Last night, till the wee hours of this morning, Lagos witnessed a first of its kind love concert, a pre valentine show the organisers termed HISTORY OF LOVE 101. I was there live and direct and I must say I had lots of fun. Guess who the international artists were? My favourite of all Donnell Jones, Chante Moore, her husband Kenny Latimor and the sensational R&B group 112. The local artists we had were D' banj (who in my opinion had the best performance and response from the crowd), Asa, Paulplay, Samsung and two up-coming singers by the name Ivie and Lolo who entertained us with different medleys (Other people's songs o!).
Let me give you a breakdown of what went down
The venue was Oceanview Victoria Island, Lagos.
Time was 7pm (But the show didnt start till 10pm)
Gate fee was 50, 000 thousand for a couple and 30, 000 for one person
There was a three course meal, continental, chinese and Nigerian dishes
The decor at the venue was something I'd never seen before. Romantic lights, Candle lit tables, and so many things I really don't have a name to. It was beautiful!
The stage, lights, sound and camera's were out of the world. Was really impressive
The voice-over MC was coolfm top radio DJ, Dan Foster
The drinks came in different shapes, colours, taste etc. (I wished I had come with my entire family. I left too many drinks on the table that hurt my feelings)
The ambience was incredible. A real nice place for lovers to be.
THE PERFORMERS
The first to come out was Ivie (boy) and Lolo (girl). Ivie performed John Legend's Ordinary People, and one other song I cant rememeber...sorry o! Lolo performed Turn the lights down low...who sang that song originally? I know Lauryn Hill has her own version. They both performed a song together and left.
Samsung was the next in line. He sang two songs and left.
Asa came next, sang four songs and left. She had a great performance. It was actually my first time of watching her live. I used to wonder what the fuss was about her, now I know. She reminded me of Tracie Chapman. I was really impressed. Even had to video her performance.
Next came Paulplay. He performed for about 30mins. Twas nice.
Then came Chante and Kenny. They blew people away with their songs together, separately and the way they kept staring into each other's eyes. It was incredible. You could tell they really love each other. Chante's voice is one best voices I've ever heard. She was sensational. She did things with her voice I didn't think possible. Kenny was mighty proud of his wife. They performed for about an hour and afterwards came to join us in the crowd to watch the remainder of the show.
Next was Donnell Jones. I love his songs so much I left my seat and went to the front of the stage alongside other girls. I never took so many pictures in my life. I kept taking his pictures, recording his voice and taping his performance. At one point, he looked at me for about 10minutes...just kidding! lol. Maybe for about 20seconds...I went through something in those 20secs. But don't worry about it. Anyway he did his thing and left.
Next was D'banj. Like I said before he had the best performance. He came with a twenty man band. And over 30 dancers, both traditional and oriental. He was electrifying on stage. I think D' banj is the best performer in Nigeria. He has talent!
After D' banj, was the last performance of the night from 112. They also had a great performance. I think people loved them the most. Only 3 of them came. They are a four-member group right?
The night, food, drinks, atmosphere, music was beautiful. But guess what? Only a handful of people came to the show. There were more empty seats than occupied seats. I felt really sorry for the organisers (NIGERLINK MEDIA) because I don't think they would have realised the money they spent. The place was semi-empty. Even Chante Moore mentioned it. The international artists must have felt a little bad that they were performing to a very small crowd. Twas embarrasing.
I think the problem was the gate fee. 50grand for a couple and 30 for an individual. In my opinion that was too high...too too high. They over-priced the artists I guess. They should have just made the gate fee a flat 10grand or even 20. It would have been better for them to fill the place up for 10grand than for it to be empty for 50. I hope other organisers will learn from this mistake. If your fee is too high, no matter what artist you bring in, many Nigerians will not turn up. Even the elites will seat at home. (Like the Thisday show featuring Beyonce, Jay z etc)Nigerians will just wait to watch it on television. By the way, 50 thousand naira is almost 400 hundred dollars. That's too much right?
Anyway, all in all, it was a beautiful night. Kudos to Nigerlink
