15 March 2008
Lagos — It was a promising day. But the bright prospects soon gave way to cloudy conditions. The rains came, but not in heavy torrents enough to disrupt the first leg of the much advertised MTN Xtra Cool Tour With 2Face and Friends. The expectation generated by heavy advertising in the mass media and on the MTN network had created the necessary thirst that could be assuaged by physical interaction between the artiste and his fans.
Twice the tour had been postponed; and when the the set day finally came, nothing, not even unfriendly elements was strong enough to stop a joyous meeting.
An important aspect of the concert tour is the decison by MTN and the artiste to give back to society. This was established with the first tour in Benin. On arrival at the ancient capital of the Edos, 2Face, MTN officlas and the press went visiting with Good Samaritan Home, Uselu, Benin City. A scheduled visit to the Palace of the Oba of Benin couldn't be carried out. This is an issue that the organisers should look into because the project is not just a concert. While the entertainment value and charity values have been realised, we can't say thesame for the tourism content of the project, presents an opportunity for the touring party to become more acquainted with parts of the country they are visiting.
It is equally important 2Face and his friends be persuaded to arrive destinations earlier and be made to see why they should go visiting tourist attractions in the cities that they are performing in. MTN can collaborate with tour operators and destination managers, managers of museums, arts and crafts guild and the like to give a deeper tourism impetus to this tour, which offers a wonderful opportunity for 2Face to endorse some of Nigeria's better known tourist attractions.
2Face's ambassadorial potentials for good causes has already been acknowledged by the United Nations and MTV Base. Now, it is an unpardonable oversight for MTN to fail to log into the the artiste's international clout by opening up the culture and tourism potentials of Nigeria to him; so that he can speak knowledgeably about them anywhere he goes.
For the prevailing cloudy weather conditions that Saturday in Benin, the crowd at the University of Benin Sports Stadium was quite appreciable. One is tempted to say that it could have been better had there been friendlier weather conditions.
Put together by Dojoes Management and powered by MTN's lifestyle youthful brand, Xtra Cool, the concert offered an opportunity to lots of lucky fun seekers to go home with fantastic MTN gifts such as MP3/DVD Home theatre, freebies and 2Face musical works. Many of the Xtra Cool subscribers also went home with Xtra cool packages such as xtra cool duffy bag, bandana scarfs, purse etc.
The show kicked off at 4pm and was rounded off by 8pm. A planned after party at Hexagon Night club did not really hit off with the expected bang, as the celebrated guests failed to appear at the venue.
The Nigerian music stars and their upcoming counterparts in and outside the country are supporting multiple award winning music star 2Face Idibia to execute the six-state musical tour aptly titled: MTN Xtra Cool Tour with 2Face and Friends.The telecom giant MTN Nigeria through its lifestyle youthful brand Xtra Cool, started its highly publicised six states Mega Music Concert with Benin as the take off point.Some of the artistes that performed in Benin include: Sasha, Blacktribe, Marvellous Benji, Sound Sultan, Nneka from UK, Da-Natives, Zulezu, Timaya, Daneki, Stereoman, Rock Steady, W4, and Ruff, Rugged & Raw among several other local and international artistes, comedians and DJs.The concert is part of the brand promises of the Xtra cool loaded music value propositions which was relaunched mid last year is built around the celebration of Nigerian born ace music star and current MTV best African artiste 2Face.
The tour kicked off from Benin and moved to Ibadan. Lagos went loud on March 8 as 2Face rocked his Lagos fans and lovers of good quality music with his new tempo. March 12 saw the entire crew landing in the coal city of Enugu, while Kaduna and Abuja will come alive on March19 and 22 respectively.
Among 2Face's friends from the international arena coming to support him with their performances at the concerts is Damian Marley, son of the legendary reggae music icon Robert Nester Marley.In a statement made available by the tour facilitators, Dojoes Management and MTN Nigeria, Damian confirmed that he would be coming for the last leg of the concert in Abuja on March 22. The award winning international reggae star disclosed that he would be storming Abuja for the show with his R&B crooning brother, Steven Marley for a collabo on the show.
The pan Nigerian musical tour, aims among other objectives, to spread the message of love, unity and happiness among the Nigerian youth. 2Face Idibia, the Nigerian born MOBO Awards 2007 Best African Artiste of the year, is joining forces with the MTN Xtra Cool brand to preach the gospel of unity among the Nigerian youth by using the convergence that the concert platform provides within the six geo- political zones of the country where the concerts will be taking place.The multiple award winning star has been dropping some of his new works at the concert, and only the privileged few that make it to the concert venues would "feel the vibe and get the feeling".
The pan-Nigeria mega concert originally billed to kick off on Saturday, February 16 in Abuja was rescheduled on logistic ground. "The concert is an international mega concert, so we can't afford to leave anything to chance, that is why we had to shift the date forward and rearrange the route. Inspite of this determination, things didn't go quite well in Benin with the sound quality, proving a big let down. 2Face had to improvise after the engineers tried without success to get the sound right. But this hitch did not dampen the spirit of the show.
The management and children of the Little Saints Orphanage in Lagos have since had their turn with 2Face and Friends. The founder of the 14 year-old orphanage Reverend, Mrs. Dele George was on hand with her husband Captain Jide George who is the patron of the institution to receive the mega star and others on the visit. The guests were treated to a live music performance by the resident band in the orphanage, while the music star encouraged the children with inspirational words. 2Face later presented several bags of rice and other food items to Rev. George on behalf of MTN, while the mega star and Mr. Femi Ogundipe the chief executive officer of Dojoes Management, facilitator of the tour made personal donations of undisclosed amount to the orphanage.
Mr. and Mrs George expressed their joy at having 2Face in the home, and prayed for God's guidance and blessing for the megastar. The Lagos end of the tour was rounded off with a mega concert at XQZ MOI in Lekki area of Lagos. Lagos youths, most especially MTN Xtra cool brand loyalists, had the fun of their lives when 2Face and his music singing friends, took time to sing their hearts out with scintillating stage performance. Among artistes that stole the night were Seun Kuti, 9ICE, Rock Steady, Da Natives, Black Tribe, Nneka, and all the way from Port Harcourt came Timaya.
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