Rapperholic Concert in Koforidua was a flop!

I hope by now Sammy Forson and the entire Duncwills Entertainment crew will be looking at ways of 'giving me my stone' so I hit them with it.

When I said on Happy FM's 'Showbiz Xtra last Saturday that publicity for the Rapperholic Concert scheduled for Koforidua was low and said sarcastically that the low publicity could translate into high patronage, Sammy Forson thought I was just bad mouthing them.


I had said that 'I was born and bred in Koforidua and I know my people. You can't take them for granted.' I am not happy at all about what I saw in terms of numbers of patrons at the show but I am happy it happened so that next time when they are bringing shows to Koforidua, they will be serious with their organization.


The Kofcity edition of Sarkodie's 'Rapperholic Concert' which was supposed to be held on Saturday 27th July, 2013 rather came off on Sunday, 28th July, 2013 at the Koforidua Sports Stadium. I say it took place on Sunday because the show started after 12:00am on Sunday.


The programme was billed to have commenced at 6:00pm on Saturday, 27th July, 2013 but as of 10:00pm they were still doing sound check. Well, the sound was superb though. They did not experience much technical glitches as is typical of outdoor events of the kind.


Sarkodie's performance was spot on. He was on stage for about 2hours and maintained the energy and oomph with which he performed throughout his performance. Other artistes like Oteniba, 100%, ATM, Footprints, Ephraim, Mohammed, King of Accra and Raquel all did wonderfully well with their acts.

KMJ the Africanbaby, drive time host of Vision 90.9FM in Koforidua put up a spectacular performance as MC for the night and his sterling performance was one that kept people wondering why such a great MC was not allowed to handle the GMA Nominees Jam which was also held in Koforidua prior to this year's music awards. KMJ proved that there are better talents in Kofcity.


However, the show had very low turnout. To put it blank, it was a debacle. Considering the weight of Sarkodie and his huge fan base across the length and breadth of the country, I expected him to fill the inner perimeter of the stadium to capacity.


The low attendance marred the show so much that his good stage work could not shore up his marks should the show be scored. Even though a lot of factors contributed to the fact the patronage of the Rapperholic Concert, the major factor for the flop was low publicity on the part of the organizers.


In our part of the country (Koforidua) we don't just do things anyhow and expect people to accept it. You just can't reap what you have not sowed here. You can't just stay in your Accra, send promos to some two radio stations in Koforidua a week to your event and expect that the whole populace throngs your venue for the show.


This Rapperholic Concert (and I say this without fear or favour) was poorly publicized. Even in Accra where it is easy to cajole people with your promos to attend your programmes, you spend weeks to plug these events on radio, television, on websites and in the newspapers but you come to Koforidua where they need these ads to be deeply drummed into their ears and you do things like somebody forced you to. Sometimes it occurs to me perhaps these event organizers from Accra perceive Koforidua as a village and the people therein as villagers so think they can do any shoddy work and go away with it.

Sammy Forson had all the opportunity to have done series of radio interviews on the networks of the media partners several days to the D-Day to whet the appetite of patrons for the show but they didn't. Apart from the interview I had with Sammy Forson on the previous Sunday on my entertainment show 'Arts and People' on Vision FM, there were not heard on our local radio stations.


Most people didn't even know the Rapperholic Concert was coming to Koforidua till the Saturday evening when they made studio appearances on Vision FM and Eastern FM. Information has it that Emak FM which was initially part of the media partners pulled out because they demanded the organizers paid a certain amount before their ads would be aired but the latter declined.


To me, that was another big mistake they made because Emak FM is the most listened-to radio station for the masses in Koforidua so they needed to have been included.


Another important factor is that the timing for the show was wrong. The Rapperholic Concert was held at a time when the two major tertiary institutions: All Nations University College and Koforidua Polytechnic were on vacation. Students of these schools patronize events such as the Rapperholic Concert most and they being on vacation meant they had travelled to their home towns and wouldn't come down to see 'Ghana's fastest rapper perform.'


That people of Koforidua don't patronize shows or that they only want free shows is an illusion. If you give your show enough publicity and you do your research well, you will have large numbers. Next time, when you are coming to hold your show here, don't forget what you have just read.