This year has been a very busy day for the entertainment industry, kicking off off with David Lutalo’s concert, dubbed ‘Onsanula Concert’.
Held on January 28 at Hotel Africana People’s space, the concert was a success as a good number of revelers turned up. Lutalo himself put a good act, though fans can’t forget those annoying vocals, especially for those who had bigger expectations. The sound was not one you would love to have for a vocalist.
Reggae Music again!
The next big show, one to remember was Morgan Heritage’s show held on Good Friday at the Lugogo Cricket Oval. Performing in Uganda for the first time, the celebrated Family of Reggae never disappointed. Indeed, the bar was set way too high for the subsequent shows as the group ushered Uganda into the Easter period. The size of the audience which turned up for the Morgan Heritage show has been the biggest this year.
One of the biggest beneficiaries from such huge audience was Chameleone, because the show provided a platform for him to make his way back into the limelight. This was after the lead singer of the Morgan Heritage band, Petah Morgan invited Chameleone on stage midway the show, something that played a crucial role in his concert that came months later. And the ‘Wale Wale’ hit maker proved to the audience his other skills when he ‘freestyled’ some of Buju Banton’s songs to the excitement of the Jamaican singers and the audience. What a show it was!
Meanwhile, after rescheduling the date for his show on about three occasions, Jose Chameleone’s concert dubbed ‘Legend Hit after Hit’ was finally held at Lugogo Cricket Oval. Chameleone used this chance to apologise to the then just-elected MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, who was among the audience at his show.
“I congratulate Bobi Wine for his recent victory. I apologise for not being able to join his campaign team because I was also tight with preparations for the show. This should go as a warning to politicians. They should start considering artistes as important people and not just comedians,” Chameleone said. This was his first show in over three years and indeed he managed to attract a fair audience and also put up a good performance.
Intriguingly, Chameleone’s successful concert seems to have duped to the dynamic duo of Radio and Weasel as they also moved their show from their usual venue of Hotel Africana to the spacious Lugogo Rugby grounds. However, it’s not a show the two celebrated singers would love to remember as they only managed to attract a fair audience. But to their credit, this never stopped them from giving their whole to their fans.
Next in line was singer Gravity Omutujju as he also moved his show to Lugogo Cricket Oval, to the surprise of many since he is not known to have such a big following.
Surprisingly, in October he filled up the spacious Oval that is feared by many but this was not before word quickly making rounds that majority of the revelers had entered on complementary tickets purposely to fill up the grounds. Nevertheless, his fans left satisfied as he put up a good performance.
The Flop of the Year
All the above-mentioned shows must have been the main inspiration for Pallaso’s show this year. Initially holding his shows at Freedom City, the ‘Mama’ singer also decided to move his concert this year to the spacious Kyadondo Rugby grounds which have always been a reserve for the ‘Heavy Weights’ in the music industry.
Dubbed ‘Soma’, the show seems to have taught him a lesson as he’ll hardly forget the day. His show was held on a very busy day – a day on which his former crew-mate Roden Y Kabako had a show a few meters away – at Laftz while the Abryan’s Fashion Awards were also held on the same day at Serena Hotel. Worse still, Nigerian crooner Timaya also had a show on the same day in Jinja while another Nigerian musician Wizkid had performed in Uganda the previous day.
Pallaso really paid a huge price for this as just a few people turned up for his show. Interestingly, despite Kabako having suffered the same fate, he couldn’t restrain himself from taking a swipe at Pallaso. Kabako claimed on social media that Pallaso’s show was a big flop to the extent that the Mama singer couldn’t afford transport back home from Kyadondo. In fact Kabako claimed that it was him who sent Pallaso mobile money for his transport back home.
The Nigerian Affair
Meanwhile, Timaya also returned to Uganda for the second time and his second show in Jinja was a success as he belted out his countless number of hits.
That said however, one of the biggest highlights on this year’s entertainment calendar is Wizkid’s show. Following a two year wait, Wizkid finally performed in Uganda and indeed his show was worth the wait! Despite leaving out most of his hits, his exhilarating performance left all fans satisfied. And he promised to come back for a free show.
The other Nigerians to perform in Uganda this year was Tekno and Mr Eazy. Performing on the same stage at Lugogo Cricket Oval, the duo managed to pull a sizeable crowd, though, they both turned out to be a huge disappointment to majority of the fans that turned up as their performances were way below the fans’ expectations.
The Legendary Shows
This year also saw two African music icons; Oliver Mtukudzi and PJ Powers perform in Uganda. Both performed at charity concerts and on the same day at venues less than 100 meters away from each other.
Whereas PJ Powers performed at Serena Conference Center, Mtukudzi performed at Imperial Royale Hotel. Both performed for full houses and put up some of the most amazing performances this year.
The ‘Basummer’ Parties
December is commonly known for parties and this year hasn’t been any different.
This year’s December kicked off with the ‘Million Dollar party’ hosted at Club Guvnor by one Joseph who is based in Denmark. Since socialites are known for throwing money at revelers, party animals turned up in huge numbers with the hope money was to be thrown at them in millions of dollars. To their surprise, not a single note was thrown at anyone. Not even an open bar that they had become accustomed to, thanks to the late socialite Ivan Ssemwanga. Instead, the biggest highlight of the night was where one of the revelers won himself a 40inch flat screen. And yes, that Irene Ntale fall can’t go unmentioned!
Next was Zari’s ‘All White Party’ at Club Guvnor and Don Zella’s ‘Gal Power Party’ at Club Play.
Both parties hosted by the fierce rival cougars were held on the same day but Zari’s reportedly ‘won the night’.
This was despite Don Zella claiming she spent about Shs20 million to fly in Diamond Platnumz’s ‘girlfriend’ Hamissa Mobetto, who is also Zari’s rival.
As all that panned out, almost all Ugandan socialites including ‘yours truly’ were readying themselves to embrace the New Year, 2018.
