Legendary London club fabric will return to Mzansi in January to rave in the New Year in Joburg and Cape Town.
London nightclub fabric has been in the top ten of the world’s best clubs since 2006.
Along with Ministry of Sound, the venue became one of dance music’s most exported franchises in electronic dance music’s history.
And, after a previously sold-out tour, fabric will return to Johannesburg and Cape Town in January.
The 2025 debut, organisers said, was so good that a second instalment was inevitable.
Richard Marshall, Director of production company Sub Sahara and fabric’s partner on the continent, said South African crowds left an impression on the visitors last time round that’s not easily matched elsewhere.
“Even for a brand like fabric, who travel the world with their parties, the SA crowd stood out in their response to the club, the artists and their music. It was never a question that we would return.”
Johannesburg is first up on 9 January with a full three-floor takeover of AND Club and the legendary Carfax in Newtown.
Cape Town follows the next day at the Castle of Good Hope. Horse Meat Disco, the two-decade-old legends of dance, joins the Cape Town line-up, while Vinny Da Vinci headlines the Johannesburg lineup.
Legendary London club
Transplanting a famous club to any venue in the world is not an easy task. Stuff could get lost in translation.
“We chose to work on the ground with clubs and promoters who were truly aligned with the fabric ethos. In South Africa, we found that venues and promoters shared a common vision. It’s all about the music,” said Marshall.
This is why local venues with strong ties to their respective cities were chosen. Carfax has been an institution in Jozi since rave days.
“Electronic music culture has blossomed in downtown Johannesburg for longer than even fabric has been around. That was the appeal of Carfax and its neighbourhood,” he said.
Marshall added that the energy in South Africa is unlike what visiting artists encounter in most other places.
“The outside world’s perception of SA is often one of fractured culture and troubled history. One night on a dance floor in Johannesburg shows that SA is more unified than most.”
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While many of fabric’s followers were not around when ginormous raves like Mother, Ice and Ministry of Sound were in their heyday, Marshall said the spirit of EDM’s genesis lingers, and Gen Z has rediscovered it.
“We lost that energy for some time, but the stalwarts of the underground kept the flame flying. In 2025, people seemed to be back in the moment on the dance floor, which is the entire point of the rave,” he said.
‘It’s the entire point of a rave’
Breaking genre boundaries is a South African superpower. Johannesburg especially has a reputation for mixing styles that would normally be separated on international lineups, Marshall said.
He added that open-mindedness has shaped how artists approach South African dates.
“I took a chance in 2025 by placing DJ Lag before Ben UFO. It seemed crazy on paper. But it worked. Both Ben and Lag were completely blown away by each other.”
The 2026 line-up also includes Gerd Janson, who’s built strong ties with South Africa through collaborations and remixes.
Marcel Dettmann, also at play, is “more excited about this tour than any he can remember,” said Marshall and added that Gabrielle Kwarteng’s Ghanaian ancestry adds another connection to the continent.
International artists often say that South African crowds feel warm, connected and intensely present at dance music events.
“Integration of cultures on dance floors. When visiting artists step into the booth and see people from all walks of life dancing, laughing and chanting to the beat together, they raise their game and tend to deliver sets of their lifetimes,” Marshall said.
