Unlike last year when Dancehall artiste Shatta Wale’s sterling performance resulted in Ghana ‘conquering’ Nigeria, there was no clear cut victor at this year’s Ghana Meeets Naija concert last Saturday.

While Hiplife artiste, Patapaa, now known as Patapeezy put up a very good show for Ghana when he mounted the stage at the Fantasy Dome at the Trade Fair Centre on the night, Nigeria’s Wizkid countered his perfomance when he took his turn making it difficult for either country to grab the bragging rights of the fierce but friendly music ‘banter’ which started some eight years ago.

A winner or lack thereof didn’t seem to bother patrons of the well attended event though. The music lovers, mainly from Ghana and Nigeria, who had come to watch their music stars were excited and joined in the performances with many singing and dancing through the night till the wee hours of the morning when the concert came to a close.

Patapeezy exceeded the expectations of many not only with his energetic performance but his entrance, stage presence and props which put him way ahead of many of the A-list artistes who performed at the concert, organised by Empire Ghana.

He kicked off his bit with a young girl who delivered a spoken word extoling the virtues of the Swedru-based artiste.

And as if that was what he needed to ginger him up, Patapeezy went on to deliver a performance of some of his singles including One Corner,  Kumchacha, One Perma and Akwaaba. He was later joined on stage by Article Wan to perform That Thing.

For the Nigerian contingent, Wizkid was the one who stood out from the host of artistes. As always the crowd went into a frenzy to see him and he also did not disappoint them.

He crowned his performance with two surprise introductions; Dancehall act, Shatta Wale and Tiwa Savage with whom he has collaborated on a number of songs, and this delighted the already excited crowd.

Although Shatta Wale did not spend much time on stage, he used his slot well running through a number of songs such as Freedom and Gringo.

Several other acts such as Wisa Greid, Saxophonist Mr Okyere, Fancy Gadam, Kurl Songx, Nana Yaa, Sista Afia, Obibini, Dice Ailes, Yaa Pono, Freda Rhymes, Kwesi Arthur, Mayorkun, Mr Eazi, football stars Emmanuel Adebayor and Asamoah Gyan among others were on hand to add to the excitement on the night.

DJs on the turntables, Nii, Vyrusky, K Crakk and Vision DJ also deserve credit for masterful performances on Saturday night.

Their selection of songs from both Ghana and Nigeria kept the audience on their feet and ensured the tempo remained high in-between various performances.

Long Night
As enjoyable as the event was, it went on for too long leading many patrons to complain about the duration.
The show started about thirty minutes after the advertised time of 8:00pm and ended with a performance by Wizkid and Tiwa Savage about thirty minutes after 4:00am. Some patrons began exiting the venue shortly after 2:00 am.

Some of the patrons Showbiz spoke to said although the switch from the Accra International Conference Centre to the Fantasy Dome was great, they were not happy that it ran for about eight-and-a-half hours.

“I would have expected the show to last for maybe four hours but even after 12:00 am not many of the high profile acts have performed yet but I do not think I can wait any longer since I need to go home and get ready for church,” one patron said.

Although there were initially about thirteen artistes scheduled to perform, the total number of artistes and guest artistes who performed throughout the event were close to thirty-five whose performances were further interspersed with interludes from the three DJs on rotation.

Put together by the Bola Ray-led Empire, the 2018 Ghana Meets Naija concert’s sponsors include Kasapreko Alomo Gold and Storm Energy Drink, Allied Oil, Somoco Ghana Ltd, Nasco Mobile, Kirusa, Point and Play, Rova Surveillance, Dame lashes, Pernod Ricard, Tang Palace, Fix Consult, EIB Network, Graphic Showbiz,  Y FM, Aftown Music, Muse Africa, Ghana Music.com, West Hills Mall, Achimota Retail Centre, Accra Mall, and Timepiece Gh.

-Graphic Showbiz