Our favourite performers of the night weren’t even musicians- A mad man and a frustrated woman, if Basket Mouth and Princess were singers, you could say they killed every single note and murdered every song last night. I hadn’t laughed so hard in a minute. 

Over four hours late and roughly three hours and thirty minutes long, the concert flaunts a very impressive line of Superstars; Davido, Wizkid, Seyi Shay, Phyno, Reminisce, Skales, Dammy Krane, Ice Prince, Q. Dot, Oritsefemi, Pasuma, Lil Kesh and upcoming artists, from the summersaulting Tasha to a laser tounged up and coming rap artist who performed with Base one – and was a better rapper than Olamide… last night. There was a LOT to love about the show and even incredibly a lot more to hate. 

WHAT WE LIKED (L) AND HATED (H) ABOUT THE CONCERT

L- GOOD INTENTIONS: Olamide had a choir, an orchestra (or a big band if you must be a hater), fire works and even a Danfo bus on stage. 

H- TOO MUCH: The music directing left less than little to be desired. The Orchestra was almost insignificant and even undermined some songs; Stupid love and Durosoke with live instrumentals? Seriously? + Didn’t the recently held Channel O Music awards make and overflog the vehicles on stage concept weeks back? Many times the music slipped into cacophony and I felt like turning down the volume to save my aching head and actually enjoy the music. The mood was all “turn up”, yes for three hours- banging songs. My head wan burst!!! I wish they were more aware of mood and how screaming along to club bangers nonstop for over 30 minutes can exhaust the audience and ultimately make them uninterested… bored and… sleepy. 

L- TRIBUTE TO DAGRIN: He opened up his set with a tribute to late rapper DaGrin and performed a few of his songs. The reverence and humility was just adorable. 

H- THEN HE LEFT: WTF!!! The tempo was high already and I was prepared to be hit by a roller coaster of hits… and then he left the stage. Five minutes into your own show? He couldn’t have been tired- 

Jay-Z’s Coachella performance was over 1 hour and 30mins long and he took no “break”, 

Janet Jackson’s Haiti “All for you” show was for 2 hours and she only left… to change costumes for like three minutes or less

Beyonce’s Glastonbury performance was for 90 mimutes and she only took a 3 minute break

Then it dawned on me that it was intentional. The plan was to sandwich his performance with intermitent performances by other musicians to keep things interesting and Bleep!! I find it very disrespecftul. Olamide is four albums and a million collaborations deep and has more than enough to give us a two hour performance uninterrupted with well mixed hits back to back. I would have preffered a two part concert; the first half for guest performances and the second for Olamide with guest artists for collabos. I really wanted to see him as a main course not as a side dish.  The “Sandwich” took the shine off him and made him look as if he wasn’t strong or interesting enough to perform a set.

L- THE SET DESIGN: Sleek, Simple and okay… for the level of a rapper (let’s not bring Kanye West into this). Not as good as PSquare’s but better than Wizkid’s. 

H- DANCERS AND MIMES: In costuming and directing stage actors/dancers, extra care should be taken to put certain things in place. No matter how crazy your dancers or models may be, they should never outshine you in look and action- the emphasis is on you not them. Olamide had a scene so rowdy and disorganised, my eyes almost bled. He tried to dramatise some of his songs (like we said earlier, lots of good intentions) and had the likes of Princess, Juliet Ibrahim and Eniola Badmus on hand for help but to be honest, it ended up a mess.The choreography could have been a whole lot better and please  take notes from Michael Jackson and Beyonce, stage acts must look duller than you so you can be well established, they should also be behind you to create an illusion of control, making it easy for the audience to focus on the one person who deserves it.

L- PROF. OSINBANJO’S PRESENCE: His PR team is definitely working hard but I feel so sorry for the old man for enduring everything else except the comedians, Davido and wizkid. I am so sure he didn’t enjoy the show, not with the noise and rushed lyrics but it was really nice of him to turn up. Your plan is working.

H- SHOKI REMIX: Davido and Kesh were on stage to perform but Olamide didn’t come up for his verse, I was so hopeful and afterwards, angry.

L- OLAMIDE AND PHYNO: My shock when I realised there were many Igbo fans in the house! Their chemistry was awesome. Why haven’t we had an Ice Prince/Olamide/Phyno track yet? Or is there one? 

H- THE SEATING ARRANGEMENT: I know that’s the way it’s always been. But I have seen clips of MJ, Beyonce and Jay Z perform and the people in front are the die hard fans… ofcourse within a decent distance and with lots of security. I pitied those who paid for regular seats and sat way back…. and these were basically the bulk of his real fans, those from the “street”. Nobody near me in VIP even knew his lyrics word for word. I really would have preferred that the VVIP sat where the regular peeps did and gave the whole floor to a regular audience and put the tickets at probably N15,000. He is Olamide, he will sell. + He would then have the oppprtunity to interact with his fans and get energy from them. VVIP feeling too big to dance or too paranoid to mix? Stay behind where no one will see you and let the artists hear their real fans scream. 

