It appears the issues between event organizers and ”A list” artistes as to who did wrong to warrant the latter to boycott a show never seem to disappear. Wizkid, who was billed to perform at a concert in Accra at the Sports Stadium organized by live hub Entertainment failed to show up for the event. News started circulating on social media platforms Sunday dawn that the Afrobeat giant didn’t show up for the concert. Entertainment journalists and enthusiasts started discussing why and what could have caused the artiste to boycott the show. Some have attributed his absence to the poor publicity and organization of the whole show. I would agree with the former narrative and that might be a big part of the problem, because most people even heard about the concert only four or three days before the concert and that even concerned how a football match had been relocated to a different venue to accommodate the Wiz kid concert. Where the bone of contention may be, is the said poor organization of the program. A tweet cited on wiz kid’s verified Twitter account renders an apology but a critical analysis of the apology shows he (Wiz Kid) had to make a decision to cancel the show because things didn’t go his way.
Shatta Wale recently boycotted a show because of similar organizational lapses for a show he was billed to perform. The controversies it sparked across the Entertainment Fraternity and cooperate bodies have not even been completely dealt with yet. Kwabena Kwabena has boycotted the VGM’s for several years and this was his reason:
“The VGMA is the only time musicians have the opportunity to exhibit their talent and show who they are as musicians. If people come to sit in the auditorium for close to six hours and we show nothing and all we see is the DJ and music and miming and all sorts of things are not arranged properly and music so poor in terms of sound, then that is not good…” Kizz Daniel, who had many bangers: Mama, Duro, Woju, Laye, etc in 2016 and was internationally recognized seemed to have gone under the radar for some years until the “buga” hit song and lately “cough” in 2022. He also missed a huge concert in Tanzania because of a supposed gold chain and a missing bag. Kizz Daniel and his team were quick to blame the organizers for the mishap. It presupposes that anytime an “A list artiste misses a show, fingers are pointed quickly at the organizers until Entertainment Journalists and analysts dissect the issues for the ordinary listener to grasp the role of each party.
Some have argued that though his Dj was seen playing lots of music to prepare the way for the Nigerian artiste, he refused to perform basically due to low patronage and a few technical hitches. However, a similar argument could be made for Cardi B during her visit and concert in Ghana. The venue was almost half empty but the American artiste performed regardless. In 2010, Rick Ross also performed at 7 pm when most people had not arrived at the event auditorium because he and his crew had a flight to catch to South Africa at 11 pm the same day. So it appears the argument of poor patronage with regards to the Wiz kid’s no-show concert falls flat. He missed another show in Cote D’Ivoire on 12 December 2022. Another organizational probl Just wondering: If Wiz kid was billed in 2010 to perform at the Accra sports stadium, I bet he might have not even considered a filled concert as they claim is the reason for the no-show. His main concern would have been the privilege of performing alongside Ghanaian artistes and also performing in a foreign country. Is it an issue with most “A list” artistes or we can still point a finger at Event organizers?
Writer: Andy Pratt
