KAREN ZOID will perform at the Old Mill Theatre on Saturday at 20:00.

Karen has become an important part of the South African music scene. Since releasing her first solo album, Poles Apart (2002), which fired the imagination of both critics and the public, Karen became an icon in the South African market, which the press renamed the ‘Zoid Generation’.

She has become such an important part of the home grown scene that her name is now the byword for emotionally charged, downright incendiary SA rock music.

What’s more, through the last decade, she has managed that unusual and frequently tricky feat of balancing popular appeal with critical praise; of securing an audience of both Afrikaans and English speakers; of retaining her individuality in a market known for its desire for sameness.

And through it all, Karen has held onto an enviable integrity that allows her to speak her mind in a way that only earns her more devotees and proved no barrier to being named Best Female Artist at the 2008 South African Music Awards.

Her super-charged rock energy is an ability to write delicately rendered songs that speak of the emotional vortex that drives this exceptional artist to keep creating.

Karen has earned various accolades (including gold album sales), but she says that what continues to drive her is a deep-seated desire to create music that she can get up on stage and play live.

Tickets cost R110.

* Friday 17 February at 20:00 Rocco de Villiers will be on stage at the Old Mill. Tickets cost R120.

Bookings can be made with Vicky Stemmet on 083 564 0056.