Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Thisday Music Festival

I hadn't planned to go to the concert, there were too many unkowns..and we were not sure about the security. To top it off, the first day was cancelled. A friend of mine called while JL was performing on the second day and said things were quite organised and safe so I decided to join them. I arrived late, after Shakira, and JL had performed and walked in just as Dbanj told the audience the REAL koko. A whole host of dancers in colourful traditional attire burst unto the stage and did an excellent job of entertaining us. It was very good. I surveyed the set up of Thisday events center. It's a huge white tent, well airconditioned and was divided into,regular, at the back, VIP, in the middle which was a great view and presidential sitting which was right in front of the stage. It was so unfair once again that they didn't think it was necessary to somehow elevate the regular section, I don't know how they saw the stage especially if the folks in the VIP section stood on their chairs. Each section was divided by a wire fence. ...the hitch was that the fence dividing VIP from Presidential was not long enough so all I had to do was walk to the where the fence stopped and voila, I was a presidential girl. Hey what can I say, the hall was not filled to capacity so there were a few free places in both the VIP and presidential sections.

The place was swarming with really young, too cool for school, kids. It made me feel quite old, then quite annoyed seeing as most were extremely rude. There were long intermissions between each act and they would get restless and get up from their seats more than a dozen times a minute, squeeze by you without an 'excuse me', pass things over your head, hit you, discuss loudly over you, eye you for telling them to say 'excuse me please', lol. I felt like an old woman there seriously. My friend said she wasn't going to get into argument with them in case the asked her if she knew how much their school fees cost or who their fathers were lol.

Anyway days after Dbanj, Kelly Rowland sashayed on stage with her dancers and they were really rocking the crowd until she stylishly slumped. She was singing say my name at the time and my friends decided that some Juju people must have said her name in a bid to distract and get into the concert. Immediately people surrounded her..she needed air not a hundred people choking her air supply! One of her dancers was such an alarmist, she put her hand on her head and was wailing. We seriously thought she had died or something. She was carried off the stage with a standing AC and someone fanning her.

The mood of the audience kind of mellowed after that, and after a few minutes we were told Kelly was okay and that the doctor was on the way. I would have thought they would have one on standby.






Days after once again, Sasha came on stage in a red trench coat looking outfit and with Naeto C and tried her best to get us back to where we were but there were a lot of snotty kids sitting and sulking and making faces like WTF. Its a pity that we can't support our own homegrown artists. She did really well and had a bunch of really young dancers giving us some serious steps to her song... A da ra....


Years after,(we think they call them from thier hotel rooms) Diddy came on and did his thing. He kept on saying he was home and even gave us advise.....'The most important thing is God'. Did somebody tell him how Nigerians love God? He invited about 6 people from the audience to dance with him on stage and they had so much fun! Lucky you Bubu!!!!!!! He really got us dancing again with all the classic hits, Mo money, Missing you etc.

When he was done, it was 12 am and people started filing out..either they were done or they thought it was over. The organisers had to announce that it was not over and Neyo was yet to perform.
For me Neyo was the best. He can really singgggg!!!!!! And dance too. He did this little section where the Dj played some of the songs he had written for other artists. (i'm trying to type and my mum is trying to gist...she says im ignoring her...you guys should help me beg her nowww). You should have heard us screaming..to the left to the lefttt, and I don't wannaaa beee a murderer, and a few others before he started with So sexy...he also sang a few new songs and danced all over the stage with his sexy self. (I think my mum got fed up, shes gone to take a shower).

By the time Neyo was done, my friends and I were beat. UB40 and several Nigerian artists had not performed and it was nearly 2am. They seriously took the piss with the timing. Each artist took no less than 30 minutes to come on stage. We are a patient people..that's all I can say. Even the host Kate Henshaw went home cos all of a sudden Dan Foster took over. I can't even imagine how people who got there at 11am were able to cope. That's way too long

38 comments:

Ms zee said...

wow - we still have timing issues at home.. darn.... I love Neyo.. aww poor kelly, i hope she is ok...

you had fun that is good... UB40.. ok.. that musta been fun... did you take pictures??

princesa said...

