Everything matters

Hello My Favourite People,

Again another weekend has gone, and with it my earnest desires to regale you with pictures and stories of the one-of-a-kind, gargantuan, and of course, expensive concert that was supposed to take Lagos by storm, and leave it stunned and reeling thereafter. (Now make no mistake, I would NEVER shell out 10 000 naira of MY money to go and watch some over-hyped, under-fed vocalists display the reason why America is Babylon -no offence UB40- but because my office decided that we are into events, and we should watch, and learn, from other events, they bought me a ticket.

So there I was, when I had more important things to do, rushing around in a frenzy, trying to make sure I did not keep the company driver waiting endlessly, and that I made the 1pm timing written on the 'ticket'. Well, true to type, my type that is, I made it to the office at about 3pm. To cut a long story short, I arrived at the venue, the much-publicised, state-of -the-art ThisDay events centre, at about 5 pm,to find the usual Nigerian hypocrisy at the gate. Apparently people were supposed to buy stickers bearing the phrase 'VIP parking', so that they could park near the door of the venue. The difference being that non-VIP would park a few metres away. Anyway, though I didnt buy any 'yeye' sticker, I was in the 'owner's corner' of a posh car, so the 'security guards took one look at the car, one look at my harsh, questioning, face and directed us straight to VIP parking.so much for the 1000 naira sticker!

Now I was, as I said earlier, I was about 4 hours late, but I noticed that no-one was being let in through the tiny, makeshift dor that was set in over 30 feet of wall. I waited until I saw people I knew coming out of the venue, apparently tired of waiting. This was at about 6pm.They finally let us in and I went in to find construction work still going on! Surprisingly, I was the only one who was surprised. Apparently it was/is the MO of ThisDay to fix an early date for a show and start 8 hours later. So I decided to wait, ensuring my driver was well taken care of. But an hour into my conversation with my friends, I saw everyone troop out of the hall, as I went closer, I heard some of them swearing, and just generally venting their rage. Apparently the organizer(s) had come into the hall, boasted about the number of planes, people and hours the entertainers had put into coming to Nigeria- as though that were the issue- and then announced that the show had been postponed to the next day! So all those people, including me, who had come from long distances, bought 10/25/100 thousand naira tickets for themselves, and their family members, (some people came with their children) and waited, would have to go home and come back the next day, or forfeit their money. I no go better for ThisDay o!

So I went home, not disappointed, but irritated at our lack of self-respect. Everyone who was angry just got into their cars and drove away. No-one could even ask for their money back or at least hold the stupid ThisDay to acknowledge that they had messed up. Anyway, if you think that was the end of the fraud, you are wrong.

The next day, the show began at 11am.; but you wouldnt know that if you didnt buy the ThisDay newspaper of that day, where it was published.but God has His way of dealing with crooks. I heard the show was thoroughly disorganized and that Kelly Rowland fainted on stage. (Poor girl. I hope they didn't give her "Igbo' o. Although the rate at which she has lost weight, she should faint at the slightest opportunity.) Rihanna's performance, I hear, left a lot to be desired- I dont know why they brought her o, didn't they say it was musicians they were bringing?- and she was dressed like a tramp.

See Kelly's pre-collapse display in the pic on the right and Rhianna's-em- outfit, on the right. (Thanks bella-naija!) Nduka give me my money o. Ole.

Chili