By Olamide Jasanya
For many whose valentine wasn’t anything to write home about, Darey’s Love like a Movie concert must have been a perfect make-up. Organisers of the show, in clear departure from what’s the norm around here, kept to time and kicked off around 5 PM with a red carpet welcome for the guests.
The star guest, Kim Kadarshian showed up an hour later and took pictures before retiring to the pre-dinner event, organised for a selected few.
While the dinner was going on, the red carpet continued with its usual buzz with some guests lurking around hoping for a second coming of the reality TV star.
The choice of the convention centre was indeed a smart one, as it conveniently the thousands of fans that came out to watch the R&B star, who had promised to deliver a concert like never before.
The show kicked off with a brief introduction from Kim Kadarshian and the reaction for this set the tone of the next 90 minutes.
Darey, dressed in a shimmering white blazers appeared on stage and performed a line of different R&B songs, ably backed up by four of Nigeria’s greatest singers Banky W, Timi Dakolo, Praiz and Tolu (of the Project Fame season 3) who were ‘locked up’ in the vertical stage.
It was no doubt, Darey’s night. The graphics, costume, technical equipment and the crowd, as though compelled, kept quiet and watched in amazement as one after the other, the surprises kept coming.
From the beginning to the end of the ‘movie’, the love story continued with different songs including Endless Love, A whole new world and a few others which contributed to the build up of the story until it was wrapped up with the remix of Asiko, where Darey, with support from Ice Prince and Moeazy, boasts he’s ‘way ahead’ of his time.
The hall arrangement, red carpet reception, the dances and the choreography, the choice of and mastery of the songs performed, the engaging acts displayed by Darey while on stage, the awe-inspiring Farfadais circus dancers, the sand artiste (who painted live images with sand and dust), the pyrotechnics and a whole lot more added to make the ‘movie’ worth it and its maker, Dare, a grand performer.
The best performance
Darey’s duet with songstress, Waje was undoubtedly one of the high points of the night.
The duo’s performance of the popular ballad ‘A whole new world’ (soundtrack to the Disney film Aladdin, originally by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle) brought back memories of childhood for most and when they capped it with their version of Diana Ross and Lionel Richie’s ‘Endless love’, many couples must have fallen in love all over again.
Waje, who had on a red gown perfectly complemented Darey’s masculine voice and persona and although there were few hitches, the voice dexterity and connection displayed by both made them irrelevant…
