Concert Review: Wizkid In Toronto

Wizkid and Skales at the concert's press conference

There was some extensive publicity about Nigerian artist, Wizkid's first concert in Toronto, Canada at the Lagondola banquet hall. The news about the concert spread like wildfire among the Nigerian community in Canada, most of my friends were hyped up about the event and I was convinced that it'll definitely be a concert to remember for ages. To be honest I'm not really big on going to concerts as I don't particularly care for the big crowds and the inevitable obnoxious person sitting behind, beside or in front of me, however I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity of seeing wizkid, one of the quickest-rising stars in Africa.

I went to the concert with a couple of friends and we got to the venue early. The concert was meant to start at 9pm but I guess it was running on "African" time and didn't start till 11pm. We got in at 11 and we got a table close to the stage and waited for the show to begin. The hall got filled up quickly and most people in the audience were Nigerians, but there were also some Ghanaians and other African nationalities there. I understood there were some few non-Africans there too.

The show began with local acts who were virtually unknown and there were no information provided about these acts to the audience, after the Canadian acts performed, EME's skales was up next. Skales sang his hit single "Mukulu" along with some songs on the E.M.E.album, after he finished the audience clapped and cheered at this moment everyone was waiting expectantly for the main performer to come on.

Then the audience heard the beginning of his song "Love My Baby" and the crowd went wild. Wizkid came on stage singing the song and the audience joined in, singing all the words and screaming. He interacted with the audience, performed like the star he is, and brought all his songs to life. For most of the show, the audience sang along and he seemed pleased by the response he got. At some point, skales who acted as his back-up singer was staring at the crowd in surprise and amusement because the audience had taken over his job!

Switching back and forth between singing and rapping, primarily in English, wizkid was never less than enthusiastic, an entertainer above all, and one used to much larger stages than this one but he only performed for 20mins. Accordingly, the show had the feeling of a significant event. The crowd was slickly dressed, skewing young and African.

Surprisingly, wizkid didn’t look much out of place but rather steady throughout the performance of his radio-friendly songs that had him pulling out every trick possible to incite more deafening, throat-shredding wails from girls. Wizkid's songs contain of an emergent style loosely called Afrobeats by some, a mélange of hip-hop, R&B and other traditionally urban sounds with elements that hark back to older African styles. Wizkid who is signed to Akon's Konvict Music label, a rare example of a mainstream contemporary African star being given an opportunity to work with an American record label. Akon performed with Wizkid in Lagos earlier this year.

In all, it was a good show but a really brief performance by Wizkid. The show had some downsides to it, as the concert started late and most people who traveled miles to Toronto weren't allowed into the concert due to some alleged incidents. The main sponsors of the concert Microbell Media Group released a press statement about the incident. Personally I feel the event was rushed and unorganized which is not new with Nigerian parties. Also it is in my opinion that there was no tangible difference between the services extended to VIP ticket holders and regular ticket holder. I'm a fan of wizkid’s music, but my takeaway from the concert is that Wizkid as a person seems sleazy and narcissistic. Here are some twitter reactions to the concert: