Lagos rocks baby!
The weekend started on a bit of a downer however. A young professional, cut off in their prime; people dressed in black under an unforgiving sun; hot tears flowing freely and mixing indistinguishably with beads of sweat. A reminder of mortality, of destiny, a reawakening of the desire for purpose. The family was stoic; sharing words of comfort from the Good Book; comforting those who should be comforting them. I took a deep breath, and recognized that it was easier to do so because of the serene, calm environment. The Vault and Gardens has brought increased dignity to an all too often shame free rite. No one will begrudge the flailing and wailing and rolling on the ground. The order of the place though seems to constrain the proceedings to be more justified. No rating here. Its not needed and would actually be disrespectful. It was a befitting arena for a solemn sendoff.
There rest if the day as a bit of a blur. Banks, brokers and bills filled the agenda. The evening had more interesting offerings. New Edition were in town! Well the poster said New Edition, but as we rolled up to venue late afternoon to secure entry, we were surprised to but not hugely let down to see that it was Bobby Brown and BBD on the bill. "Ralph Tresvant is on parole and Johnny Gill has tax issues so they can't leave the states", the lady at the stand said. Somehow, I wasn't going to bet the mortgage on the veracity of her words, but it didn't matter; they weren't there. She handed us off to one of her minions when she saw our reaction to her pitch for VIP seats (So we reset our mental playlist, and rued for a minute the songs were weren't going to hear, and determined to enjoy the hits on offer. Poison and My Perogative were anthems that were on many a bucket list to be heard live. Well maybe not on the bucket list, but if there was a spare line and they were coming to town they it might sneak on.
We sat by the water, eating hard suya and sipping cold drinks and marveling at how little activity was by the water in a city that had miles and miles of internal and external coastlines. You'd think that Lagos was a landlocked state by how little water played a part in our transportation, food and recreation. The only buildings that could be enjoyed on the water front were the Zenon and Radisson Blue buildings. (☀ InsideLagos hopes for... a day when Lagos beaches are as celebrated as Rio's and our waterfront as beautiful as Little Venice). It was such a lovely way to pass time, and I will urge all Lagosians to attempt to spend sometime by a body of water at least once a month.
We moved on to the venue. Eko Hotel was eerily deserted, even at the late hour we arrived. We find a mole is useful for these type of events. Usually someone who is too conscientious to be late for anything (even when then know it would not start on time!) is a safe moral choice. This way there is no exploitation, everyone gets the satisfaction they want. We had just missed Mode 9, and there was a very energetic dance troop on stage when we walked in. Usually, I usually have to squint to stop my self from cringing when watching local performance, but I have been very impressed with the quality of the dance crews I have seen in recent times. These were excellent, with high precision and invention in every performance. It was a great way to segue from one performance to another, and I must say this was probably the best show I have seen apart from maybe the Fela musical in Lagos. The set was creative and well executed, the continuity was almost flawless, but what really blew me away was the sound! The sound was the best I have ever heard at a Nigerian concert, and I have been to a few. The performances from Waje was great, but Omawumi was a blast on stage. The ex reality show singer really seems to enjoy herself on stage. And it wasn't that she was feeding off the crowd, as for all the time and attention and care that was put into the stage production, the promoters R28 missed a trick somewhere in the publicity. Shame though, as it really was well put together.
Banky W also did his thing, crooning to a willing damsel to get his crowed feedback. Then came the main events. BBD, as respectful to their audience and New Edition always are, launched into hit after hit after hit. They started with, with "I thought it was me" and ending with "Poision", routinely causing the crowd to jump up and down in-between. It was a real pleasure to see them perform; still fit and lean and hungry, willing to do all the moves and trying their best (poor Ricky Bell really struggled vocally though) to belt out the tunes the way we remembered them. With Bobby Brown, in contrast, it was evident that bad behaviour was very near the surface. From the introduction, where he had to be coaxed out by his 'brothers' who seemed under contract to hype him up and kept referring him as the 'King of the Stage'. Throughout the concert, he had to be motivated by his back up singers who yelled out his name out of the blues every once in a while. It was comical when he tried to dance, and very evident after a while that Bobby wasn't going to last long enough to play enough of his hits to satiate the crowd. So we left, not as full as we would have been with the full crew on stage, but still it was a great night. And that was only the first day! More soon...
So how was your day?
R28's BBD & Bobby Brown Show = Q**S*V* Overall* - the 15k seats at the balcony were some of the best in the house and the show was great, but at 10k for the cheapest ticket and a limited line up it was a bit dear.
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