S-Concert was a success—organisers

The EIB Network, organisers of the S-Concert held last Friday, December 1, at the Accra Sports Stadium, say in spite of some challenges they encountered, they achieved their aim of holding the event and that makes them happy.

According to the General Manager, Radio and Print for EIB, Kwasi Anim Adjei, the hitches experienced should not take away from the success of the concert.

“I would say we were able to satisfy 90 to 95 percent of what our fans came expecting on that day. We pulled a crowd of about 40,000 which not many media houses can do, we managed to bring the fans closer to the artistes they love and we gave our sponsors the opportunity to make money so for us that’s exciting,” he told Showbiz in an interview on Tuesday.

The S-Concert generated some controversy after a number of big name artistes including Samini, Ebony, Mr Eazi were unable to perform. In a recording soon after he left the venue, Samini said the organisers did not keep to their time and made him wait for too long.

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Another artiste who didn’t perform was hiplife artiste, Article Wan of Solo fame who expressed his disappointment to Showbiz soon after the event ended. According to him, he felt disrespected because although he arrived at the venue long before other artistes, he was not allowed to perform.

“I got to the Accra Sports Stadium with my back-up dancers at 7pm like I had been told to do at the stage rehearsal on November 30. I waited back stage with artistes like Kurl Songx waiting for my turn,” he said.

“I was supposed to perform before Edem and Captain Planet of 4X4 but that didn’t happen. Eventually I had to speak to Bola Ray who asked that I perform. Why did I even have to speak with Bola before I could perform? he asked.

Article Wan said he was still denied the opportunity to perform after speaking with Bola Ray as the coordinators made someone else perform. He waited till after 2:00am when Dancehall artiste, Shatta Wale arrived before he finally left with his team. “It was very disappointing how they treated me. I just wanted to entertain my fans, I endured all this treatment for them but I couldn’t even mount the stage.In fact, Starr FM needs to organise themselves better during their next event.

Organising themselves well is a key thing for Kwasi Anim Adjeii who said they had learnt lessons from this incident. “We take the blame for everything because of course we are the organisers. We wanted to go according to the plan on paper but we admit our judgment was wrong at some points.”

About 50 artistes were reportedly booked for the event and for critics the huge number was the problem. But Kwasi Anim Adjei said it was part of their strategy to go big.

“You know, we like to set a record. We always want to raise the bar, push the limits. We always want to do something different every year. Other people would want to do the same thing but not us.”

Mr Anim Adjei also disclosed that they’re doing their post event evaluation and would look at all the loopholes. On whether there would be sanctions he answered “We will have to measure but yes if sanctions need to be applied it will be done. But we shouldn’t be quick to blame anyone for uncontrollable situations.”