Ugandan concerts are not for short people
The B2C boys during their 10-year concert. PHOTO/ANDREW KAGGWA
What you need to know:
- B2C has been on the music scene for longer than 10 years with songs such as African Beauty, Ontanudde, So Fly before making a statement with Tokigeza, in 2016.
Picture a well attended Ugandan concert; most of the time, you have the VIP and the VVIP sections, the only two sections that matter in a local concert setting. These have a clear view of the stage.
Then there is the ordinary section, at times tucked away somewhere in the background with only the aid of an on and off screen. The places where most Ugandan shows happen are uneven and multipurpose, with trees, containers and structures blocking views of the audience. The case was not any different at the B2C at 10 concert the trio held at Hotel Africana on Friday.
A successful show where Ugandans came out in numbers. However, as expected, those seated away from the stage were more of witnesses than show goers, from trying to step on seats to climbing some of the containers at the venue, they tried to get a glimpse of what was on stage and settled for dancing while listening.
B2C has been on the music scene for longer than 10 years with songs such as African Beauty, Ontanudde, So Fly before making a statement with Tokigeza, in 2016.
Since then, the trio made up of Mr Lee (Mugisha Richard), Julio (Kasagga Julius) and Bobby Lash (Ssali Peterson) started churning out music and making wise collaborations with artistes such as Spice Diana, Radio and Weasel, Bebe Cool, David Lutalo and Rema Namakula among others. Their show on Friday kicked off at 9pm, and unlike most Ugandan shows, theirs took a bold move not to have curtain raisers, something that angered artistes who felt that they needed the platform. And also, the show somehow went on without coordinated hosts.
Apparently, the show had three MCs but the producer had a different plan – he did not want anyone besides the artistes on stage. The show was organised as a documentary of B2C with a voiceover telling the audience the story of the trio from their first single to where they are. This was probably meant to enable a seamless transition as they changed clothes but it was not. There was a lot of dead air in between.
And the sound did not help as much most of the time. But the beauty with a dedicated fanbase, is that they don’t care. They just danced away.
