So last night, Nigerian-French singer, Asa performed live at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The event tagged “Asa Live in concert” was held on Sunday, 1st of May, 2016 at Eko Hotels and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos State…it was the ‘tush” version of the Olamide ‘Live in concert” which held last December.
The evening started out with performances from some exciting artists including MOBO Award winning Singer Rachel Kerr, Project Fame alumni, Isaac Geralds, Soul Fusion artist Falana, singer and pianist Kaliné and alternative soul singer Bez.
After the opening acts had gotten the audience warmed up, Asa
received a lengthy applause as she stepped out to take center-stage.
To whet the appetite of her fans, she started with ‘Awe’ and ‘Satan Be Gone’.
One of the highlights of the night was when songwriter/music producer par excellence Cobhams Asuquo, who produced Asa’s debut album, joined her on stage and took over the piano. Together, they performed a cover of Beyonce’s “Halo”. The hall fell silent initially and then erupted in a frenzy as the duo displayed an amazing musical synergy.
Asa performed for two hours, keeping the
energy levels in the hall high. There was singing, dancing, live
instrumentation and magic all round. The audience sang until they lost
their voices, and Asa simply went on.
See more photos from the evening below.
Kaliene
Falana
Rachel Kerr
Asa
Difference between Olamide and Asa’s concert:
- People around Eko Hotel are fully clothed
Were you at the hotel last year when OLIC held, you could have mistaken-ed it for a rundown motel in downtown Ilasa-Maja. Ladies and gentlemen were in various stages of undress
‘upandan’ Eko Hotel, showing everything available to be shown and
behaving as if they came there straight from the toilet.
The people that however showed up at Eko Hotel yesterday were fully clothed, many in suits, people respecting themselves.
- There are only 6 media partners
Olamide does a concert and everyone and their father is a media
partner, including the blogger in Erin-Ijesha who was friends with
Olamide when the struggle began. Asa’s own concert? It’s a sanitized
list of the Mnets of our time. 6 of them respectfully positioned on the
billboards and fliers across Lagos. Because aje-butter people don’t
stress themselves like that.
- Band-aid
This is a full band – it’s like the 300 Spartans that went to war. On
the keyboard, on the drums, on the guitars, on the carpet, crawling
around the place, doing this or that, here and there.
Asa came to Nigeria with a full band, leaving nothing to chance and taking nothing for granted. Our minds are blown.
- No red cups
No single red cup was in sight. At Olamide Live in Concert, alcohol was already flowing long
before you could say ‘drunk 20-somethings’ and when the show itself
started, we could clearly see the effects of all the wine poured all
over the place…but it didn’t happen at all Asa’s concert.
- The VIP section is upstairs
The VVIP section at Asa’s concert was
upstairs. The reason is simple, her handlers tell us.
Nigerian VIPs don’t dance, and that whole thing can mess up with the
feng shui of concerts. Asa is used to crowds – including ‘oyinbo’ people
– dancing, screaming all over the place with excitement just like any
proper concert should be.
She wants to ensure the same concertgoer experience. We say yes and
amen. Bye bye to ‘nyama nyama’ posers. If you cannot show yourself, go
upstairs and drink your champagne in peace. We came here to dance.
Photo Credit: EMILY NKANGA..additional info, Ynaija