29th April 2016 will surely go down in Ghanaian entertainment history as the day the biggest album launch was ever held. On this day, just one artiste was billed to perform for a crowd of over 50,000 for close to 3 hours without any dull moment. This artiste is Shatta Wale. The self acclaimed King of Dancehall in Ghana.
The launch of the 22 tracks album “After the Storm” had received massive social media publicity than it did on any other medium. Fans turned up in their numbers to support Shatta at the independence Square. Being a free event, it was possible to foretell that it was going to be a sold out event but what could make one rethink their position on that was the fact the it was only Shatta Wale that was going to perform on the night, therefore the immediate question that comes in mind would be wether he as a singular performer had enough fans to fill up the independence Square.
The answer as per what went on on the night is yes. Shatta Wale single handedly filled the whole of the independence square. something that no artiste had done before.
Guineas big eruption had something close to that. But even with that, the show had international super star Akon billed along side several other Ghanaian artistes.
Shatta Wale got on stage to perform at 12am after DJ Vyrusky had kept the crowd charged up for well over 4 hours. He erupted from an artificially created Volcano, dressed as an angel seated on a throne up in the air as some dancers clad in black costume did some drama on the stage as part of his opening act.
After that short performance, he got on the stage and performed a couple of his hit tracks with live band. Shatta Wale in his all- white pants and suit gave a dazzling performance. Right from vocal delivery, stage presence, breath control, connection with audience, down to selection and arrangement of the songs.
He went off stage, changed into another attire and came for his second round of performance which he nailed as well. In all he changed attire 5 times with the last one being the almighty “Adldas” costume which wore to perform his “bie gya” song.
The biggest surprise on the night was when out of nowhere the illuminati hit maker – Sarkodie, joined him to perform just two tracks. The fans went crazy upon seeing Sark on stage. That even got them charged some more. Then Duke of former D2 joined him. Pope Skinny also followed to lend his support by performing two tracks with Shatta Wale. It must be noted though that none of these three artistes was mentioned and promoted during publicity and promotion of the event so the fans didn’t know of their coming. The fans came only because of Shatta Wale.
Sound at the event was top notch likewise lighting and stage set up. Security was ok.
I must state boldly that After the Storm album launch is historic because aside from production which was well executed, every single soul that showed up at the event came because of Shatta Wale. And for an artiste to single handedly fill the whole of Independence Square, that right there is unprecedented. Even the King of
Gh rap – Sarkodie confessed that he was amazed at the turn out and the loyalty shown Shatta by his fans. Shatta Wale is now a god to his fans.
Before I wrap up, let me point out quickly that I wasn’t too impressed with the performance of the MC. Also, the artificial Volcano that was created and made to serve as stage decoration was not put to good use. It could have been nicely lit to create some burning effect even as it sat on the stage as decor and exit point from the stage for Shatta Wale.
Iet me say Kudos to the team behind Shatta Wale and to his fans for a good work done. Surely the night was a memorable one. U zi me?
Source: Arnold Mensah Elavanyo(vibesin5.com)
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