Chameleone has in the past sold out concerts but had met his Waterloo at the Kampala Serena’s Victoria Conference Hall in 2014; earlier dubbed the One Man, One Million show, it dented his reputation at the space that he didn’t make a second attempt.
Joseph Mayanja, alias Jose Chameleone, is a complicated man. Sometimes, it is easy to believe that the man takes his AKA so seriously that he always changes his colours. Think about it: the man has been giving Ugandans music for 25 years, and it has also been a turbulence of controversy.
This man has sang, fought, joined politics, and at some point shocked the church when he became a Muslim. That is a man who has lived on a song and changed his song like his name, a chameleon.
Jose Chameleone is the undisputed champion of his musical era; some claim he could be the greatest artiste who has graced the Ugandan stage, but such things are always up for debate.
Yet, when his previous concerts were advertised, many Ugandans were not as enthusiastic as they were yester-years.
For instance, when Gwanga Mujje was initially advertised, some cultural pundits prophesied the show would flop and bury the man once and for all; well, that did not happen; the worst happened.
It rained so bad that the concert was cancelled when the stage collapsed during the downpour.
Two weeks later, Chameleone had the concert, even making a bigger statement, with a better stage and a bigger crowd than originally anticipated.
Then there is Fenon Records.
Anchored by record producer Steve Jean, Fenon has over the years earned their place as event producers; however, even when they have the public on their side, it doesn’t mean they have not been challenged.
When Gwanga Mujje was yet to happen, for instance, Ugandans wanted to see the kind of stage Fenon was doing for Chameleone after another company had pulled off a humongous one for Spice Diana at the same venue, Lugogo Cricket Oval. When the storms brought it down, the man gave himself a challenge to design even a better stage and did.
In the run-off to the concert, Legend in Gold, Ugandans were pretty much aware of what Chameleone and Fenon can do, but their fates were yet to be tested. Again.
Chameleone has in the past sold out concerts but had met his Waterloo at the Kampala Serena’s Victoria Conference Hall in 2014; earlier dubbed the One Man, One Million show, it dented his reputation at the space that he didn’t make a second attempt.
Legend in gold
Besides that, after announcing his pricey Legend in Gold concert, Chameleone continued performing in many places in Kampala, which many people believed would hurt his numbers. Fenon, on the other hand, continued doing well for most of the part until they were called out for bad sound by one of the most outspoken artiste of the time a week ago.
This set up a showdown for the audience. Chameleone believes in his superpowers as an artiste, he believes people can’t get tired of seeing him or get enough of his music, and Saturday was the day to prove it. Fenon, on the other hand, wasn’t there to save a reputation; they were there to remind people that they are not just good, but production bullies as well. The stage was set.
With tech taking the fore, tickets were sold electronically thanks to his sponsors, I&M Bank and Airtel Uganda; it is said tables were sold out days before the show. That was Chameleone one up.
With a wall of screens, Fenon handed Chameleone a bare canvas to paint, and the man, for the first time in many years, owned it. It was the first time Chameleone started a show without a single curtain raiser. From 9pm to 10:30pm, he showed up and sang nonstop. This wasn’t the same man who usually shows up for his own performances and ends up talking to the audience, going off topic, and talking about Daniella or whatever is going on in his life; this time Chameleone was on stage to sing, and he did exactly that.
Delivered
For the first time in years, we experienced a Chameloene who stepped on stage and sang a song from the beginning to the end without going off to talk about a guy wearing a weird shirt in the background or a drummer whose kick is not as loud as he wants it.
His catalogue is wide and has defined a generation; thus, he divided the performances into four sessions, where each session had more than ten songs.
However, he did not divide the songs according to eras; thus, a song from 2004 could easily end up following a song from 2015. This kept his audience on its feet for all the time Chameloene was on stage; they sang, cried, and, in some cases, pleaded with Daniella to come home.
But this wasn’t an ordinary Chameleone concert; it was a celebration of a legacy; thus, this time around, he went as far as surprising both his audience and friends.
He threw surprises to the audience with the Ferooz and Bushoke appearance to a surprise Bebe Cool birthday cake.
But Chameleone is a chameleon, thus some of the traits from his past shows existed in the Legend in Gold one as well; for instance, he changed outfits enough times that we lost count. And as you could imagine, a number of them were ridiculously funny.
After singing more than 40 songs, with a programming mess, a few minutes to 2am, Chameleone left the stage in confetti glitter, a new one for a Ugandan concert. On there he had entertained Ugandans but as well celebrated both his friends and family.
The concert organised by Malembe and Buju Events also made up for an album both Chameleone and comedian Hannington Bujingo had promised Ugandans. Probably one day they will release it.
