The fifth edition of YFM’s Loud in GH concert, labelled the Swag Edition, has recorded the biggest failure in the history of the organisation for the annual musical concert.
Held at the Accra International Conference Centre on Tuesday, December 23, 2014, lowest turnout and organisational lapses marred the ‘biggest club party in Ghana’ which was supposed to be in two parts starting with an outdoor carnival from 3pm and then build up into an evening of music, arts and clubbing in the foyer of the same venue.
A few people made it to the venue for the carnival only to witness the earnest movement of organisers led by new GMA head of events and organisation, Papa Yaw Addo-Boateng in preparation for the event which started at 6pm with a few vendors as music was played by DJs of YFM.
Information GhanaWeb gathered revealed that an accident involving one of the workers at the venue caused the delay alongside the Ghana-Cuba conference that was on-going in the main auditorium of the Conference Centre.
Expectant of many people for the second part of the event, which is the clubbing at the Foyer, the organisers further reinforced their decision to disallow people without orange wrist tags from entering the foyer despite having blue wrist tags which guaranteed them access to the carnival. Many left frustrated only for the doors to be open for all when the situation got sorry.
Despite the lapses, organisers held themselves together to get the second part rolling at 8pm with DJ Mic Smith on the turntable. DJ Smooth, DJ Kess among others also took turns to turn the party up with MCs Jay Foley, Nana Kwame Osei Sarpong and Blaque Boy struggling to get the majority flat-footed audience to dance regardless of the echoing of sound in the foyer.
After four hours of back-to-back club music and losing a few of the hundred people present to tiredness and boredom, the artistes on the bill made their way onto the colourfully lit stage.
A few underground artistes made their way to the stage in turns with the big guns who finally got the attention of the crowd including Pappy Kojo, Joey B, Cabum, Trigmatic, Kofi Kinata, MzVee and D-Black.
Akoo Nana used his turn to gather support for the release of Kwaw Kese who is in police custody for smoking marijuana.
Samini managed to engage the crowd as usual with his old tunes but got them hyper after he granted their request instantaneously to perform his new single Iskoki, produced by Masta Garzy.
Okyeame Kwame redeemed his spark among the youthful and male dominated crowd with some of his old tunes. Picking one of the few ladies in the crowd to sing Bertha’s part of the song ‘Faithful’ created a buzz.
The final major act before the close of the show was by E.L who had the audience heed to his call for them to gather and continue the show while teasing the crowd for being male-dominated.
Unfortunately, he fell out with the DJ as his songs did not synchronize well with his performance. He advised the music be turned off and pushed on through to sing choruses to his hit songs without sound as the audience clapped.
By far, last year's Dancehall Explosion at both the Kumasi and Accra stadiums best served the youth and the young at heart.
Feast your eyes to some pictures from the Loud In GH - Swag Edition below:
