Wilfred Okiche

The Headies might have come and gone, but the memories still linger. We bring you five of the very best musical perfomances ranked in ascending order.

5) Omawunmi – Her slow, jazzy composition of “If you ask me” was part ‘007’ soundtrack, part Amy Winehouse. It segued into the groovy uptempo version and her amazing vocal prowess was brought to the fore. We did not much care for the comic skit with Gbenga Adeyinka but she was so good we’ll forgive it.

4)Sound Sultan – The Naija Ninja gave a good account of himself perfoming a medley of ‘2010’ and ‘Orobo’. His plus-size dancers added a dash of the funny to the generally likeable perfomance. Now if only Flavour had been present…

3) Tiwa Savage – She sings, she dances, she’s sexy, she’s energetic, she came almost fully packaged. All that activity might make the singing lag behind but the talent is unmistakable. Her Afrobeat inspired act brought her a lot more fans that night . This may be a bit premature, but permit me to say she is the closest right now that we have to a Beyonce. Word!

2) Sir Shina Peters – Step aside young ‘urns, the legend is here. SSP made a triumphant comeback and showed younger acts a thing or two about stagecraft. By the time he was done, the mostly-young audience was livid with excitement and not a soul was sitting down. He received a standing ovation for his efforts.

1) The Live Band – Call it a stroke of genuis by the organisers, the live band complete with drummers, trumpeteers and backup singers was easily the night’s biggest star. They supported all the aforementioned artists and helped them make great music. Those who insisted on flying solo were left in the lurch (ask Dr Sid). They provided the match that lit up the night’s best perfomances and we remain grateful to them.

Moments we did not care for;

The errors came fast and they came early;

1)Eldee and Rita : The much-hyped pairing of comperes Rita Dominic and Eldee was a big bust. Rita in particular had nothing to offer save for her lovely costumes provided by the  House of Nwocha. Eldee fared slightly better but he had almost nothing to work with. Thankfully, mid-way into the show they abandoned their hosting duties, but surfaced at the end of the show sporting terrible Igbo accents. Not cool.

2)Dr Sid’s Meltdown : Dr Sid might have taken home two Headies but he emerged the night’s biggest flop. While his colleagues were making sweet live music, he opted to go the ”Dj play track 2” route and ended up with his fingers burned. He may have planned big but he had to storm off stage midway into his act, yelling expletives at someone backstage. oh! and his mic was still on.

3)Iffy presenters : In a pre-awards interview,Mr Animashaun declared that only industry veterans were going to hand out awards. All well and good but some presenters gave us cringe-inducing moments. Wierd MC abandoned her partner behind and kept screaming excitedly as they (she) announced Waje winner, Toni Payne appeared drunk while trading spousal jokes with Funke Kuti, Daniel Amokachi should stick to analysing sports and save us the lewd jokes about his virility.

4) Of cue cards and projectors :The technical glitches hampered what would have been a perfect outing. Olamide came on stage when Waje was called up and the wrong nominees(Best Rap Album) were announced for Ice Prince’s Best Rap Single win.

5) The Winners : It wouldn’t be an award show without complains about the winners right? so we’ll just go ahead and rant; They got it right mostly but eLdee winning Best conscious song felt like rewarding him for a job he did not even do so well. Also we love us some 2face but Artiste of the year?, Album of the year? come on. And Femi who!!!

Oluwapelumi