020 Live: Beauty And The Beast

The first 020 Live Concert which took place at the Dome of the Accra International Conference Centre, paid for by Vodafone and organized on their behalf by RockStar400 was one of the best concerts put together in 2010. That show was organized to commemorate the first anniversary celebration of Vodafone’s arrival in Ghana.

The show which was hosted by Caroline Sampson then of Citi FM saw performances from some of our local artistes including Sarkodie, R2Bees and 4x4. However, the real show stoppers on the night were the Nigerian duo, P Square who not just headlined the show but gave a good account of themselves in the department of live band performance.

In view of this maiden success, people had looked forward to another 020 Live Concert this year and when it was announced they knew another massive show was in the offing at the Dome of the International Conference Centre.

Some comedy of errors leading up to the show made it obvious that certain things could go against a good staging of the second 020 Live Concert. The first was when Benny Blanco mentioned on Icons that Ne-Yo would perform at the show as the main artiste when in fact they had not secured his signature.

Later, another rumour went rife across the length and breadth of the entertainment fraternity that the headline act would not be Ne-Yo but rather Chris Brown. That also turned out not to be until it was finally revealed that the real headline artiste on the night would be Trey Songz.

Another issue that some Ghanaians got mad about was the announcement ahead of the show that the host would be American model Amber Rose. Perhaps it is the furore that led to the addition of XFM presenter, Eddie Blay to Rose as co-host.

The night before the event on Tuesday, a cocktail was organized for the artistes, which saw some members of the entertainment media being invited. Also, there was a press conference in the afternoon of the event where some were again invited. At both of these mini events entertainment reporters were given wrist bands and were explained to that it would give them access everywhere.

This reporter had one of those and when one of the security guys at the main entrance saw it he said I should rather go through the VIP entrance. But when I walked that long carpet and went to the entrance for VIPs only to be told that I had no business going through that door. I returned with my bowed head to the entrance for ordinary ticket holders.

Upon entering the Dome, I realized it would be a lost cause. There was absolutely nowhere for me to sit or even to stand comfortably to watch the show so I could do a good report of it.

Thus after pretending to be watching (I never saw the face of any artiste whether on stage or on the screen) two performances from 5Five and Stay Jay and while RnM were still doing karaoke on the stage, I walked out and went home to sleep.

However, in the morning when I woke up, I went on twitter and Facebook to find out what people were saying while the show was going on at the Dome. Below are some of the tweets and updates from industry people to give you a view on how the show went.

Apologizing after the show, Trey Songz tweeted that “Although at no fault of mine, I wanna apologize 4 goin on stage 2hrs late & thank thank thank u all 4 stayin!!! Ears still ringin!!! #GHANA.”

On his part the second big act on the night D’banj tweeted to thank Ghanaians when he said “OMG, Ghana u guys are the best medawase, what a wonderful crowd. I love u all. OoooSssHhhEeee, Let's go now it's party time!”

Event organizer and entertainment critic, Whitney Boakye Mensah sounded both happy and sad when she posted on Facebook that she “went to see the koko master (D’banj), he did his thing, NII AYI TAGOE, anyemi you half saved a bad show, am home but this 020 live thing no de be keke, chaos, chiaaaaaaaaaaa.”

Ace celebrity blogger Ameyaw Debrah first tweeted that “Hmmm did r2bees bail out on Vodafone? They didn’t show up on stage when they were called” and then he tweeted again “R2bees make appearance finally to sing “Kiss your hand” with Wande Coal.”

“Too many ups n downs @ 020 live,” was how David Bossman of E-volution International put it, “so we’re going to wait another 30mins for Trey's band to get ready? N this slow jam keeping us company is doing more harm than good.” But after a while he tweeted again “awesome Trey Songz performance, apart from the production lapses....it was a good one. Massive set up, good lighting, and PA was on point.”

It seemed that Ghanaian actress Lydia Forson was more disappointed than anybody else in the audience when she tweeted “I didn't pay to come and watch people’s legs.” Then she tweeted again “seriously why do people keep taking Ghanaians for a ride, never going to any stupid concert in GH.” The Perfect Picture actress seemed to have kept the disappointment till the following morning when her tweet read “last night was...I like Amber Rose, but seriously what did she come here to do again? Please educate me, maybe there's something I don't know.”

The full list of artistes at the second 020 Live Concert was Trey Songz, D’banj, VIP, R2Bees, D. Cryme, Stay Jay, RnM and 5Five. The organizers had hoped that Amber Rose would “mesmerize the audience with her dazzling beauty and endearing personality” as host together with Eddie Blay.