It’s been almost 3 weeks since Burna Boy took Wembley Arena by storm for his latest album tour ‘African Giant’. A class performer from start to finish, he left his supporters with something to remember. Here, I’m going to tell you about my experience at the show and why it was significant.
The doors had opened around 7:15 pm and by 7:30pm we were inside. Luckily for my boy and I, we were really close to the stage, so we were able to take in everything in full effect. After a little “pre-party” with good mixes from Burna Boy’s DJ (DJ Bill Gates), Basketmouth took to the stage to introduce the opening acts – one of which was Burna’s Boys’s sister, which took some people by surprise. The final opening act was London’s own WSTRN, who performed their hit singles including “Vice Versa”,“Ben’ Ova” and “In2”. Haile and Louis Rei surprised the crowd towards the end of their performance by bringing out Akelle who had been away for a while. Now this is when the party starts…
The lights had dimmed in the arena and Burna Boy’s band had started to play. Everyone was wondering how Burna was going to come out. Suddenly, a huge black veil came down and one huge gorilla, who went by the name of “Koba”, released Burna Boy from its jaw. “Tell em Africa we don’ tire, so here comes the African Giant!” was the anthem he exclaimed as he soared through the air and eventually Burna landed on the stage. Burna Boy began to perform a mix of songs from his “Outside” and “African Giant” album until it was time to release the first surprise act of the night…
Dave mounted the stage and performed the summery feel hit “Location” with Burna Boy off his ‘Psychodrama’album. The crowd was ecstatic and was vibing to the flows of Dave and the harmonies of Burna Boy. After this, Burna took the supporters back in time to the beginning of his journey to 2012 with “Tonight”. You could see that it was a special song to him as he said, “This one is for all my day one Burna Boy fans,everyone who has been rocking with me from the beginning of this journey…our journey… this one’s for us”. It didn’t stop here though…
“I’m about to bring out the Nigerian lion real quick”. As soon as he said this, I knew Wizkid was coming out – apart from Davido, I couldn’t think who else it could be. My gut feeling was correct as Wizkid came and blessed the stage with “Soco” and the timeless“Ojuelegba” assisted by a choir in all white. Burna came out on stage again andthe show took a turn to address the real-life struggles of working individuals with songs like “Wetin Man Go Do” and “Dangote”, and more politically influenced songs tracks such as “Collateral Damage” and “Another Story” with Ghana’s M.anifest, my personal favourite on the album. One thing Burna Boy wanted to leave his fans to take away from the show was to do research about who they are and where they are from, so “no-one can tell you another story”.
Getting towards the end of the night, Burna gave us one final surprise. Stormzy took the stage with a greazy delivery of “Vossi Bop”. Burna Boy announced that the pair and “another special person” had a song coming out soon (which is out now) and that people should watch out for it. Burna Boy’s mum also came out to thank his supporters on the fact that Burna Boy had won ‘African Artist of the Year’ at the MTV Europe Awards. The night ended with the legendary “Killin Dem” and many Zanku circles around the arena. It was a time for fans to showcase their dancing skills and“Gbese!” to the fast-paced drums. The last performance for the night was the signature “Ye”, which had everyone singing in sync.
This was a significant night for many reasons. For me, this was the first headline concert I had been to in my life (for now, I don’t think any other show will top this for me). For Burna Boy, it was a historic night for him as he is the first African artist to sellout the Wembley Arena, which a plaque was awarded to him. Congratulations Burna Boy !
perspective of j.k.l. 