It’s been christened the official Christmas party and that’s just how it turned out on Christmas Eve as Citi 97.3 FM continued with its traditional D2R concert at the now beat-down Accra International Conference Centre.
The line up was very enchanting and creative as the team made sure it had a fair blend of the stars from 10 to 15 years and even 20 years ago to the new kids on the block.
Tic (he removed the Tac from his name)
Praye (back after their break up)
Tinny (made a cameo on a Praye joint)
Wutah (made a cameo on same joint)
Coded of 4×4 (made a cameo on a Praye joint)
Stonebwoy
Yaa Pono
Kidi
Kuami Eugene
Adina
Wendy Shaw
Article Wan
Eddie Kay
Sister Debbie
Sold out concert
Congratulations to the team at Citi FM. They pulled off a spectacular show. Tickets got sold out 3 days before the show. As usually folks decided to chase tickets when they knew they wouldn’t get some. May be Citi FM should consider using a bigger auditorium for 2019. Fantasy Dome, may be? Just so a lot more people could have the chance to party.
Praye stole the show
The trio had made the near-fatal mistake of breaking up years ago after they had thrilled Ghanaians for a number of years. Whoever told them they’d succeed as solo artists lied to them. Even Praye Honeho who seemed to be the creative genius and the glue of the team didn’t quite have what it takes to succeed as a solo artist.
At D2R, they were on fire to dish their hits from 10, 12 years ago, and the songs simply lit up the 34° furnace of an auditorium. It may have been the feeling of nostalgia the songs brought, but the audience simply loved it, and I am sure the lads felt motivated and told themselves ‘guys, this is us!’. The climax for me was when they had Tinny and Wutah come on stage to do the remix to none of those hits. The crowd still loves those two to bits and it was evident.
Praye simply stole the night. If they get back to working hard again, they will reclaim their spot in the industry. The goodwill is there and their old hits is there to prop them up. May be they can start by doing remixes of the old. What we say on the night was simply amazing and we missed them a lot.
Kidi and Kuami Eugene show growth
I have said at some point that Kidi and Kuami Eugene (in addition to King Promise) are the future of GH music, and they proved that last night. Clearly their stagecraft have improved over the past few months. They have been on a lot of shows over the past year and this was evident yesterday.
They controlled their performances and engaged with the audience beautifully. Having a lot of hit songs over time has also boosted their confidence on stage and it was great seeing the crowd react to them.
If they keep up like this and learn a thing or two on stage performances from say Samini, they will be right up there.
Tic and Kojo Akoto Boateng
Tic was not so huge 20 years ago. But he was up there and played in the league of Obrafour and Lord Kenya. He wants those days back. Clearly. He has done a remix of Kwani Kwani with Kuami Eugene and it seems to be doing well.
I could say at D2R though that quite a number of people in the audience didn’t even know the song is a remix. It was cool seeing Kuami come in to do the hit and lead up to his on own act.
What was also exciting was seeing Citi FM’s Kojo Akoto Boateng do the Obuor rap on one of Tic’s songs. Kojo has a thing for music and it was cool seeing him on stage with his big head flowing away almost effortlessly.
Stonebwoy
Samini trained Stonebwoy. Samini is by far the best stage performer in Ghana. His prodigy learned well. Stonebwoy never disappoints and he brought his A-game on as the headline artist for the 2018 D2R. What Stonebwoy does so well is not to mime but truly sing. He has a DJ that plays to his style and you can be assured of a true performance once the Bhim President takes the stage.
Adina had a bad night
Adina usually has a rich, unique voice. But she seems to struggle at D2R. Seemed she had a sore throat and was struggling to sing. Whatever it was, I have seen her better. I think an artist should treat every performance or show as a stand alone and seek to do his or her best. If for some reason you can’t perform well because of ill-health or whatever it is, better to pull out than give your audience a performance that truly is below par per your own standards.
Wendy Shay! Wendy Shay!!
Where do I start from! Well, it is hard not to think of the matter that she is trying to, or looking like, an Ebony-Wannabe. Maybe it’s a Bullet/RuffTown thingy where the music must be gospel melody-turned secular tunes, sex-laced with the performer clad as sexually as possible.
So maybe she must fit that profile whiles signed to the label. At D2R, the fans didn’t seem so enthused. She performed well. Danced well. Didn’t sing much. Talked much. She did enough to have had the audience mind her. But that didn’t seem to happen.
Maybe we are yet to accept her for who she really is. Maybe people are tired of Bullet? I don’t know. Wendy has been the most outstanding female artist this year however.
Shall we discuss the Conference Centre….again?
The central AC has not worked there for months – sorry, years. The mobile air conditioners do not simply make sense because for an auditorium like that, the only AC system that makes sense is a central AC.
I used to think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was in charge of the Conference Centre. But I am told the Conference Center is part of the facilities under the Controller of Presidential Household, Jubilee House (together with Peduase, State House and Independence Square).
Event organizers are charged something in the region of 25K per night to use the venue. Yet, aside the malfunctioning AC, the toilets are also almost always dirty and as seen from December 24, a number of broken sinks and urinals as well, and until recently, torn and worn out seats.
With all the money they make, it’s annoying and depressing how we can’t maintain that building. Seems the curse of ‘it’s for government’ has caught up with it as well.
Shame.
Let’s end on a good note, shall we?
It was fun, to put it simply. Good crowd. Venue not outrageously overfilled, very exciting performances from all including Yaa Pono and Eddie Kay.
DJ Armani, who has been the event DJ for D2R for a number of years now, was in scintillating form as well. Bash, the comedian was around to do his thing and it all added up nicely.
AJ and OK did a decent job in hosting the night. All in all, D2R2018 lived up to its billing.
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By: Kwame Gyan
