When The 2 Broke Twimbos Snuck Into The Davido Concert
Barely having any time to recover from the long tiring walk home from the Toni Braxton & Babyface show the previous night, Dan & Phil found themselves cutting a hole in the fence around Belgravia Sports Club to get into the Davido show. The pauperized pair arrived bright and early at 10:00pm, 7 hours after the gates were opened for the show. It was apparent from as far as the Avondale area that the numbers at this concert were immense. As Dan & Phil tried to act cool as they slunk past security, the MC for the event Smylie was whipping the throngs into a frenzy. It's quite a sight to see 10,000 people screaming their disdain for any gyal who can't whine. First impressions were looking good, the stage seemed well put together if not necessarily amazing. The sound was audible. Security seemed tight. Chippaz Promotions seem to be running a tight ship.
Soul Afrika was the first act Dan & Phil saw. The rapidly rising "boy band" of 2 were virtually unknown a year ago, but here they were in front of the biggest crowd they had ever performed for. Thousands were able to sing along to their hit tracks Zvinhu, Newe, and others. The 2 still have much work to do though in terms of putting together a live performance, their set was a bit messy.
Next up was a clearly well-fed Roki (with a cameo appearance from Ex Q) who took to the stage looking like Raiden from Mortal Kombat. He belted out a slew of hits that had the girls screaming and reminded everyone why his is a name synonymous with Urban Grooves in Zimbabwe. Sticking to the same theme, next up was Trevor Dongo, in a snazzy suit & bow tie, singing for his African Queens.
Impressions on these performances were mixed, all the songs were sung over backtracks and were in some places practically lip-synced. It was then time for the DJ sets, and Smylie who should be the mascot of some energy drink somewhere brought onto the stage Ray Dizz. The crowd were beginning to get impatient for the headline act, but as soon as Ray Dizz plied his craft, that was all forgotten. Soon after, DJ Stavo took over the scratching of plates. DJ Stavo has always been an enigma to the 2 Broke Twimbos, his mixing skills are questionable but song selection always on point.
Davido arrived backstage during the DJ sets which triggered much commotion in the area. Security armed with a dangerous combination of little sense and dogs on a leash were then used to clear a path for Davido. It was very worrying that those in this VVIP section, which included artists, special guests and perhaps those who were willing to pay a premium, were treated like rioters and forcibly moved out of the way. Clearly we as Zimbabweans are a very accommodating people to everyone but ourselves.
A few minutes after midnight, Davido took to the stage singing All Of You as astronauts on the space station noted a sharp spike in decibel emissions from planet earth. Now Davido has not really built himself a reputation over the years as a sterling live performer but his energy was high as he came on and when you have a catalogue like he does, sometimes the music just speaks for itself. DJ Neptune played the backtracks and Davido went through his hit songs Dami Duro, Gobe, Skelewu The Sound, as well as Shoki, Woju, Tchelete and many more. Onlookers who looked closely would have seen tears streaming down Phil's face as Davido sang an acapella rendition of Aye.
During his performance, Davido also invited several young ladies (including one VERY young-looking lady) onto the stage to showcase their posterior oscillatory abilities. A rather disturbing moment as they each had the singer grind up against them one by one in a very "I sincerely hope that's not your wife up there bro" manner. At some point in his performance too, Davido threw his jacket into the crowd which caused a mini-riot that was still embarrassingly going on 20 minutes later.
How was the show? Well the answer to that question really depends on how you feel about Davido. If, like the majority of females present, you are a big Davido fan, then you had a great time. You saw one of your favourite artists on stage for just under an hour, you heard all your favourite songs and you probably were able to insert a Nigerian superstar into whatever unlikely fantasies you have in your head. If, however, like Dan & Phil, you were unable to sing along to half the songs and you have some regard for things like musical arrangement, performance ability and other such things, then it was a rather underwhelming show. I'd want to see Davido with a band, or at least singing over instrumentals instead of lip-syncing before making any conclusive judgments on his ability.
At this point Dan & Phil gingerly stepped around several vicious fights that had broken out and began their long trek home, ears ringing. Davido is probably quite surprised at how much love he received this side of the world, maybe one day soon a Zimbabwean artist will be able to fill up Belgravia Sports Club charging $15 a ticket.
