On Saturday August 29 at the Gbagada Open Field, Ifako-Gbagada, Lagos, Nigeria’s favourite beer, Star Lager brought together the biggest names in Nigerian music to round off the 2015 edition of Africa’s largest music festival, Star Music Trek.
The night featured several exciting performances from the ‘Who is Who’ of Nigerian music including 2Face Idibia, Seyi Shay, Cynthia Morgan, MI, Burna Boy, Runtown, Sound Sultan, Young Grey C, Immaculate, Pepenazi, Sean Tizzle, Joe El, DJ Xclusive, DJ Big N, Laffup, MC Gbenga Adeyinka and several others.
The evening had kicked off with a crowd-pleaser as DJ Xclusive and DJ Big N faced off in a tune clash that kept the crowd moving. Star kept true to its tradition of giving young Nigerians a platform to shine with several performances from upcoming Lagos artistes who got the rare opportunity to showcase their talents in front of over 10,000 people at the packed venue.
Pepenazi arrived onstage as the evening took off in earnest with a rousing performance of smash hit “Illegal” which he performed alongside his brother Do2dtun of Cool FM. With the crowd still screaming “Illegal!” and dancing raucously, Young Grey C hit the stage to raise the noise level a decibel higher with smash hit “Chukwuma”. Joe El also made an appearance, moving the crowd with renditions of “Hold On” and “Chukwudi”.
Vivace Records act Immaculate was next up with “GoGo Baby” and “Osanle” which kept the crowd warm until Seyi Shay stepped out to a wall of noise – the night’s first established superstar was finally onstage. To the delight of the boisterous crowd, she started off with a special version of “Irawo” and moved on to popular favourites “Murda” and “Jangilova”.
Hosts Lafup and MC Gbenga Adeyinka kept the crowd engaged until it was time for the next act, and what an entrance it was! Sean Tizzle made his way onstage dressed in a gleaming white suit with black loafers. Starting off with smash hit “Sho Lee”, he thrilled the crowd with “Loke”, “Mama Eh”, “Kilogbe”, “Bottles” and “Rara”. He then created a major talking point of the night with a mock wedding onstage while performing his hit wedding favourite “Perfect Gentleman.” The crowd could not have enough of Sean Tizzle and he was overwhelmed with the response to his performance, throwing his wristwatch, bracelets, eyeglasses, jacket and tie to the ecstatic audience.
Before the euphoria from that performance died down, Sound Sultan made his entrance with his customary ninja routine and live band. The crowd sang along enthusiastically to “Natural Something”, “Bushmeat”, and “Mathematics”. Immaculate then joined him onstage for a hilarious dance routine while he performed “Orobo”, much to the delight of the audience.
Immediately after Sound Sultan left the stage, it was time for one of African music’s most famous name, 2Face Idibia to make his grand entrance. At this point the security guards had to work extra-hard to ensure the crowd did not overrun the stage as he launched into performances of his catalogue of hit songs: “For Instance”, “Ole”, “Only Me”, “Implication” and “Ihe Ne Me”. He then created one of the night’s biggest surprises when he brought Olu Maintain onstage for a surprise performance of their collaboration “Cinderella” to the delight of the increasingly boisterous crowd.
Runtown took the stage in quick succession and churned out his hit tracks “The Latest”, “Banger”, “Successful”, “Gallardo” and “Baby Answer” which kept the crowd dancing Morgan then made a spectacular entrance, flanked by several stage dancers all of whom wore her trademark red hair.
Gbenga Adeyinka dropped the surprise of the night on the unsuspecting Lagos crowd as someone clad in a monkey costume came onstage dancing to MI’s “Monkey”. The costume came off and the crowd exploded into wild applause as MI Abaga was revealed.
The superstar rapper who was not on the bill to perform for the night launched into his performance, taking the crowd on a journey from “Africa Rapper No 1” to his recently released video “Bad Belle”. Merging all his stage antics from previous appearances on this year’s Trek, he brought a fan onstage and gave him the chance to perform the track “Beef” alongside him. Next, he brought a girl out from the crowd and sang his hit track “One Naira” to her as the crowd sang along enthusiastically.
Speaking after his performance, the visibly excited Choc Boi Nation President remarked,
“I was excited to be approached to be a surprise act tonight and I have to say this Star Music Trek has been the best one yet. I have enjoyed every moment of my time on this year’s tour and I have to give credit to Star for putting together such a wonderful platform for Nigerian artistes to connect and interact with fans. I hope to be here again next year!”
Burna Boy arrived to close a night of fantastic entertainment with a flourish. After performing “Amorawa”, “Tonight” and “Smoke Some Weed”, he then took it a notch higher by throwing a fistful of money into the crowd. He subsequently ran offstage and jumped into the crowd which joyfully carried him as he performed “Run My Race.”
Speaking afterward, Corporate Media & Brand PR Manager, NB Plc, Edem Vindah remarked, “This year’s Star Music Trek has been the most successful edition ever and it is symbolic of our position as leader in Nigeria that hundreds of thousands of people across the country showed up to be a part of this platform, in addition to the millions of people who watched the concert series live on television. We are extremely proud of the reputation we have created for being the number one promoter of the dream of young Nigerians and we believe that the aim of this year’s theme “#MySuperstarStory” has been well and truly achieved. It has been a wonderful tour and we hope to come back next year for an even bigger one.”
Star Music Trek has a proud tradition of bringing the country’s biggest artists together to entertain fans across Nigeria for nearly two decades. This year’s theme, #MySuperstarStory aims to inspire the youth to view their situations as a work in progress and to always keep their goals in mind.
The 2015 Star Music Trek kicked off with #CalabarRocks, followed by #AbakalikiRocks, #AwkaRocks #MakurdiRocks #SapeleRocks, #BeninRocks and #IbadanRocks before Saturday’s grand finale in Lagos.
