Source : Instagram @davido
It’s Detty December and all your favourite Nigerian artists have shows booked back to back. Crowds have left their houses hours in advance in order to beat the unimaginable traffic that’s bound to happen.
At the concert venue, fans are buzzing with anticipation. They are also now tired of the opening acts and are ready to see their faves perform.
What is the one thing you can guarantee will happen? Your favourite Nigerian artist, whom you have looked forward to seeing all year, will be late. That is almost always a guarantee. They get on stage so many hours behind schedule and might not even bother to give an apology. They will go ahead to give a performance so good that the fans cannot help but enjoy it because the air is charged once more again.
After the show, fans will air out their grievances and promise never to wait five hours to watch another artist perform. But guess what? They’ll be back next year.
Yet another Detty December rolls by and it’s the same thing all over again. What are the working forces behind these concerts that make Nigerian artists consistently late for their performances year in, year out? The first thing we notice with these situations is that these same artists book shows outside of the country and almost always make it on time. However, coming to their own turf it’s a whole different story.
This was basically what transpired at Burna Boy’s concert in Lagos on January 1, 2023. Fans had been waiting from 9 pm up until 3 am before the African Giant graced the stage. As expected, fans were upset about it. But did that stop them from enjoying his performance? Certainly not.
In addition to Burna Boy’s delayed entrance, he did not tender any apology to the crowd. Instead, he went on about how they were lucky he even climbed the stage at all. Of course, this earned him a lot of backlash on social platforms.
Two days later, the singer issued an apology for his lateness. He blamed it on the concert’s organizational structure and infrastructure. While this makes a lot of sense, I couldn’t help but wonder if some of these situations can be avoided. I also wondered, what other plausible reasons there could be for showing up late to an event.
Little Details when Planning Shows for Nigerian artists
Source: Instagram @adekunlegold
Anyone in showbiz knows how much work goes into successfully putting together a concert from scratch. From sound checks to venue checks to equipment logistics and so many other factors. There is so much fine-tuning that needs to go into the little details. So many things could go wrong. That seemingly little piece that was left out could cause a ripple effect and bring all kinds of trouble to the show.
Also, these event centers are being booked back to back during the festive period. This gives less time to set up and even lesser time to check if everything is error-free. You’d think that after the first few mistakes, the marketers of these shows would learn from the past and put more effort into fine-tuning the little details.
Apparently not, it is Detty December and there is money to be made. So there is little or no change with regard to this.
The Nigerian Factor will affect the Nigerian artist
Apart from the planning problem, we can attribute their lateness to Nigeria being Nigeria. Unfortunately, we are used to things being done with little to no finesse. That, plus the plethora of challenges one might encounter in putting together shows like this, does little to help the situation.
This is a norm people in the industry have worked hard to change, so we cannot say there have not been some improvements over time. However, this factor of incompetence still rears its head every once in a while.
Organizing a show in Nigeria should also come with the expectation of some hiccups that are definitely out of the ordinary. It should not be surprising to have to deal with problems like; power outages, fuel scarcity, or issues with not greasing the right palms in law enforcement.
These are things that will not typically be factors to worry about in a country that works as it should, but with Nigeria being Nigeria…
African Time
Source: Etsy.com
Let’s be honest, as much as we have tried to break the stereotype, Africans will be Africans. If there is anything Nigerians never fail to disappoint in, it is African time. Everyone will be trying their best to be as “fashionably late” as possible. As expected, this will cause a domino effect. Even if the Nigerian artists lined up do make it on time, they will not perform to a sparse crowd.
While these are all valid reasons why Nigerian musicians tend to keep fans waiting when it is showtime, we cannot always excuse bad behaviour.
If the fans have consistently complained about the timing of shows, it is left for artists and their teams to properly look into it to break the cycle. Fans might not boo their favourite Nigerian icons off stage which is common outside the shores of the country, but it certainly does not help the fandom.
