Busy night for Lilongwe

The endless hype that surrounded famed Jamaican dancehall performer Busy Signal finally landed after the musician delivered a sterling act at Civo Stadium on Saturday night.

In the world of technology, he is like a chip, small but fiercely lethal needing no extra power to perform to its perfection.

r many it was worth the wait, the struggle. For sure it was a night well spent.

Give him a microphone and a powerful stage, his powers effortlessly yet mercilessly absorbs all the attention from the fans. Such an envious trait in a musician in a country where at times artists are obsessed with just getting on stage.

With security lapses as the personnel could not manage to control the crowd during Malawian performances, it spelled a shadow of doubt as to what will happen on Busy Signal gets on stage.

It was no surprise that within seconds of his time, the whole barricade only protecting the stage with open flanks, was completely submerged in a sea of fans all wishing to get a closer glance of the main man.

It was too little, too late and journalists specifically, struggled throughout to take pictures as they continuously wrestled with the mob in an effort to capture best shots.

But after performances by Soul Riders band, Sangie, Nepman, Lulu among others while Lucius Banda and his Zembani Band was in no show, the long wait was over at around 01:23. There were no idle moments; no dull scenes, simply network busy just like in the telecommunications industry.

Seemingly acknowledging the figures that turned up for the gig but arguably falls around 7, 000, Unknown Number was his first dish on the menu.

As the fans salivated, One More Night was thrown in the cocktail, making a non-poisonous concoction with the fans’ singing presumably begging him to stay more, for another night of massive fun.

“I am a huge fan of Malawi and it will be like that forever,” he confessed.

Dressed in all black with a white bowtie, it was not only Busy Signal who was on a Night Shift as some fans hysterically fought for a chance to clean the artist’s glass shoe.

At the peak of crowd control struggles, twice Busy was mobbed on stages by two different fans apart from him, wrestling for a microphone as the fans were pulling the cable, down.

Ladies as flowers of the night’s garden, Comfort Zone, it was for both sides as the stage fast proved to be too small for the Jamaican while the grass distressed with being the bed for the merciless pounding from the fans.

Busy Signal knows how to read the audience such that each song that got a thunderous response could not go past the chorus before taking it up from the top and the trend continued all though Come Over (Miss You).

“Malawi. Mukumva bwanji?” he screamed in perfect Chichewa he had just learnt a few minutes before from Lucius Banda.

As mostly lovers got lost in a You and Me moment, the beat changed, though it was not a long time before the fans had a vibe like this, it was Reggae Music Again.

As he played the music again, making the people unite again, the enchanting sounds of Nyabinghi drumming by Busy Signal brought forth Dreams of Brighter Days.

Some of the fans read the song just a minute into his thumping and in resonance, they sung while Busy lost his own signal as he seemed utterly taken into a meditative session before springing up like he just got stung.

While he saved the best for last, the ecstatic crowd could not wait a little while longer and soon, “black people, black people” chants took over and that was the only time in his three hour performance that he was conquered by the audience.

Referring to his February release, Free Up, the hit soon turned into an anthem as he freed up black people, and the audience seemingly looked freed souls. It was like a liberation moment.

When he earlier said “this show here, at Civo stadium is part of history,” very few understood what he meant. The irony of his ambiguity was then unpacked: “Malawi, this is the first time I am performing this song live on stage. Free up Malawi,” he roared.

And so it went on and on, more than ten times of the same song but none of the two sides got bored. Three hours later, a sweaty Busy Signal took a bow but the fans still wanted more of his pulsating performance.

Hands akimbo many stood, dejected as the Jamaican disappeared back stage while others made way out of the stadium.

Busy Signal drowned the fans into his rich collection of vibes.