‘Wizkid The Concert’ was the perfect Christmas gift for all Wizkid fans, and even Davido’s too especially as the show begun around midnight from Christmas eve onto Christmas Day. Both singers, two of Africa’s biggest stars ended their long percieved beef which has rocked social media almost all year.
The show was billed to start at 9 p.m. but nothing happened till around midnight. Earlier, around 11.25 p.m., comedian Bovi on behalf ofthe organisers had apologized for the lateness and cracked a few jokes to diffuse the tension.
Earlier at the ticketing booth, this excited guy came to buy a VIP ticket and he must have misheard the lady attending to him because he screamed ‘Please don’t tell me that tickets have finished. Do you know where I’m coming from? I came all the way from Ibadan!’ We all laughed as his ticket was sold to him. Turns out that his journey was worth it after all.
Minutes after 12 midnight, the band started playing Manya. Westsyde dancing group showed up with amazing dance moves and Wizkid swaggered in in a sequined jacket that shone like stars guiding us like the three wise men thousands of years ago on this day.
This time however, we had no gifts of frankincense or myrrh to give, all we had was our love and he in return gave us his gift. The shiny jacket made it impossible for the eyes to lose track of Wizkid; it was the star that guided us to Starboy on Christmas morning.
He announced that this concert was going to be run like a church service ‘I will preach, talk plenty, insult some people and I have many surprises for you.’
Within minutes of his arrival onstage, he unveiled the first surprise. Wizkid completely disrupted the sitting arrangements ‘My people wey dey for table, abeg make una no vex. Let my real fans come to the front. All of una for VIP and regular come front, security, no block my people!’
As he said those words, it became a madhouse and mini bedlam was unleashed. the people with regular tags surged forward, broke the barricades down, ran past the VVIP and stood in front of the tables and in front of the stage, grabbed chairs at the tables and stood on them, completely obstructing the view of just about everyone in the hall who had paid for premium tickets.
During the commotion, phones magically disappeared from some tables where they had been dropped and the bouncers had to warn people to be careful with their belongings.
The person next to me remarked ‘So I will pay 1 million naira for a table and then people will come and stand in front of me and around it? I will get on that stage to physically fight the artiste.’
Now, all men are equal, and Wizkid may see all his fans as equal so things like how much their ticket cost may not matter much to him, but people should get value for their money. It is very unfair to pay for premium service and have people who paid half of a tenth that amount get a better view. People bought tables because they wanted space and vantage view of the stage but they ended up standing half the night so they could see the stage.
When Lai Mohammed, Honourable Minister of Information showed up, there were people standing on the chairs at his table. Honourable minister who? Wizkid had turned everybody to ‘regular’, whether you paid 1 million or 5 thousand, everybody was pretty much the same.
I understand why Wizkid wanted his fans in front. Many performers rely on the energy, vibes and love from their true fans as they perform. They seem to feed off the energy and good vibes emanating from the screaming and cheering of fans close to their stage. It is an inexplicable bond between a superstar and the fans who love him/her for his/her gift, talent and charisma. Wizkid especially seems to enjoy being right in the midst of his fans for his performances.
The easy solution to this would have been to adopt Falz’ style; have the tables at the back, on elevated platforms and let the fans who want to jump, scream and grab his hand or the hem of his garment stay in the front. Having people pay that much and not get value for their money is wrong, no matter how you look at it, no matter how much you want to defend the reason he pulled that stunt.
The rest of the concert was a magical evening filled with music, laughter, dance and copious amounts of excitement from both the audience and the performers. After Manya, Wizkid went back to the beginning of his story and performed Slow whine, Tease me, Holla at your boy and Pakurumo.
He brought on Samklef, who produced his debut album, Superstar and with whom he was allegedly estranged, ‘I go like call my brother Samklef. Make some noise for Samklef. This guy produced that entire album’. On Stage, he showed his appreciation and love for Samklef as he hugged him warmly.
Thus began the tradition for the night. He kept bringing people out onstage to thrill the audience. He brought out this brother from way back, the brother from London, the talented brother and the sister out on stage. He even brought put is first son, six-year-old Boluwatife to ’embarrass him small’ as he is shy and doesn’t like crowds.’
Predictably, oohs and ahhs rang out from the ladies around me. “Oh he’s so cuuuute!’ “What a fine boy!” and similar comments erupted all around me.
He went on to perform other hits like Oluwa loni, Baddest boy, Jaiye jaiye and Sweet love.
