AY LIVE @ MUSON
I told you guys there were three shows happening this weekend but I could only attend one of them. There was the City People Award for Excellence, which took place at Alli Baba's XQZ MOI yesterday March 18th. Then there was the HipHop World Awards that took place at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos on Saturday March 17th, lastly there was the AY Comedy Show also at Muson Centre, yesterday March 18th. That was the one I attended, so I' m going to give you gist from that show and later I'll find out what happened at the other shows and let you guys know.
Who is AY?
That was the question I asked myself when I heard about the event. Before then, I'd never come across the guy or the name. He's a relatively new comedian in the Nigerian comedy scene. Yesterday I found out that AY is the winner of the 2006 National Comedy Challenge...didn't know there was any such thing. I need to start paying more attention to things going on in my country right?
Gate fee for the show
N2, 000 regular
N5, 000 VIP
MC's for the night
Stella Damasus Aboderin
Kate Henshaw-Nuttal
Frank Edoho
Comedians who performed
Alli Baba
Princess
koffi
All Open Mic Night winners (will explain this later)
Jedi
Elenu
Emeka Law
A few more performed but I don't remember their names. They were all new comedians.
Artists that performed
Tuface Idibia
Sammy Okposo
Rugged Man
Spyda Man
Cyprus 'Da Virus
Joker Man
Nigga Raw
D'Banj and PSquare were also scheduled to perform but I left before that happened. Half the quests left before they came on stage, that's if they did at all.
AY Idol
I think the best part of the whole show was a drama sketch mimicking West African Idol Competition. Guess who the judges were? TV Personality, Frank Edoho played Dede's role, Actress, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde played Nana's role and Comedian, Jedi played Dan Foster's role. It was hilarious, especially the way Omotola perfectly mimicked Nana's 'wassup?' and 'it didn't werk for me'. People laughed their hearts out. The contestants were hilariorious, their singing sucked but they thought they were R.Kelly or something. They were even fighting the judges. If a judge said something they didn't like, the judge got a 'rundown' from the contestant. Dede's character, Frank Edoho even got 'beat up' by one of the contestants played by AY himself. It was beautiful to watch. We all couldn't stop laughing. Even Jedi did a little Justice to Dan foster's character. All in all, nice concept, nicely put together.
Too much hailing
The only thing I found uncomfortable about the show was the name callings and recognition of guests. Most comedians, musicians, the MC's recognised a friend or a celebrity at the event. The worst of it was Cool Fm and West African Idol judge Dan foster. Everybody who came on stage had a thing or two to say to him or about him. Stella Damasus said he was the nicest judge on WA Idol, which everybody agreed to with cat calls, claps and shouting his name. He was even the subject of four comedian's joke. And everytime someone mentioned Dan's name, camera's came rolling, taking pictures and recording him. And guess what people? I sat right beside this man so you can imagine how many times my pictures got taken and how many times my face showed on the big screen in the hall. After a while it got uncomfotable. I'm used to being recognised but not as somebody's date. It was annoying.lol
Celebrities in the house
There were so many celebrities in the house i.e
Sunny Neji
Segun Arinze
kingsley Ogoro
Mike Aremu
Basket Mouth
Marian Anazodo
Charles Anazodo
Alariwo
Omotola Jalade Ekeinde
Cecil Hammond
Girls Girls Girls
There were girls everywhere. And you guys should have seen what they wore. Beautiful, sexy, classy. It was like there was a beauty pageant going on. Some girls came with dates, alot of them came by themselves and I saw some who came in groups of 3, 4, 5, 6. Guys had a lot to feast their eyes on. It made the event more enjoyable for them I guess.lol
Refreshments
I thought those at the VIP section would at least get some refreshments, they paid five grand each for goodness sake. But there was no such thing, instead the management of Muson Centre were selling a glass of Chapman for N500 and a plate of food for N1, 000. A few people who had no choice had to buy 'cos the show went on forever
What I didn't like
The time scheduled for this show was 6pm, with the Red Carpet event sponsored by Sound City, starting at 5pm. I got there at 6: 45 and true to their 'no African time', the show was underway. But the musicians they brought on stage up until Tuface appeared, almost messed things up for the guests. They were unknown to all of us but worst still, there songs sucked. People were so bored, it was painful to see. Some comedians came to lighten the place up, others came to make it worse. I personally think that in a show of this calibre, only a few new or up-coming artists should be allowed to perform. Yesterday, there were just too many of them. And they all performed one after the other, keeping the real popular artistes for later, by then people who had to go work the following day had left, so were weren't priviledged to watch PSquare or D' banj perform. I think they should have mixed the Acts up, instead of leaving the best for last...for empty seats.
Gossip
I usually don't like to gossip...I mean I usually like to gossip, especially if I see and ear am with my own two koro koro eyes and ears. So I go talk wetin I hear and see.
Princess, Nigeria's hottest female comedian, announced, while performing on stage, that she has just bought a new Jeep. Imagine! So happy for my girl. Before the Jeep, she was driving a 'Jalopi' car, people laughed at her for, but now my girl is driving a Jeep. You heard it here first.lol
Mike Aremu told my companion that his Saxophone had been stolen right inside the Muson center. What he didn't say was whether it was in his car or if he had brought it out and left it somewhere or with someone. He seemed too agitated and didn't explain as he went in search of his Sax. Poor guy. It must have cost him a fortune to acquire that instrument. For those of you who don't know him, Mike Aremu is a Saxophonist. He plays the Sax for a living and someone stole it. That's not nice.
Half the guests left immediately Sammy Okposo came on stage. I was one of those who left. There are some Nigerian Acts I'll rather not sit and watch perform, Sammy happens to be one of them, and because I don't particularly like him, it was a little nice to see people stand up from their seats immediately he was announced as the next to perform. So embarrasing! I guess people aren't feeling him or maybe they were just too tired. Whatever, as long as they left. I have bad belle for that guy...I'm sorry but I'm keeping it real.lol
Trivias
The DJ for the night was DJ Jimmy Jatt
The sound, lights and camera's were from Uzodinma Okpechi.
The stage was beautifully done
The light, sound were great
There were only two Mic's available
Pastor Chris Okotie who was supposed to be a Guest Master of Ceremony didn't show up
The place was filled to capacity
All in all, I'll give the show 8/10. Mostly because it was the AY's first attempt and for coming up with the Idol idea. That was genius.
Well, that's that. Hope you guys enjoyed my reporting. I wanted you guys to feel like you were at the show, hope I succeeded a little bit. Ciao everyone!
