Asa’s concert has come and gone! No, it’s not going anywhere for now and for everyone who was blessed enough to be a part, other Nigerian artistes may have to put in extra work to meet Saturday night’s standard or refrain from organizing concerts for now.

We spoke to some of our Insiders who agree that truly, Asa has again raised the bar and show promoters, organizers and artistes need to go back to the drawing board and map fresh strategies for the best stage output.

This Insider is a brand manager with one of the biggest record labels in the country and he applauded the show for starting at the scheduled time, for putting out perfect sound and lighting. He opined that artistes should not be entirely blamed for wishy-washy concerts, according to him: “Promoters always want to get cheap solutions so they pay cheap stage managers who in turn put out dirty jobs. Many times too, they focus more on promotions, expensive venues and the likes and ignore the important factors like sound and lighting. On the part of artistes, some of them feel so big they fail to rehearse, they feel like they’re doing the fans a favour and no matter what, they will attend. This is where things go wrong. All the parties involved need to understand that people have listened to the music before, can always listen at home and in their cars, they attend shows for an experience and that, most times is not usually delivered.”

Another Insider who is a music critic said, “The show was amazing and the crowd could not get enough. Asa’s music was live, she didn’t come on stage to lip-sync, she gave a quality stage offering and so did her opening acts. Besides the show proper, the management of the show and even other details as little as ticketing were strategic. Asa made sure everything was professionally handled and we saw the results on that night. There’s a lot for others to learn from all of these.” He also added that Asa should perform in Nigeria once a year so she can be better appreciated.

This Insider who heads an editorial team was more pumped up about Asa’s performance and the artistes who opened for. He said, “Asa’s reputation not just as a vocalist but as a performer precedes her at this point so the quality of her delivery at the show goes without saying. For me, the best part of the concert was the opening acts. Not necessarily because they’re better than Asa but because it’s a great thing to see her use her own considerable clout to champion new talent (Funbi, Tay, Nonso Bassey).”

An entertainment entrepreneur who did not get to attend the event said he followed on social media and he thought it was amazing. He added that Asa is in a class of her own and would be wrong to ask other artistes to tread her path but it’s okay for them to learn from her success.

Asa has promised to return next year for another mindblowing show but between now and then, we hope to see other Nigerian acts step up their game.

 

 

 

 

These are the members of YNaija’s Pop Culture Insiders, not all of whom participated in this week’s survey: 

Bizzle Osikoya (Bee Entertainment), Jim Donnett (TooXclusive), Ehiz (MTVBase), Timini Egbuson (Actor), Bayo Omisore (Platonique PR), Jide Taiwo (NET), Ayodeji Rotinwa (ThisDay), Edwin Okolo, Sensei Uche (City FM), Joey Akan (PulseNG), Timilehin Bello (Media Panache), Edward Israel (Chocolate City), Uche Briggs, Oreoluwa Peters (Doble Seis Entertainment), Ubi Franklin (TripleMG), Eromo Egbejule (The Guardian), Freeze (Cool FM), Godwin Tom (Godwin Tom Company), Asa Asika, Dotun Kayode (Cool FM), Femisoro Ajayi (BahdGuys Entertainment), Lekan Olanrewaju (Mnet), Latasha Ngwube (AboutThatCurvyLife), Funke Babs-Kufeji (ThisDay), Isioma Osaje (Agency 106), Jola Sotubo (PulseNG), Tosyn Bucknor (Top Radio), Tosin Ajibade (Olorisupergal), Ifeoma Areh (WildFlowerPR), Foladele Falana (TV Continental)