Review: The Highs & Lows At Tigo Ghana Meets Naija

On May23 the highly anticipated 5th edition of 'Ghana Meets Naija' show sponsored by Tigo was finally held and I must say it was a mega show worth to witness. As usual, due to the nature of such concerts lots of events do take place on the night and we at www.georgebritton.com would like to bring you a version of our review and highlights that took place.

Naturally, every event has its highs and lows which prompted our headline. Also we have decided to categorize the main highlights (Highs & Lows) of the night under our discussion.

Like the popular statement everyone tends to ask before 'spilling' an information with two sides, we would like to ask our readers a rhetoric question. Which side would you like to hear first, the highs or lows? Well, since the #TGMN show was started on the latter i guess its right to start with it.

This review or report is purely to contructivenly criticize the show as well as report what really went down inside the Accra international conference center during the Tigo Ghana Meets Naija 2015

The Lows:
- Overcrowding At The Auditorium: Now we all know how influencial Bola Ray's Empire Entertainment initiative 'Ghana Meets Naija' has come to be and the level of publicity, certainly, promised a full house. Even before the event, it was announced tickets had been sold out about a week prior to the d-day. Nonetheless, the auditorium was filled to the last seat to the extent that even the passage leading to row of seats were filled with patrons.

This in a way hindered freedom of movement while there were more people at the gate with tickets yet to enter. Even people with VVIP couldnt get seats and as for artistes who performed there were no seats for them after their performance. So were they billed to only perform and go home? makes me wonder if that section was really reserved. Now the front section sideways to the stage had it own crowd all together. My lil advice to the organizers is that next year will be bigger so they better pane out strict measures in place to reduce the overcrowding.

Too Much Millitary Presence: It is true when it comes to security leave non to chance but lets face it, this was an entertainment program not the President giving a state of the nation address. From the entrance to back stage all one could see was uniformed muscled army men, they were stationed at every gate in the auditorium yet that didnt even prevent the overcrowdness. As to the question of if they really did provide security is another issue because people ended up losing stuff with famous radio/TV presenter KOD losing his phone which i guess happened to lots of patrons who didnt have the same level of voice as KOD to bring it to our attention.

Entering the auditorium had a standard of three checks with millitary men who had no idea whatsoever how to authenticate the tickets and accreditation passes so as usual they had to use their harrass civilian strategy which provided lots of discomfort to patrons and media personnel. Due to how they delay one's entry, the entrance gets crowded and one instance led to someone's phone picked from the pocket. How can you let the army check tickets with no device to aid them, that i think was a huge low cos back stage was worse for reporters who tried to get celebs for interviews.

Bad Not To Hype Other Acts who were not headlined: We can't deny the fact that 'Ghana Meets Naija' is huge thus provides an important platform for all the acts who mount its stage. As such i think it was a bit bias to base publicity on solely the headlined artistes because there were about 5 diff acts who were billed to perform before the main acts and most of the patrons didnt even know some of them was going to perform that night. Since Tigo Ghana Meets Naija is an occasional show i think it will be best to hype every act billed to perform cos they might turn out to headline its next edition. That will also help build the music industry by showcasing other promising artistes to the world.

Less Attention To The Media: The ugly truth in our industry is before events the media is the bestfriend of event organisers. They use our various platforms to publicise and hype upcoming events but during events well since tickets have already been sold i guess they think the media becomes less relevant. Cameramen were practically confronted by these millitary men and since the stage managers were complaining of 'you can't stand here' syndrome why wasn't a specific position allocated to the media. As for most reporters the millitary barred their movements due to strenuous checks. There were no seats allocated to the media for a show that lasted for over 6hours, even the millitary with their training wanted to sit at some point how much more a civilian carrying camera aside other gadgets. Our industry is still growing but without appreciation and 'proper' treatment from event organisers the media might subject to their own ways of doing 'things'.

Poor Reservation Strategy: I did mention earlier that some of the artistes who performed on the night had no seat in the main auditorium to watch the show after their performances. Also the VVIP front row section was full while others still had VVIP tickets. For celebs entering there was no particular usher service which also brings in the millitary cos most of them don't even know some of our celebrities.

