this.

And then I got all the information:

he's living in Detroit and everything.

And then a little while later he said,

"Look, it turns out

he hasn't got a band.

"Could we be the support band?"

I mean his band.

I remember, even then, we were sort of,

"Is this really gonna be Rodriguez?"

We'll only know

if he can actually sing these songs.

I mean, we don't know.

What if it's just some guy?

It was just like

one day we heard about it

and the next day we were there,

trying to believe our eyes,

thinking it was just all very shocking.

I don't know, he took to it really easy.

He just walked in and did his thing

and I was amazed that he did so well.

But he's not all

"head in the clouds" kinda guy.

He's a little bit too much grounded.

He didn't take advantage

of all the amenities and stuff.

He didn't sleep in the big

double king size bed.

He kinda curled up on the love seat

and I found him there and...

Yeah, he just didn't think somebody

should have to make another bed

because he messed it up or...

There was a time

where I stayed in the house we were at

and everyone else had gone out.

The phone rang and it kept ringing,

so I decided to answer it.

And it was a reporter

looking to speak with Rodriguez

and set up time for an interview.

And then, before she hung up,

after I told her to call back later

to talk to someone

'cause I couldn't help her,

she told me that she wanted to know,

between she and I,

if it was the real Rodriguez.

We were rehearsing with a CD

of the songs that we've got

in the studio here in Cape Town

on the day that he came

from the airport, when he arrived,

and we were actually in the middle

of a song when he walked in

and just took over the microphone

and finished the song.

We switched off the CD player

and it was, like, completely seamless.

Completely seamless.

I mean, "OK, this is the guy."

I think we all knew this is

gonna be something really special.

Thank you, Cape Town. Thank you.

When we, uh...

initially got on a plane,

I thought maybe there 'd be, hopefully,

20 people in the audience.

Hopefully.

But it turned out really,

really different than that.

And there's old people and young people

and they're coming to see the show.

And there's my step-dad on the stage...

Before he went on stage,

'cause I wanted to take

a picture of the audience,

since nobody's gonna believe this.

You must remember, this guy,

it's like seeing someone like Elvis

come back from the dead.

People in the audience

still don't believe it.

They're standing there.

They're at the concert.

They've paid their money.

They still don't believe that Rodriguez

is actually gonna walk on that stage.

Are you ready?

Please welcome...

Rodriguez!

It was almost as if he

didn't even have to play.

They were just happy to see him.

So, for a time,

I think they wanted to meet.

It was a reunion.

It was something

completely different.

It was for everybody there, I'm sure,

the most exciting concert they'd

ever been to. Because it was unique.

We'd never seen Rodriguez.

And all you heard

was the bass player just playing...

And Rodriguez wandered out

to the front of the stage

and the bass player

actually just stopped playing.

And it took a while.

There was about five or ten minutes

of just people screaming at him.

Thanks for keeping me alive.

I think to go

from being the outcast

to being, uh, who he really was.

Because it was as though it was him

again... and that was who he was,

a musician on stage,

playing for his fans.

I thought I would see him

being bewildered

at all these people staring up at him.

I saw the opposite.

I saw this absolute tranquility.

There was absolute serenity on his face.

Total.

It's like he had arrived at that thing,

at that place

he'd tried to find his whole life.

Home is acceptance.

Here's a guy who'd lived somewhere else,

on the other side of the earth,

and it was almost as if

he had found his home.

And I looked around at all these people

and I thought, "This is

a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"This is never going to happen again."

Well, isn't this all

our great fate?

Your dreams of yourself, the higher

forms of yourself is that one day

you will be recognised and that

your talents and everything else,

will suddenly become visible

to the world.

I mean, most of us die

without coming anywhere close

to that sort of magic.

I tried to get him to talk about that

when I interviewed him,

about how strange it was,

and I got absolutely nothing back.

Absolutely nothing back.

And I couldn't tell whether

he was just like son' of cripplingly shy

or whether I was

asking the wrong questions

or there was a language barrier

or whatever. He just...

Maybe that was OK as well

because he preserved his mystery.

I walked away

from that interview saying,

"This is all too strange to be true."

It remains too strange to be true.

"These are the days

"of miracles and wonder."

Oh, they were so sweet.

I didn't believe it.

And I still don't, but the thing is...

So when I went on stage

white seats, and the thing is...

And I said, "This is..."

So when I played a show, they jumped

out of their seats and rushed the stage.

South Africa made me feel like

more than a prince.

And then signing the autographs

for, like, a couple of hours.

I mean, just the line of people

bringing their guitars to be signed,

bringing their CDs and...

The most amazing thing I'd seen

was the man with his tattoo

of the Cold Fact.

He was a Rodriguez impersonator.

That just stoked my fire.

I was like,

"Man, that is just too crazy."

I have with me here,

presented to Rodriguez

for sales of the album Cold Fact.

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