Ghana’s 53rd independence party at The Troxy in East London was a night of hit and miss. GhanaCelebrities.Com was there to chill out with the crowd and below is our account. The programme did not start until 11pm although it was scheduled to start at 10pm.
The programme started slowly with the first few music acts not really getting the crowd going until Bashie, a UK artist came on stage. He was so lively and really did rock the place. He had the crowd dancing and he gave us a taste of some of his new works.
The best part of the night for me was when the comedy started. First to hit the stage was Ghana ’s own Kojo, he had the audience in stitches. His jokes were so sharp that we couldn’t help but have some good laughs. Though Kade, a Congolese comedian who took over from Kojo did his best, the audience were ready for more laughs until Richard Blackwood stormed the stage. He took the audience on an adventure of comedy and he left us so hungry, crying for more. When he was ordered to leave the stage the crowd started shouting in disagreement “NO” but it was to no avail as he wasn’t given more time to entertain the crowd.
The programme reverted back to the music acts and when Ruff N Smooth came on stage everybody was ready for “Swagger”. I was bored to death since they repeatedly sang the same song (but my Jamaican friend loved it). The group performed only one other song as they kept on singing their single “Swagger” over and over again. Can you imagine that after a short break for the national anthem of Ghana they still did the swagger song?
We finally got to the main reason why most people went to the show; “Vision In Progress (VIP)” came on stage in suits after the crowd had impatiently waited for them. They really aroused some ‘dead souls’. We enjoyed a lot from their old albums and when they started singing “Ahomka wo mu” the crowd sung along. VIP finally ended the performance with their new single “I think I like am”. I was expecting more from them but they performed only four songs though billed as the headliners.
After VIP, there was what looked like an impromptu dance competition for Jagged Edge concert tickets. This actually did get the crowd going when one girl who was competing ‘mounted’ Richard Blackwood, one of the judges. He later remarked jokingly that the girl had inseminated him and that he was ‘pregnant,’ lol.
The “raving” finally started but I was disappointed because even though it was Ghana ’s Independence Day, songs from other countries were still being played instead of our very own. Although most people enjoyed it, I thought it would have been better if most of the songs were Hip Life or High Life after all it was Ghana ’s day.
The entire place could have done with a lot of people because the VIP section for instance was nearly empty. There were quite a handful of people in the standing section of the room but one could easily confess that there weren’t enough people. The performances were too short and the atmosphere could have been better. I have therefore rated the event 6 out of 10.
By Eric Anokye Asare /GhanaCelebrities.Com/ United Kingdom