Thanks for the small inside info on the Thisday music festival.
I dint go,my sleep was more important o jare.
Lol @ "i'm trying to type and my mum is trying to jist...she says im ignoring her"
I can so relate to that.Its funny how when u want to do something else,mums suddenly decide they want to jist.

Sweetcakes said...

that's how you know a Superstar (Beyonce) from a wannabe star (Kelly)...whats making her faint? abeg jare!! anyways, thank for the write up TMinx.

Anonymous said...

I think the spelling is 'GIST'....
Sorry just had to

Perfectly Human said...

lol@ ur mom! You know if she was serious she WILL make you stop typing,lol. And also your friend who didn't wanna scold the brats before they remind her who their father was...very funny!
Organization seems to be a taboo for nigerians i swear but we'll get there i think.
Sounds like you still had fun sha even though you missed JL...dat woulda bn d higlight for me.

Miss Opeke said...

U are really having a blast...looking forward to seeing pix or even video download o...hv fun!

Anonymous said...

lol @ the alarmist..i tiinks ey na only we 9ja dey put hand for our head and wail..lol..ur post put a smile on my face-dunno y?wish i was home and i could have gone

Anonymous said...

i forgot..mom Tminx..sorry ma,tmix is a bad girl for ignoring you!we are very very sorry!forgive her ma!lol that reminded me of begging a teacher on a classmates behalf "WE are sorry ma,SHE willnever do it again" LAWL

Unknown said...

The festival sounds like so much fun ... I'm so jealous, wish I had been there!

I think like you, Neyo would have been my favourite!!

Dimples said...

Perhaps i have been waiting for your own post...trust you to give a nice detailed account...

At least u had fun sha..VIP babe!!!

Enjoy ur holiday o..reality check to the IKEA country soon.

Anonymous said...

Girl, I'm with you on those snotty little kids. Did you notice how the state box section was nearly entirely filled with them? I just decided not to write about them on my own blog lest I get myself annoyed all over again. One of them (and she was like 12, but she could have been 10 for all I know with all that make-up and painted fingernails that she was rocking) in front of me kept whining to some guy to keep her seat for her as she needed to go outside and "get some air." And she kind of shrugged her shoulders in that huffy, impatient way that spoiled kids do when their demands are not being met. When she finally left to go and get her 'air', my sister looked at me all like, "Gosh! Were we like that in secondary school?" and then we burst into laughter. Ridiculous!

temmy tayo said...

Oh my!

Don't ever ignore your mum cos of blog again o. Or else I will beat you. **rolling eyes** at the ceiling.

You enjoyed it a little abi? poor kelly.Naiaj heat no get part 2.

Mari said...

Wow, that sounds like a really long day. Where they trying to cramp everything into one day?
LOL@ure mom.

Unknown said...

Baby u saw diddy? I'm MAD! Neyo, Kelly, JL are u kidding me? Heard about the wait dude. So not kool. Miss u!

Inuke Omotola Davis said...

I updated oh.

Eya i hope kelly's alright sha.

Aramide said...

niceeeeeeee yea i heard t'wasnt as good as last year's...........

vip babe ;o)

Afolabi said...

U must have had SO MUCH FUN...that's gud

Ms. Catwalq said...

envy cannot describe what I am feeling right now...

The Life of a Stranger called me said...

Wow sounds like you had so much fun, and how evrything seemed to be happening around when you went to nigeria, people might begin to think you planned it all..lol..so how have you been, and your mum?

Writefreak said...

babe, e come be like say i dey the show! Thanks for the update, meanwhile, always answer mama's call o....nice blog

zaiprincesa said...

lol...TMINX IS A BIGGGER BABE!!!..VIP and THINGS!!!!...dont mind me jare...lol@ the spoilt rich kids.....
Hope u r enjoying ur hols..

Onada - Fashion and Photography said...

geez...im so freaking jealous!!!!! did u take any pics of your own?

Idemili said...

Boohoohoo! I want to attend a naija festival!!!

Unknown said...

Thanks Tmix. Off to have a look at the pictures now.

Through these eyes said...

Looks nice.

