UGANDA:Radio and Weasel Launch Omwana wa'bandi Album.

Last Friday was a night to remmeber, the backup singers stepped on stage first, then the UB5 band followed as they set up.

The lights went off and the stage was filled with smoke, then a group of dancers clad in white, made an entrance, serving well-choreographed moves. It was 10:44pm and the crowd was getting warmed up for the Radio and Weasel Omwana Wa'bandi album launch at Hotel Africana, people’s space.

The two goodlife superstars stepped onto the stage dressed in shinny silver jackets and black pants amidst cheers and kicked off with their hit, Talk And Talk. Indeed, there had been a lot of talk about the concert. The two earlier this year signed a contract with the ruling NRM party which saw them perform for President Yoweri Museveni on his campaign trail and become partners on his Tubonga Naawe project.

A number of things have to be considered when passing judging on the success of a concert and these include;- stage, production, organization, floor management, performance and the crowd. Last Friday, the key aspect was the crowd and ‘Uganda dynamic duo,’ as they call themselves, this time might have been a little disappointed with the turn up at their favourite play ground but as they say, The show must go on.

Ever since their break-out hit Nakudata, the duo has held all its concerts at Hotel Africana, People’s space and they have all sold out. Last year, they didn’t have an album out and decided to just hold a concert that they dubbed ‘The best of Goodlfye.’

Despite many people doubting and saying it wouldn’t work, they still pulled it off. Radio had spoken to us just a few days before the show:

“Goodlfye thrives on proving people wrong. It is what we have done all through. We are fire and fire always burns our haters.”

This time the fire almost burnt the duo instead. By 9pm, the ordinary section was still empty and not looking like it was about to get filled, because there were no people queuing up outside.

One of the measures of the number of people at a concert is usually the traffic congestion and how hard it is for one to find parking. During past Goodlfye concerts, some people had to park as far away as the Kololo ceremonial grounds. It wasn’t the case this time. At the Centenary park, which is located just next to the People’s space, one could still find parking, even on arriving late.  

Singer Pallaso even went ahead to  says,

“You have to consider many things such as the hard financial times. But this is a good turnout and my brothers are still the best in the land when it comes to producing hits.”

However, in spite of the low turnout, the duo delivered an ‘A’ performance with Weasel out-performing Radio. The UB5 band was also on point. Alas, Goodlyfe only performed one song from their 14-track Omwana Wabandi album. They, instead, decided to focus on their old hits. Radio argued after the show that,

“There was little time. We were still ready to give our fans more music.”

But they had themselves to blame for the short stint on stage. They were well aware of the KCCA midnight deadline for concerts, but still decided to start performing at 10:50pm, which left them with only 70 minutes. They used that to do Nkwetaga, Bread And Butter, Ngenda Maaso, Kilimanyi, Kuku,  Amaaso where they were joined by Pallaso, Juicy Juicy and Magnetic.

They had a 'dope' performance doing their wonder hit Ability as Rabadaba joined them on stage. The other ‘Tubonga Naawe artistes, Bebe Cool, Jose Chameleone and Mun G were at hand, and all had brief performances. Chameleone even went rogue while performing, pausing to say,

“A lot of idiots thought this wasn’t going to happen. We are not politicians; we are musicians.”

 It should be noted that Radio and Weasel are ranked 34th out of all the artists on mdundo music Africa and their music relates to all walks of life and also reach the furthest corners of africa.

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