L- DJ EXCLUSIVE, DJ CUPPY, DJ SPINALL: There were many silent moments during the show and these people were the defibrillators.  

H-  OLAMIDE THE PERFORMER: And this goes out to many performers at the show. It was obvious many of them didn’t know the lyrics to their own songs, they felt like hype men to their own performances- but that may be because of the need to keep the crowd gingered- I just don’t appreciate overdoing it at the expense of the song, it feels like a lazy approach to performance. There are a million ways to approch a song. I’ve seen Olamide perform at a number of events and he never gives 100 percent to his lyrics- probably due to highness/lack of rehearsal/forgetfulness/being overwhelmed by the atmosphere… but still not enough reason to gas off bars from your songs at your own concert. What are you, post-peak Frank Sinatra? 

L- YORUBA “FREESTYLE”: Someone please tell me the name of that guy that performed with Base One as they both took turns to spit cray lines in Yoruba!!! Next to Princess and Basket Mouth, these dudes were the best performers of the night and music wise, the best artists of the night. #noarguement  

This was clearly NOT Olamide’s concert. Judging from the producers who came on stage at the end of the show, it was obvious that he was used to sell the event. He definitely was the star attraction but his part/significance to the concert was grossly disillusioned and over hyped. I suspect that the fact that he was the headliner and not the producer could explain why his performance set was disjointed, his artistic preferences clearly had a few restrictions or probably Olamide is just immensely blessed with a bad set of advisers. 

This concert had lots of potential but not exactly a good set of brains to steer it in the right direction. Olamide, you are not too big to watch concert clips on YouTube. The day you stop learning is the day you begin to fall. 

Rating- Gorgeously shallow: 4/10


http://www.colawole.

CAVEAT: And for the dumbasses who will start saying this writer is a hater, I didn’t pay N25,000 to hate on Olamide. Criticism is the mother of improvement.

Interesting.. Interesting.. Thank you so much for taking the time to put this up. I very nearly came home just so I could go to this concert, but things didn't work out as planned, so I had to put my trip off..

When I heard he used a live band, I figured it'd either a be a REALLY good thing, or a really bad thing. A lot of artists think that using live bands allow them some kind of creative/artistic license, but the success and ability to pull it off depends on a whole lot of variables that they tend to overlook. Sound level/quality/acoustics is a HUGE factor when doing a live show, and this is quite often overlooked, unfortunately.


Our favourite performers of the night weren't even musicians- A mad man and a frustrated woman, if Basket Mouth and Princess were singers, you could say they killed every single note and murdered every song last night. I hadn’t laughed so hard in a minute. 

Over four hours late and roughly three hours and thirty minutes long, the concert flaunts a very impressive line of Superstars; Davido, Wizkid, Seyi Shay, Phyno, Reminisce, Skales, Dammy Krane, Ice Prince, Q. Dot, Oritsefemi, Pasuma, Lil Kesh and upcoming artists, from the summersaulting Tasha to a laser tounged up and coming rap artist who performed with Base one – and was a better rapper than Olamide… last night. There was a LOT to love about the show and even incredibly a lot more to hate. 

H- TOO MUCH: The music directing left less than little to be desired. The Orchestra was almost insignificant and even undermined some songs; Stupid love and Durosoke with live instrumentals? Seriously? + Didn’t the recently held Channel O Music awards make and overflog the vehicles on stage concept weeks back? Many times the music slipped into cacophony and I felt like turning down the volume to save my aching head and actually enjoy the music. The mood was all “turn up”, yes for three hours- banging songs. My head wan burst!!! I wish they were more aware of mood and how screaming along to club bangers nonstop for over 30 minutes can exhaust the audience and ultimately make them uninterested… bored and… sleepy. 

I have to say that this is my fear with concerts.. The noise. Seriously, if the sound level isn't right, rather than adapt, they either try to overcompensate with energy (which = more noise), or they're so into their set that they're not aware of how it must sound to the audience. I find the latter of these two to be negligent on the concert producer's part though.. really. Do your job!


H- THEN HE LEFT: WTF!!! The tempo was high already and I was prepared to be hit by a roller coaster of hits… and then he left the stage. Five minutes into your own show? He couldn’t have been tired- 

Jay-Z’s Coachella performance was over 1 hour and 30mins long and he took no “break”, 

Janet Jackson’s Haiti “All for you” show was for 2 hours and she only left… to change costumes for like three minutes or less

Beyonce’s Glastonbury performance was for 90 mimutes and she only took a 3 minute break

Then it dawned on me that it was intentional. The plan was to sandwich his performance with intermitent performances by other musicians to keep things interesting and Bleep!! I find it very disrespecftul. Olamide is four albums and a million collaborations deep and has more than enough to give us a two hour performance uninterrupted with well mixed hits back to back. I would have preffered a two part concert; the first half for guest performances and the second for Olamide with guest artists for collabos. I really wanted to see him as a main course not as a side dish.  The “Sandwich” took the shine off him and made him look as if he wasn't strong or interesting enough to perform a set.