Hope Kelly doesn't feel too bad. All we hope and pray for is that she is alive and well. Who cares if she fell.

check out: foreveryourlady.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

YOUR COMMENT ABOUT SUPPORTING OUR OWN NAIJA ARTISTS IS SO ON POINT! IT'S FUNNY THAT WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT THE NAIJA ARTISTS WHEN THEY COME TO AMERICA OR LONDON BUT IN NAIJA THEY ARENT THAT PROUD AND EXCITED. I GUESS IT'S CAUSE THEY DONT KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE UNTIL IT'S GONE :)

Anonymous said...

Das not so nice my dia......i mean the woman wanted to GIST lol.....but she would have cost us YOUR gist. das life she should take heart

@ j.f wats with the super star and wannabe.....dis na real bad belle

nice piece Tminx

Anonymous said...

awwww... now i feel like i was there... i'd give up my favorite bracelet to see john legend perform in concert... whenever will the dude come to canada?! i like dbanjs tongolo.. so i would've loved to see that performance.. kelly is beginning to tire me.. although it is unfortunate that she fainted of course... you never talked about rihanna.. abi you missed that one? lol ur mom is sooo cute...

Unknown said...

Well, i just dropped by to let you know of a competition that is running at the africanloft.

www.africanloft.com

Pls, participate.

pammy


Ps: 600 words is just a page..

Unknown said...

Well, i just dropped by to let you know of a competition that is running at the africanloft.

www.africanloft.com

Pls, participate.



Ps: 600 words is just a page..

Anonymous said...

TM, thanks for those update......

john legend and kelly were sure looking good....

poor Kelly, with the tight air condition stage. guess our nija breeze was too strong for her to handle. Lol

Hope she is ok sha....

just started my blog and hope u can hook up. www.julesosa55.blogspot.com

Tutsy said...

Great Write-up! Your vivid accout i dare say is the best so far.

Poor Kelly, too bad the naija heat did a number on her, now i understand she collapsed 'cuz of the heat and all but i have to be brutally honest and say; i never saw Kelly as a great performer to start with. if you had an opportunity to watch the BET awards earlier this month when Beyonce, Kelly and Eve performed together on stage alongside Michelle and Solange who where back-up dancers...u would know exactly what i mean. Kelly sucked vocally on stage. I know not everyone can hit those high notes like B but her husky voice kept going in and out. She couldn't hold the tune and dance in those high heeled pumps at the same time....you could hear her going out of breath and the strain in her voice. Like my good friend says....live performances does an excellent job of exposing "real stars" and "wanna be stars". Now am not trying to bash Kelly or anything like that, i think she's a beautiful, strong black woman....but perfoming?....well i'll leave y'all to decide.

Now as per the show, u had me rolling on the floor with ur description of those snotty little kids....lol. Naija kids are one of the most arrogant, rude,.. in your face kids i know....and i said I KNOW 'cuz i have first hand experience with my spoilt silly cousins back home. I would have to say our folks were much harder on us when we were coming up.

Now to conclude, i never heard of Sasha but i feel bad poor chick didn't get no love from her own. I bet if it was Eve or even Rah Digga whose career is almost over here in the states that took the stage to perform everyone would have been screaming like they were possessed. I swear we have serious COMPLEX issues. Anywho thats my two cents.

Least i forget, welcome home Tminx....hope u hope u are adjusting back to the crazy lagos life and traffic....lol...i bet u are!

psykotikdiva said...

i think i was the only one in lagos that didnt go, i wish i had tho,nyways welcome back to lagos

Jumi said...

This Day is continuing this series! I'm sure there is always room for improvement. Thanks for sharing the review. Happy weekend.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Vera Ezimora said...

Sounds like y'll had a lotta fun!

LondonBuki said...

Ok... someone show me this yahoozee dance.

The song ain't bad at all!

Debaay said...

Goshh...nigerians are really bad with planning n organisation... just saw 2face, tony tetula n P2 perform in manchester..they were great fair enof, but i promoted da event big tym, got all my friends to get VIP tickets cos we were told wewuld meet da starss.... VIP 4 where.... we were all sandwiched in the centre trying to grab peter n paul... i was soo pissed,i need da money back... but really wot can i do. Im soo motivated now to start my own event and entertainment thing.