Nigerian Grammy winner Burna Boy’s late appearance on stage for his ‘Lagos Loves Damini’ concert in Lagos on Sunday, January 1, 2023, angered hundreds of fans at the venue and online.
Some of the fans who spoke to Netng at the Eko Atlantic city, the venue of the concert, said waiting for Burna Boy to appear on stage at 3 am when the show was advertised to start at 6 pm was ‘disappointing and frustrating’.
After waiting for hours for the show to kick off, some fans left the venue in the late hours of the night, while those who waited with the hope of seeing Burna Boy started throwing bottles on the stage before he eventually showed up.
When Burna Boy appeared on stage around 3 am, he took the first few minutes to take a dig at his supposed critics on social media without apologising to the fans he kept waiting for more than six hours.
“Just to show you that I still love you all. If not for Seyi Vibes, I would have gone home. I’m here with you. After saying I killed someone at Cubana (night club), that my mother was a dancer for Fela, no problem, I still love you, if you like don’t love me, God will punish you,” the Grammy winner said.
Burna Boy is not the first artiste to keep fans waiting for long hours at music concerts.
On December 3, 2022, Asake was booed on stage after arriving late to a concert in Birmingham, United Kingdom. He later apologised to fans and blamed the delay on the show promoters.
On December 10, 2022, fans in Ghana criticised Wizkid for not showing up at a concert at the Accra sports stadium. A year before then, Wizkid had attracted criticism from fans in Abuja for appearing on stage around 3 am on Saturday, December 18, 2021, for a concert scheduled to start at 7 pm the previous day. Wizkid apologised for the Abuja and Ghana concerts and promised a new concert.
There’s been a growing debate on the internet over how music stars appear to have little or no regard for their African fans by keeping them waiting for long hours at concerts before showing up, while in some cases they don’t show up at all.
“This needs to stop,” a fan wrote on Twitter while reacting to Netng’s live update from the concert.
“Nigerians will never learn their lesson. These guys never do this thing abroad. Burna has been on tour in Europe and America, how many did he turn up late? Another fan asked while reacting to a video of Burna Boy at the concert taking a dig at his critics.
So what are fans’ rights when artistes turn up late, or don’t do so at all?
Babatunde Irukera, the Director General of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), told Netng on Monday, January 2, 2023, that he has directed a team to look into the growing complaints against music artistes’ lateness to shows.
Irukera said some fans had also reached out to him to complain about Burna Boy’s conduct at his New Year Day concert.
“Actually, only a few hours ago some folks reached out to me to consider taking a position regarding Burna Boy’s conduct of delaying his guests beyond acceptable and a generally insecure venue, so much so enthusiasts who had paid left without getting value for the money they spent to watch the show,” he told Netng in the early hours of Monday morning.
“I am having a small team look and review this from all dimensions to see what provisions of the FCCPA (Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act) have been violated and what remedies exist under the law,” he added.
While many Nigerian music fans are waiting for the FCCPC to take a position on this act of lateness to concerts, some have vowed to stop attending any show by a Nigerian music star.