I have to say that I smiled a bit when I read this. You've just listed off 3 EXCEPTIONAL, EXTREMELY EXPERIENCED artists, all of whom are known workaholics and perfectionists. Most of other foreign artists even pale in comparison to these three, so to hold Olamide to their standard might be a tad unrealistic. I do agree with what you're saying though; I just think he has time to get to where they are.. And as corny as it might sound, managed expectations might be the best approach next time..


H- SHOKI REMIX: Davido and Kesh were on stage to perform but Olamide didn't come up for his verse, I was so hopeful and afterwards, angry.

I'm a bit perplexed by this. How did he not perform his verse? Was his hype man doing it instead? I know some artists do that during concerts, but I'm quite taken aback by this. This was a pretty big hit, why did he skip it? I can imagine that the crowd must have gotten excited when it started playing, no?.. Interesting..

L- OLAMIDE AND PHYNO: My shock when I realised there were many Igbo fans in the house! Their chemistry was awesome. Why haven’t we had an Ice Prince/Olamide/Phyno track yet? Or is there one? 

There actually is. On the Street OT album, there's a song called 'In my Circle' by both of them.

H- THE SEATING ARRANGEMENT: I know that’s the way it’s always been. But I have seen clips of MJ, Beyonce and Jay Z perform and the people in front are the die hard fans… of course within a decent distance and with lots of security. I pitied those who paid for regular seats and sat way back…. and these were basically the bulk of his real fans, those from the “street”. Nobody near me in VIP even knew his lyrics word for word. I really would have preferred that the VVIP sat where the regular peeps did and gave the whole floor to a regular audience and put the tickets at probably N15,000. He is Olamide, he will sell. + He would then have the opportunity to interact with his fans and get energy from them. VVIP feeling too big to dance or too paranoid to mix? Stay behind where no one will see you and let the artists hear their real fans scream. 

I kind of chuckled at this as well. You added THE biggest workaholic/perfectionist of them all to this group.. MJ. WOW.. lol. Again, I do get what you're saying, and fully agree with it. I think with a lot of these artists though, it's more about income generated than fan appreciation. Or the reasoning behind hierarchy of exclusivity being that the more money a person spends, the more attention should be paid to said person. One would expect a slightly different line of thinking with Olamide, being that his whole shtick is about being a common man's musician and all that, but.. you know.. his team probably took care of all of that, and he didn't think it a big enough deal to switch up.. or something. Who knows?


H-  OLAMIDE THE PERFORMER: And this goes out to many performers at the show. It was obvious many of them didn’t know the lyrics to their own songs, they felt like hype men to their own performances- but that may be because of the need to keep the crowd gingered- I just don’t appreciate overdoing it at the expense of the song, it feels like a lazy approach to performance. There are a million ways to approch a song. I’ve seen Olamide perform at a number of events and he never gives 100 percent to his lyrics- probably due to highness/lack of rehearsal/forgetfulness/being overwhelmed by the atmosphere… but still not enough reason to gas off bars from your songs at your own concert. What are you, post-peak Frank Sinatra? 

Okay.. this would irk me BIG TIME. I follow him on Instagram, and there was once a post/caption about him having to learn his lyrics because he forgets them so often. To be fair, he's had a few albums, so there's a lot to remember. But that's why there are set lists, and that's why there are rehearsals. Plan ahead, and practice..


This was clearly NOT Olamide’s concert. Judging from the producers who came on stage at the end of the show, it was obvious that he was used to sell the event. He definitely was the star attraction but his part/significance to the concert was grossly disillusioned and over hyped. I suspect that the fact that he was the headliner and not the producer could explain why his performance set was disjointed, his artistic preferences clearly had a few restrictions or probably Olamide is just immensely blessed with a bad set of advisers. 


And with this right here, I think you've managed to sum it all up. Based on your very detailed review, as well as videos I've seen online, I think you've hit the nail on the head with this... I almost want to email him your write up just so he's aware of what his fans are saying. I'm a HUGE fan of his, and I think he might be one of the most talented and versatile lyricists out there. If he would just perfect his whole 'package' (for lack of a better word), I think we can say for sure, that he'll be around for a long time to come.

He's coming to the States in April (Finally!), and I want to go watch him. It says he's performing with a live band though.. so I hope its better this time around. I don't know that he'll read it, but can I email him/his people your review? Who knows, right?