It is not often that the commercial city of Aba , Abia State, plays host to Nigeria’s entertainment heavyweights. Indeed, the city is reputed more for the serious business of manufacturing clothes and shoes than for hosting leisure shows.

Phyno

Expectedly, when music superstars Flavour, Olamide and Phyno came calling last Saturday courtesy of Globacom’s Mega Music Nationwide Tour, the city shed its somber mood and burst into life as thousands of residents trouped out to soak in the rare evening of undiluted fun offered for free by the grand masters of data.

The Eldorado Event Centre literally stretched to the seams as it could not contain the huge crowd, with  hundreds of them spilling over into the compound. As if in anticipation of the overflow, Globacom had arranged for a mega LED screen outside the hall to enable those who could not get into the hall be part of the show.

The thirst of the surging crowd for good entertainment was sufficiently assuaged by the lineup of stars which also included the delectable pair of Uche Jombo and Juliet Ibrahim who anchored the show and other music superstars who kept the audience rocking on their feet all through the show. They included Omawumi Megbele and the dancehall star, Runtown.

A still from the video Stay alive… Omawumi here explores the dept of her voice

The show was opened by Runtown, who showed why he is regarded as one of the hottest dancehall acts on the music scene at the moment. He dished out his super dancehall hits to the delight of the crowd, ending his performance with “Mad Over You” which sent the audience into a frenzy.

The tempo went up even higher as Fada Fada rapper, Phyno, seized the stage. The crooner, who started his dramatic music career from the commercial city, held the audience ‘captive’ with the performance of his delightful club hits. When his delivery peaked, king of the streets, Olamide, came on stage to do a collabo with Phyno. Badoo then delved into his range of Shakiti Bobo songs.

The singer was so pleasantly surprised by the warmth shown him by the Igbo dominated crowd, despite his singing mainly in Yoruba, that he prostrated to thank the audience. “Honestly, I feel like I am playing in Lagos and not Aba”, he declared.

The energetic Omawumi was next. She provided a calming touch to the evening’s performance with a masterful delivery of her songs including Kokoma and Bonsue.

The Nabania master, Flavour, wrapped up the evening of fun with his Oyolima inspirational chant, proving that he rules the stage as far as live band performance is concerned.

The climax of Flavour’s performance was his invitation to the Nollywood star, Kanayo O. Kanayo, who plays the lead role of Globacom’s TV  drama series, Professor Johnbull, to join him on stage. Together they sang the theme song of the program which elicited huge ovation from the crowd.