YFM gets Accra screaming with Loud in GH

After missing out on the maiden edition of YFM’s Loud in GH concert last year and hearing rave reviews about it, I knew I had to have my taste of the fun; and what better way to join the party this year than to become a media partner (my first official media partnership) for the event?

Being my first experience of Loud in GH, I thought it was quite a successful event although my friends who were at the previous edition kept reminding me that the turnout was much lower this year. I think that for an event at the Dome of the Accra International Conference Centre, that largely had no seats, the turnout was still impressive especially when the concert had peaked. But what I enjoyed most about the show was the concert atmosphere that the set up created. So far it’s been the only show I have attended this year that gave me the feel of being at a real music concert. The stage had good space to host the band, and it had an extension into the crowd for the artists to perform; although most of the artists on the bill didn’t use the setup to interact much with the crowd. I wanted to see them touching their fans and grabbing fans on stage but most of the artist were caught too much in their performances, which often was just screaming and moving about on stage.

The concert was hosted by E.L and M.anifest, and saw performances from some of the top Ghanaian acts chosen by the listeners of YFM. The performers included Kwaw Kese, Kakie, Raquel, Trigmatic, Okyeame Kwame, Keche, 4×4, Jay Ghartey, Buk Bak, VIP, Eazzy, Dr Cryme, Tiffany, Sarkodie, Samini, and R2bees with several other surprise appearances.

My highlights included Samini free-styling with a scuffle that broke in the crowd; he called out the instigator and admonished him to stop misbehaving much to the admiration of the crowd. It was also interesting seeing newcomer, Nhyiraba Kojo showering money on the crowd when he joined Dr Cryme on stage to perform their song, ‘Turn Around’. With just a half hit to his credit and he is already splashing money? I wonder what he would do if he had more than two hit songs to his credit! At least he gave the kind of crowd interaction I think the show needed. Sarkodie also gave out two VIP tickets to his December 25 concert, which was also cool.

Hiplife group, VIP interacted with the crowd around the stage the most. They would touch the screaming fans now and then, and they also allowed the crowd and specific people in the crowd to sing some parts of their songs. I even saw Promzy forcing a photographer, who had gotten close to shoot him, to sing a line of their chorus at some stage.  Buk Bak appeared to be the most anticipated act on the night perhaps because they have been away for so long and people wanted to see them. But my favourite act on the night had to be Trigmatic because out of the bunch of hiplife/hiphop acts on the night he was the most authentic and successful with the band. I felt his performance; I could hear him most of the time; his live performance was different from his recording and he wasn’t just screaming and running around to please the crowd.

Sarkodie was rather too predictable because I expected him to call some girls from the crowd to compete in an azonto dance-off while he performed, ‘You Go Kill Me’. He gave his performance away to the dancers, who by the way weren’t that great with the azonto dance.  Perhaps he was saving the surprises for his Christmas Day concert. All in all, it was a fun show and I can’t wait to partner again next December!