Well, with these said I hope the organisers will see the positive side in the lows and work on addressing them. With that said let me delve into the high points at the Tigo Ghana Meets Naija.

HIGHS
Lived Up To Expectation: I guess almost everyone who attended the show will agree with me and for those who didn't my advice is don't miss it for anything next year. The show did rock, crowd response was amazing during performances as patrons were treated to appealing stage crafts. Dj's on rotation added their spice to the atmosphere as people rose from their seats and jammed turning the auditorium into a big night club. I must say the atmosphere on the night was scintillating amidst the glits and glamour.

Ticket Worth Show: Well the economy isnt in a very good position (with minimum wage pegged at Ghc7 {$1.72}) to boast of cashflow so seeing thousands troop to a show with standard ticket sold at Ghc100($25) and VIP for Ghc150($37) means they expected a show that will make them forget the deficit that just hit their pocket. in the end everybody went home smiling and wouldn't have to worry about dumsor that night. I bet if there was another Ghana Meets Naija next week more patrons wouldn't hesitate to pay again cos they know they will be in for a treat.

Artistes Thrilled Fans: The main reason most patrons flooded the auditorium was solely because of the acts who headlined this years TGMN. From Ghana, the tripple X and The Mavins made up of newly crowned artiste of the year Stonebwoy, Dancehall 'king' Shatta Wale and now three time BET Awards nominee Sarkodie as well as Don Jazzy, Dr SID, D' Prince, Di'Ja, Reekado Banks and Korede Bello respectivenly. Comedian DKB and Afia Schwarzenegger added fun to the atmosphere.

These acts after MzVee, Keche, Gallaxy & Roff N Smooth warmed the crowd gave a resonance performance. First to step on stage was Shata Wale, the 'Dancehall Commando' hit-maker backed by SM4Lyf hoisted flags gave the crowd back-to-back hits and astonished eyes in the auditorium when he nearly stripped naked after patrons edged him (by cheerfully screaming Wale wale wale) on to do one more track when it seems he was about to leave stage. Just as I thought, well, whatelse could steal the show from Shatta wale after that scene Sarkodie stepped on stage to meet a standing ovation.

This particular moment was expected after the rapper had been the talk on social media concerning his collabo with hiphop rapper Acehood on 'NewGuy". His presence felt 'godly' to his core fans who had been longing throughout the night to see their 'governer' deliver a 'messiah' like flow to them which they gladly sang along during his entire performance. From 'Maakye' to 'Sarkology', Obidi in a cool manner performed songs which lasted for about an hour. Upnext Stonebwoy delivered

Sarkodie, Shatta Wale & Stonebwoy Factor: I intentionally left out performance by Sarkodie n Shatta wale cos credited couldnt have been given to one under 'artistes thrilled fans'. Now when Shata wale joined sark on stage for once i thought the roof was going to come off by sheer screaming & excitement from the crowd. that moment was simply awesome and throughout their session performing 'Dancehall Commando' & 'Megye Wo Gal'. When people thought they had had enough, Bhim Nation led crew by Stonebwoy appeared on stage while Sarkodie was still up there. By now the crowd was simply voiceless from all the previous screams, it was obvious the show had been a success.

Marvins Finally Performs In Ghana:
Arguably the best group in africa at the moment, the Mavins army is made up of Don Jazzy, Tiwa Savage, Dr SID, D' Prince, Di'Ja, Reekado Banks and Korede Bello. With over 12million digital downloads to their ''Doro Bucci'' single, fans have been yearning to see them perform for the first time in Ghana and Tigo Ghana Meets Naija made that possible.

They started off individually with well orchestrated chereographers but it was Dr Sid and Don Jazzy's solo performance that really attracted applause from the crowd due to the fact that they are more familiar with the crowd. But together during the performance of ''Adobi'' and ''Doro Bucci'' the Mavins took over the conference center. Not forgetting they were the last to perform almost about six hours after the show had began yet the crowd still had energy to cheer them on.

In summary, one could say the highs during the Tigo Ghana meets Naija left an indelible experience for all who witnessed it. We look forward to next years edition and hopefully organisers would have put measures in place to cancel out the lows identified above.