“So we gonna take a break and run a couple of videos from all the Ugandan artistes who will be performing tonight alongside Mafikizolo at the Club Megafest, okay?,” went an excited MC Kats as he hosted South African group, Mafikizolo on the Xposed show on NTV last Saturday ahead of Club Mega Fest. No sooner had he run the endless videos than I figured that evening might end on a not-so-good note. And was I right or right?
Mafikizolo later tweeted their disappointment after leaving without performing despite the evident excitement to rock Ugandans at this Mega Fest. But then again, what were the organisers thinking lining up all these local artistes to curtain raise as if the four international artistes were not enough? I mean history has proved that less can indeed be more. Does anybody remember how successful the UB40 show was way back then without any curtain raisers?
So what was the fuss about having a handful of them and have the show dragged till late with the headliners walking away without performing?
For starters, we all know how excited our local artistes can be when it comes to associating with international acts. They want to sing until the international artistes notice. At least the organisers should have known when to stop and set priorities.
No offence to all the local artistes who represented by miming their songs to the crowds that probably sang along yet wishing they could close their eyes, open them and see something beyond the mimes, (read mafikizolo and the other international artistes).
Aren’t people tired of having something wrong with these big shows all the time? If the artiste does not chicken out at the last minute like Mavado did, he will show up and the crowd will disappoint as was the case at Chris Martins’ show. Now in this case, all the four artistes showed up, the crowds were massive and we thought, the gods had finally smiled on Kampala.
Until it ended without a performance from one of the “big four”! I wonder what case would have been like if the Makifizolo VIP Experience at the Kampala Serena Hotel the next day had not been on the cards. Although I know that for those who could not foot the 100k cover charge to see them at the VIP show, the tears are still flowing like a river.
Especially since we all know that we have our local artistes here, every day, doing all sorts of gigs to keep us entertained and in our faces. They will even break down the costs to suit audiences at Serena, Ggaba Beach, Satelite Beach Mukono, Nansana and other suburbs. So what was the essence of having that “curtain raising syndrome” eat up what would have been an mega fest?
