{"id":3689,"date":"2012-08-09T07:07:15","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T11:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verastic.com\/?p=3689"},"modified":"2012-10-04T00:01:10","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T04:01:10","slug":"united-sounds-of-africa-tour-best-nigerian-concert-ever-plus-pictures-of-me-the-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/vl\/united-sounds-of-africa-tour-best-nigerian-concert-ever-plus-pictures-of-me-the-stars.html","title":{"rendered":"United Sounds of Africa Tour: Best [Nigerian] Concert Ever? Plus Pictures Of Me & The Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two disclaimers:<\/strong> I am writing this as a personal opinion, not a fact. My judgment is based only on the [Nigerian] concerts that I have attended. Secondly, this concert was marketed and sold as an African<\/em> – not Nigerian<\/em> – concert, but I have decided to reserve my right to call it what I want.<\/p>\n

This past Monday, August 6th 2012, Igwe and I headed to Washington D.C for the United Sounds of Africa Tour (concert). As of twenty-four hours before, I was not completely sure that I will make it because it was a week day, because it was in Washington D.C. (an hour away from me), and\u00a0because\u00a0I was not sure what<\/em> I would meet there. But we finally figured, what the heck, let’s go. Plus, I had free tickets. And bigger plus, my favorite singer, Timi Dakolo would be there. Seriously, have you heard his voice?<\/p>\n

It was held at the newly renovated Howard Theater.\u00a0According to the website, doors would open at 6pm, and the show would start at 8pm. Bearing in mind the experiences I had had with Nigerian events, I did not expect the doors to be open at 6pm, nor did I expect the event to start at 8pm. \u00a0We got there at about 6:45, I believe, and we sat right in front, which was also a full service dinning area. We ordered drinks and waited. The event started a few minutes past 8pm. What?!<\/em><\/p>\n

Zewdy from Ethiopia performed, and she was really good, but her dancer was bad ass. Then SamKlef<\/strong><\/em> sang. After SamKlef, it was Timi Dakolo<\/strong><\/em>. Then Brymo<\/strong><\/em>. Then Jesse Jagz<\/strong><\/em>. Then Ice Prince Zamani<\/strong><\/em>. Then J Martins<\/strong><\/em>. Then finally, TuBaba<\/strong><\/em> himself. Seven stellar performances. Out of the 8 performances, seven were Nigerian. So you see why I have termed this a Nigerian concert? And this is not a complaint, by the way. With the exception of Ice Prince<\/strong><\/em>, I had never seen any of them perform live.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Ice Prince<\/strong><\/em>, I had a dance-off with him. I don’t know what got into me, but I absolutely loved every minute of it. And I did it because I came there with the intention of having fun, and that was exactly what I did. I did not wear flat shoes for nothing. Videos were recorded. Pictures were taken. My bride price has probably hit rock bottom. And that’s all I’m willing to say about that.<\/p>\n

Continue to see the pictures >><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is why I think this concert was the best Nigerian concert:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> \u00a0It was well organized.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> \u00a0They kept their word; it started when they said it would start.<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> \u00a0There was no VIP shit<\/em> – excuse my lingo. People just same and sat (or stood) and enjoyed the show.<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> \u00a0It was not\u00a0rowdy.<\/p>\n

5.<\/strong> \u00a0Although M.I. was not there as originally\u00a0publicized, it was hard to miss him because the remaining seven did such a wonderful job.<\/p>\n

6.<\/strong> \u00a0It was very, very affordable: $40 for eight awesome\u00a0performances.<\/p>\n

7.<\/strong> \u00a0Some of the artists actually used the live band (Timi Dakolo, J Martins, and 2Face Idibia<\/strong><\/em>). Plus, they did a lot of adlibs, and it was very entertaining and engaging. And Ice Prince<\/strong><\/em> and Jesse Jagz<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0both had moments where they were doing some straight rap without music. I don’t know if they were adlibs \u00a0because I don’t know the actual lyrics well enough, but it was good.<\/p>\n

8.<\/strong> \u00a0And the best part, thanks to my friend, Timi Dakolo<\/strong><\/em> who gave me his backstage pass, I got to meet, greet, shake hands, and even chat with most of them, especially Ice Prince<\/strong><\/em> … and Timi<\/strong><\/em>, of course. These guys are funny, down to earth, fun … you know, kinda like me \ud83d\ude00 … and I’m not just saying that because I took pictures with them.<\/p>\n

By the way, I have read the\u00a0United Sounds of Africa website<\/strong><\/a>, and I still cannot figure out who the organizers are. Precisely, I want to know their nationality. Pardon me, I am not used to attending an organized Nigerian concert. I have been bruised, used, and abused, so you can see where this feeling of insecurity stems from. Anyway, according to their website,\u00a0Olubunmi U. Jinadu<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is the\u00a0President and VISIONARY<\/em>\u00a0(of United Sounds of Africa). However, the website also states that the event is orchestrated by Interglobe Entertainment Group (IEG)<\/strong><\/a> and Live Nation<\/strong><\/a>. So yeah, I’m pretty much confused.<\/p>\n

And now, the pictures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is what I looked like in the beginning- before the dancing, sweating, make-up-smudging, and curls-disappearing. I shared this image via my Instagram (@verastic)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

First picture with Timi Dakolo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With Jesse Jagz.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With Ice Prince<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With Brymo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With Timi Dakolo again<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With J Martins<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With SamKlef …. noni!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last one with \u00a0Timi as he was about to board the private coach *tears*<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can see that there was a gradual degeneration of my hair and make-up between the first and last picture. And I don’t know why my bag was hanging across like that. Oh, well.<\/p>\n

P.S.<\/strong> The concert isn’t over yet. Check the tour dates<\/strong><\/a> to see if one is coming close to you. If it is, I recommend you attend it. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two disclaimers: I am writing this as a personal opinion, not a fact. My judgment is based only on the [Nigerian] concerts that I have attended. Secondly, this concert was marketed and sold as an African – not Nigerian – concert, but I have decided to reserve my right to call it what I want.Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[561,1],"tags":[470,296,208,523,522],"class_list":["post-3689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-personal","category-vl","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-nigeria","tag-timi-dakolo","tag-united-sounds-of-africa","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUnited Sounds of Africa Tour: Best [Nigerian] Concert Ever? 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