By Osagie Alonge
The party poppers will admit January is a boring month – little or no gigs, not even a single major music concert to attend!
But the drought is about to end; February will be flooded with some of the (we make bold to say) biggest shows of this year.
Show promoters and some of our biggest artistes are leaving no stone unturned as they plan to thrill fans throughout the Valentine’s Day week, and we hear that’s going to cost millions of Naira, over 500m actually, by NET calculations.
The cost, according to NET’s findings, will cover performance fees, venue hire, equipment hire, accomodation, return tickets, props and production.
Analysts say, with the average cost of using Eko Hotel put at N25m, production and publicity costs on the high, and artiste fees soaring, a single concert happening at Eko this Valentine could gulp up to N100m or more, depending on venue, and who’s headlining.
We’ll break it down for you…
2face Idibia is putting together a February 14 Valentine’s Day concert at the Eko Hotel and Suites. We’ve put a cost price of N50m on this. This event is however not being promoted by Idibia.
Darey will also be using the same venue when he hosts his ‘Love: Like A Movie’ concert on February 17. The R&B king is planning real big; Insiders say he will be performing with every artiste he’s ever recorded with and we learn he’ll be renting the super expensive Eko hotel convention centre for all of three days and will lodge guests coming from various parts of the world at the famous hotel. We are told the Darey concert could gulp over N200m in cash and kind.
Banky W, who will be launching his fourth solo album ‘R&BW’ this February is also going all out, with sources saying the EME boss is planning a big-budget intimate concert at a yet-to-be-disclosed venue. The ‘Banky W Concert’ will feature some of Banky’s friends from here and insiders say EME is budgeting nearly N100m.
No confirmation yet if corporate sponsors are picking the bills for these lavish concerts, or if the acts are simply putting their money where their mouths are. Also, no word yet on which production/events companies are executing the events.
It doesn’t stop there, though! Some of your favorite foreign musicians will also be making their way to Nigeria this Valentine – for starters, Classic FM have announced they will be bringing over US soul singer Maxwell. Along with some Nigerian headliners, Maxwell will treat fans to a performance of some of his greatest hits at the grounds of Oceanview Restaurant on February 16.
And lastly, sexy singer-chick magnet Trey Songz will be also coming to Nigeria, courtesy Kilimanjaro Events, the same company that brought Chris Brown last Christmas.
No specific booking figures were provided for Maxwell and Songs as at Friday, but we’ve been told they’re being paid ‘far more than they earn in any other market’, which is no surprise – Chris Brown received a whopping $1m for a two hour gig here last December…