The next surprise of the night came when he spotted a small boy in this crowd. ‘Who bring this small boy come show? What is your name?’ the young chap replied that he was named Ahmed and he came all the way from Ijebu Ode. The mic was handed to Ahmed and he rapped some bars that got him a rousing applause.
When he finished Wizkid said ‘From today I don sign you to Starboy Records, you are now my artiste. I will give you 10 million naira to support you’. The crowd went wild with cheers.
The he brought out LAX for an energetic performance of Run away, Ginger and Caro. Next was Skepta who performed Shutdown, Shirt says and Never rush greatness.
Next was the rhetorical question ‘Can I bring out my real sister now!‘ as Tiwa Savage showed up in a green dress that looks very similar to the blue one that Rihanna wore a while ago. He hugged her warmly and fondly before they delivered a powerful performance of the hit, Malo.
He performed Ojuelegba, Love my baby, Final, This kain love and Sound it before he brought out CDQ for Nawo e soke and Sai baba. Maleek Berry burst in with Been calling, Eko Miami and Kontrol.
Recall that Wizkid and Tekno had some beef and were throwing subs around on social media some months ago? Third surprise of the night, Tekno went from ‘duck face’ to ‘my brother’ as they performed Mama together. Wizkid urged Tekno to entertain the crowd and Tekno did with energetic performances of Go, Pana and Yawa, ending his set with “Make some noise for Wizkid, my forever brother”
My Eazi came through with Skin tight and after I thought Nigerians had agreed to beef the guy and even deport him to Ghana, they all sang along happily as he performed Ohema with DJ Spinall and Leg over after.
Next was Phyno who performed Bombay with Wizkid and Alobam, Fada Fada and Connect to a rousing applause.
The fourth and biggest surprise of the night was when Davido burst onstage and the crowd went absolutely nuts. This singular act is significant as both artistes who are very successful in their own rights have had a bitter feud going on (online) for a while now.
As a result, fans of each artiste take shots at one another, sometimes below the belt; the words and actions of either of them is viewed as an insult or subliminal message to the other and worse, instead of Africa celebration the achievement of each artiste (and there have been many this year), they result to taking shots at the other, dampening the celebration, taking away the importance of the achievement and focusing on trivialities instead.
This happened in the early hours of Christmas Day and it was a joyful sight to behold. Two of Nigeria’s biggest superstars gave us a wonderful Christmas gift and a lesson; we are better and stronger united than we are divided.
Davido, as characteristic of him, gave an energy-charged performance of Fia with Wizkid singing along. “One Africa, One Love” Wizkid kept saying as Mayorkun, a signee of Davido’s record label, performed Che che and Mama.
True to his earlier words. Wizkid preached “Tonight we are preaching one love, one Africa, togetherness and unity, everybody make some noise for OBO and Mayorkun”. The crowd erupted in cheers.
Wande Coal came through with For me from Wizkid’s debut album and followed with Baby hello, You bad and my woman.
Perhaps after realizing the unfairness of his earlier action to those who had bought tables, Star boy apologized again “Before I do any more songs I want to apologize to my people who bought tables. I have brought my omo wobes to you. Please be careful as you dance, don’t push their tables”
Then he brought out the legend Tuface Idibia, acknowledging that he paved the way for the younger generation. Tuface performed his classic, African Queen, Ihe neme and Gaga Shuffle.
The climax of the event was when Olamide came on and set the stage on fire with an amazing performance of Wo that had everybody dancing and many trying, and failing, to do the shaku shaku dance.
During the performance, a small boy who had earlier danced with the Westsyde crew danced so impressively that Olamide and Wizkid showered him with naira notes and Wizkid spraying some of the money into the audience too.
The show was brought to a close by a performance of Come closer and Manya by Wizkid.
Wizkid has not had a concert in Lagos for years, but this was worth the wait. At some point during the show, he commented “You know the problem we have? There are to many Wizkid hits”. That statement couldn’t be truer as he performed hits back to back nonstop on this wonderful Christmas morning. This is perhaps the best performance of his career so far. Starboy performed from his heart and from the depth of his soul. He gave his gift, talent, stamina and energy selflessly to every human in the vast Eko Hotel venue and everyone, regardless of the amount they paid, got the same deal.
Everyone ended up standing and became ‘regular’, thanks to Wizkid the social leveler, and everone ended up being blessed by great music and having the time of their lives thanks to Starboy the entertainer. It’s a very Merry Christmas season in Lagos City.