Prepare for One Direction frenzy

One Direction will become the first act to headline two consecutive nights at the 90000-plus capacity FNB Stadium when the UK boy band brings its On the Road Again tour to South Africa in March.

And if that doesn't prove that the quintet - Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik - of X Factor UK fame are more than manufactured money-spinners, nothing will.

They were named the richest boy band in British music history by the UK Sunday Times at the weekend - and are worth about £70-million (R1.2-billion).

In support of their third album, Memory Remains, they will begin their tour with five Australian dates before moving to Asia and then playing in Joburg on March 28 and 29, and at Cape Town Stadium on April 1.

The last time Big Concerts tested the concept of back-to-back shows at one venue was last year with Bon Jovi and Justin Bieber at Cape Town Stadium. The shows were attended by a combined 110000 fans.

In September, with only two weeks to go before Rihanna brought her Diamonds World Tour here, Big Concerts operations boss Justin van Wyk was in Sydney, Australia, where One Direction was playing three consecutive sold-out gigs in Adelaide. He denied then that he was there to thrash out a deal for a South African tour.

Van Wyk told The Times then: "We're not specifically looking at South Africa for a tour. That's mainly why we're [in Australia] - to look at merchandise, the kids, how they control crowds. It's just a fact-finding mission."

It appears the recce went well.

Van Wyk has warned that no fans under 13, or shorter than 1.2m, will be permitted on to the field - so no golden circle under any circumstances for them.

He said: "Security will be stopping kids before they even get into the venue, so best they don't take chances with buying field tickets if they don't meet the requirements."

Tickets for the Joburg shows cost between R405 and R915; Cape Town tickets are R395 to R850. On sale from Friday at bigconcerts.com and Computicket.