There Was pandemonium at Old Harare Sports Club on Friday night when fans trashed the venue after Nigerian artist WizKid failed to pitch up for a concert.
A handful of fans who had braved the rains to see the young Nigerian singer famed for his song, Show You the Money, performing, left the venue with tails between their legs in the wee hours of yesterday morning without a glimpse of the Nigerian star.
Disgruntled fans ran amok and turned the venue upside down; throwing bottles to the stage in protest soon after it emerged that WizKid was no longer performing, shortly after 2am. Promoters of the highly anticipated gig also got a rude awakening after some of the equipment on stage was destroyed by fans.
The spokesperson for the organisers Larry Kwirirayi who had been “dumped” by the promoters, failed to give a plausible account of what transpired. “I cannot comment, I have no idea so I cannot comment on what I do not know,” said Kwirirayi soon after his attempt to give an appeasement speech to the riled crowd crumbled, resulting in him dodging bottles on his way off the stage. Kwirirayi was underfire on Twitter yesterday afternoon and promised to give a statement but he had not done so by the time of going to print. Although circumstances that led to the Nigerian artist failing to perform at the exorbitantly priced gig are still unclear, The Standard Style heard that WizKid failed to turn up for the concert because of the “unfriendly” weather. It is also believed that the “Star Boy” refused to perform in front of a paltry crowd, as was the norm with internationally-acclaimed artists.
A DJ who spoke to The Standard Style alleged that WizKid was drunk and holed at his hotel room. “I do not know what they gave him but he is upstairs knocked out. I do not care whether he performs or not, all I want is my money,” said the DJ. Some fans would have none of it and drove to a city hotel where the singer was believed to be staying hoping to get refunds, but were told by a man said to be one of the organisers who advised them to keep their entrance tags for a rescheduled show. “All those who paid and have the tags, keep them because there is no one right now, they all went to Harare International Conference Centre to see someone so that they secure a venue for the rescheduled show today [last night],” he said.
Meanwhile, local supporting acts, despite showing up, dismally failed to impress the soaked crowd who just stood and would
momentarily engage a performer on stage. What could have been an explosive showdown between rappers Cal_Vin and Junior Brown came to nothing as the poor sound system reined in on the already piteoussets. If scenes at the show were anything to go by, it will for long stick on the minds of many who attended as one of the worst nights in the history of flopped international acts locally.
By Kennedy Nyavaya
