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| Banky W at ‘The Grand Love Project’ concert. Photo: Niyola |
Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) boss
Banky W proved yesterday, Friday February 15, 2013, that he has
certainly come of age as a performer and crowd pleaser; with an
effortlessly delivered valentine concert, ushering in his much
anticipated fourth studio album, the R&BW.
Surprisingly and contrary to what a lot
of industry enthusiasts had predicted, the sudden passing away of
singer, Goldie did not affect the turn out and mood of guests. Guests
thronged the Civic Centre Victoria Island, Lagos, venue of the concert
in their hundreds to see what Nigeria’s self-acclaimed R&B King had
up his sleeves.
As is always the trend with most
Nigerian events, the show started very late; about four hours after the
original scheduled time. A few people who had paid attention to
punctuality, were seen grumbling and sitting idly in the hall waiting
for Mr. Capable to get on with the show.
For a brief moment, Big Brother Africa
host and Rhythm 93.7FM OAP, IK Osakioduwa acted as compere until
comedian, Seyi Law later came on thrilling the guests with so much
humour they didn’t mind the late start.
Following the concert’s church theme,
Nollywood actress and fellow Samsung Ambassador, Kate Henshaw opened
with the reading from the ‘book of love’. The performing acts were
referred to with one church title or the other. And for the night, Banky
W was introduced as ‘Evangelist Banks’ the minister of R&B Love,
while other performers were either pastors, deacons and what have you.
With the aid and support of the
remarkable band that Banky W had put together, each performance left no
doubt that this band has had series of days and nights of rehearsals
with one objective: giving the guests a night to remember. Mr. Capable
threw in popular cuts from all of his albums, some performed with a bit
of theatrics.
Communication and interaction was key to
his performance. His command of the stage was the kind not many would
have expected from a cool and gentle dude. And there was no miming.
The band’s choir-styled rendition of the
‘Lagos Party’ was phenomenal. Songstress, Waje killed the performance
on the duet, ‘Thief My Kele’. Both Lynxxx’s and Banky’s verses on ‘My
Unborn Child’ were ill. Yes, the dramatic wedding song featuring the
sexy Niyola was absolutely amazing and so were the other cuts.
One of the major highlights of the night
was the introduction of veteran reggae artiste, Blackky who ended up
serenading the guests with his nostalgic ‘Rosie’ and ‘Bang Belly’
getting them to join him in a sing-along fashion.
The idea of getting the guest performers
to do just one song each seemed to work, as it spared us what may have
turned out to be a long process of series of lengthy and probably,
boring performances. K9, Black magic, Chidinma, Bez, Praiz, Dammy Krane,
Iyanya all lived up to expectation. Maybe even more.
Lighting, check. Sound, check. Apart
from the late start, for the first time in a long while, I was at a show
where we didn’t have the usual and frequent microphone and technical
hitches.
The show finally came to an end with the performances of the EME acts Shaydee and Skales, with Wizkid conspicuously MIA.
Above all, it was a great show that
deserves all the accolades due an astounding performer who has built a
strong following in a few years and has been instrumental to the
successes of a few other acts. Big thumbs up, Mr W.
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