How P-Square shut down Malawi
Located in the southeast part of Africa, Malawi is rarely known for its night life, clubbing and staging of musical concerts. But last weekend, the story was different as the country erupted into a frenzy of excitement following the presence of Nigeria’s pop duo, Psquare who stormed there to thrill their fans.
Psquare were in Malawi to headline a concert organised as part of the activities that preceded the hosting of this year’s Africa Movie Academy Awards nomination party which held last Friday, at the Bingu Wa Muntharika International Conference Centre, in Lilongwe, Malawi. Of course, the concert proved to be one of the greatest outings embarked upon by the duo in recent times.
As early as 3 pm, the Lilongwe Golf Club, venue of P-Square’s ‘Experience it’ concert was filled to the brim. It was the first time a concert of this magnitude would be organised in the shores of Malawi, and this, to many Malawians, was an important show, and a major breakthrough for Joyce Banda-led civilian government. Not only did the concert bring excitement and relief to the faces of over 50,000 Malawians,
who thronged the venue, it equally showed how Nigerian music is accepted across the borders of east African countries.
In fact, despite the heavy downpour that hit the capital city of Lilongwe for almost two hours, hordes of revellers continued swarming the golf course which for once, proved to be small, to catch a glimpse of the concert.
Distance was not an issue for some Malawians who had travelled from as far as Blantyre, Mzuzu and neighbouring Zambia, to be part of the fun.
The Saturday show was scheduled for Friday evening, but had to be shifted as the state-of-the-art stage equipment demanded by Psquare was yet to arrive from Mozambique.
After the downpour , the crowd erupted into uncontrollable excitement at about 11.13 pm when Psquare stormed the event venue. Shouts of Psquare rented the air as the duo mounted the stage to flag off the concert. Local artistes including, Piksy, Dan Lu, Sally Nyundo and Run Tingz Band who were supposed to start the concert as curtain-raisers were surprisingly denied the opportunity to grace the same stage with Psquare.
The duo went straight to business by putting up one of the best performances in Malawi. They proved to their Malawian fans that the six hour wait was worth it.
Backed by their band and with a CD playing in the background the sound was so clear and superb, invading the night and reaching out to far and near places.
From old hits like ‘Temptation’, ‘Gimme That’, ‘I love You’, ‘Roll it’, ‘Forever’, ‘Busy Body’, ‘No one, Possible’, ‘Do me’, ‘E No Easy’ and then, ‘Beautiful Onyinye’ the duo gave Malawians a good show that they would not forget in a hurry. The climax of the show was when they sang, ‘Alingo’, the whole crowd erupted in excitement as they sang along with the duo. They mixed their performance with impressive dance moves and stage drama. At a point, Peter was topless exposing his tattoos, a sight the Malawian ladies who welcomed them with kisses loved and cheered uncontrollably.
Daughter of President Joyce Banda, who graced the concert accompanied by her security details stripped herself of her status as she ran after Psquare to pose for a shot with the duo.
Save for the melodic songs, joined by their dancers, the Okoye brothers wowed Malawians with their electrifying performance. It was a mixture of their good songs as well as the gyrating moves that made the enchanted crowd become ecstatic. They gave off their best till the show came to an end.
“We love you Malawi, please support your artists fully. We are here because of the support our country Nigeria has and continues to give us. Promise to us that we will have a Malawian artist performing in Nigeria soon,” was Psquare’s call at the end of the performance. For those who witnessed the concert, it was Psquare at his best. While it lasted, the duo temporarily shut down Malawi, and indisputably, they are on a right course to conquer east Africa with the genre of music.
