It was an early Liberation Day for music lovers that turned up for the Liberation Concert featuring Nigerian musician Mr Eazi on Monday night.

Staged at the Kigali Convention Centre, it was one of the highly billed shows in a long ‘weekend’ that was packed with lots of entertainment.

The Leg over star arrived in the country on Wednesday last week, then connected to Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo where he held a concert, before returning to Kigali for the Monday night show.

While the Rwanda Fiesta music concert in Nyamata the previous night had attracted a more diverse crowd, Mr Eazi’s concert was different: Young urban Kigalians went out in droves to see the continental sensation, filling the venue to the brim.

They were out to not only enjoy the concert, but also dance vigorously and sing along to their favourite songs such as Dance for me, Sample you, Leg over and Hollup, all of which are popular with young people.

Bruce Melodie, Charly and Nina, and DJs Miller and Marnaud took good care of the crowd as they waited for the main act.

The sound was not the best initially, and for Charly and Nina, it was a continuation of the nightmare of poor sound that had marred their performance at the Rwanda Fiesta concert in Nyamata the previous night.

Eventually the organisers sorted the sound issues, much as the show being in an enclosed space, the echo could somehow be heard.

But one of the earliest highlights of the show was the DJ session by Miller and Marnaud, who weren’t simply spinning discs on the night.

Rather, theirs was a full-blown performance in which they spun discs, sung, chanted and generally engaged the crowd. At one point the screams of excitement from the audience were so intense that many people thought Mr Eazi had gone on stage unannounced.

As the two DJs wound up their set, it wasn’t clear whether Mr Eazi would match their popularity. The MCs, the comedians Babu and Michael Senganzi also did a good job keeping the audience on its toes.

Mr Eazi stepped on stage shortly after 11:00pm, to deafening applause and screams. The already wild crowd grew even wilder, moving closer in front of the stage and dancing in large clusters. The Nigerian singer took the house through his hit list, weaving effortlessly through his Banku style, to Afro beat and pop. At some point he did covers of a repertoire of popular reggae songs, further demonstrating his versatility.

Eazi proved what a formidable stage performer he is, stretching his performance for more than two hours and confirming why he is among the currently sought after African artistes.

Mr Eazi commended Bruce Twagira, of Rock Events, who organised it for a job well done.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw