A live ‘Sandstorm’ performance for South Carolina football? It’s happening this season

“Sandstorm” will have a different look and feel when it’s played at South Carolina football’s game this season against Kentucky.

The Finnish DJ and record producer Darude will perform his hit “Sandstorm” at a pregame concert at Gamecock Park before USC plays the Wildcats at Williams-Brice Stadium on Oct. 18, head coach Shane Beamer announced Tuesday. Darude will also serve as the game’s celebrity starter.

The song has been an anthem for Gamecock sporting events since it debuted at Williams-Brice Stadium on Oct. 4, 2009 when USC was hosting Ole Miss.

The Gamecocks were up 16-10 late in the fourth quarter with Ole Miss facing a big third down. The song was played and USC sacked Ole Miss’ Jevan Sneed. The next play, USC picked off Sneed and sealed the win.

Darude in a 2021 interview told ESPN that “I would love to catch that kind of crowd, playing for them live” at Williams-Brice.

“Sandstorm” has become a popular track played by many college and pro arenas nationally, but nothing has the same intensity as when it’s played at Williams-Brice Stadium and the student section waves white towels.

“We don’t play it enough, in my opinion,” Shane Beamer said in a 2021 ESPN radio interview. “It’s one of the things unique to South Carolina. We started it. It seems like all kinds of teams and programs across the country in different sports like to play ‘Sandstorm’ at their games. We know where it started. It started in Columbia.”