Davido takes on Jose Chameleone
Nigerian’s Davido on stage. Photo by Edgar R. Batte.
When an emcee calls out to the crowd to make some noise for a music star and he can only get a few ululations, it is not a good sign.
Promoters and organisers behind Friday’s War of Titans show got a disappointing crowd. There was a small crowd to witness Nigerian star Davido take on Uganda’s Jose Chameleone at Kyadondo Rugby Grounds.
And when the two concert headliners came on stage, their performances lasted a combined 40 minutes.
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) initially cancelled the concert in a December 11 letter, in which it stated that no concert would take place at the venue.
This decision resulted in what the city authority described as non-compliance by the management of Kyadondo Rugby Club who did not comply with conditions set particularly for the December 6 concert dubbed Battle of Champions.
“We are reliably informed that contrary to the conditions stipulated in the permit authorising you to hold the said concert; you permitted the show to go (on) up to 3.30am (instead of midnight) and failed to prevent vehicles from parking on the adjacent pavement thereby destroying the green areas and road infrastructure,” the letter reads in part.
Just hours to the show, organisers had to pay KCCA a Shs30m security deposit for the green belt, to allow the concert to go on, but it seems the damage had already been done. With social media abuzz with news of the concert’s cancellation, many revellers didn’t get to know that the city authority later gave the organisers a green light to hold the show.
At the concert, Davido and Chameleone put up energetic performances. Davido took his act off stage into the crowd, working it with his upbeat tunes till he was dripping and partially soaked in sweat. And as the self-confessed Omo Baba Olowo (son of a rich man), bowed out, he confessed Ugandan women are more beautiful than those back home in his country, Nigeria.
“This is unity in diversity. We are here to have fun. How are you feeling?” African juggernaut Chameleone asked fans amidst cheers as he waved the Ugandan flag to prove his pride and patriotism. He came on dressed like a king in white and black with a crown on his head.
When it was announced that she show had ended, at about 11.30pm, some fans felt this was a “beep” and in fact stayed thinking the night’s emcee was cracking a joke. “This cannot be serious,” an irate reveller, Rajiv Ruparelia (another son of a rich man), said. But the organisers were complying with the KCCA regulation to have the show done by midnight.
