Big guns skip Silk Street Jam show

The artistes’ tent, which normally gets filled with artistes in all corners was empty at times with a few artistes sneaking in to do a few songs and leave immediately after to catch another show.

The organisers of Club Silk’s Street Jam must have felt some pressure on New Year’s Eve. Over 3,000 fans had turned up by 10 p.m. to watch several big names only to wait until close to midnight to witness a handful of stars perform.

Over the years, the Street Jam has been some sort of a weighing scale where the big guns meet and display all sorts of stunts in a bid to outshine each other – but there was nothing of the kind this time around. No Chameleone; no Bobi Wine; no Juliana; no Iryn; no Ragga Dee and no Good Lyfe. Even if there was Bebe Cool, his nemeses were not around, hence no beef and no spice to the show.

The artistes’ tent, which normally gets filled with artistes in all corners was empty at times with a few artistes sneaking in to do a few songs and leave immediately after to catch another show.

In fact, there was hardly any artiste by midnight and it was DJ Shiru and Kenya’s Code-Red DJ who helped maintain the party mood in the audience by mixing a favourite songs. The audience was in party mood though, with revellers beaming with joy as it struck midnight and the sky was lit with beautiful fireworks.

The emcee of the night, Mawanda Ssuna also did his best to keep the fire burning and serious stage business started immediately after the fireworks.

A reveller who told me he stays in Swaziland asked me if the street jam is “like this” every year and my answer was no. The chap expected to see all the big guns on the same stage – and I told him that has always been the case.

Artistes, as usual, were in big demand to kick off 2010 with several New Years’ Eve concerts in Kampala. All the big artistes were advertised to feature at almost all of the parties including a few shows up-country. The likes of Jose Chameleone performed in Jinja, Kampala, Mukono and Entebbe.
Bebe Cool was the only ‘Big Size’ at the show as all people he considers his competitors didn’t turn up. GNL and Rabadaba honoured their commitments to perform and brought some life back into the street jam.

It was almost an all girl affair with performances from Blu3, Desire, plus Grace Nakimera who hosted a party at Garden City but also managed to make it for the Street Jam. In a rare twist, Cindy wrapped up the show – an honour usually a preserve of the big guns.

Despite all this, the event’s sponsors Smirnoff and Bell Lager had their respective hospitality tents full of drinks and eats making their guests comfortable.