Festival goers had to choose between braving the rain and ducking for shelter as the skies opened up abruptly on day one of the KigaliUp music festival on Saturday.

Luckily, it was a moderate downpour that lasted for about an hour. After the rain, the prospects of what seemed to be doomed opening night changed, as the crowds that had taken shelter under the numerous hospitality tents returned to the show.

However, the talk of the town will be about the disappointment of the main acts, with the organisers announcing that reggae maestro Alpha Blondy will not show up after he allegedly missed his flight.

"So sorry to announce that Alpha Blondy did not arrive last night. Fortunately Ismaël Lo and Quantum Split kindly agreed to play again,” the organisers tweeted on Sunday.

And, some festival goers were heard complaining about Patoranking, the other main act to headline the festival, not performing live.

Anyway, the festival officially opened at 10a.m on Saturday, with a side festival dedicated to children, the KigaliUp Kids Festival that run until about 2p.m.

From then, performances would start on the main festival stage, according to the official programme. However, revellers had to wait much longer, till about 5p.m when the rock soul band Quantum Split from the US took to the stage, not to perform, but for a final sound check.

The opening performance came from Abdoul Makanyaga and his band, one of the few local acts out of the many lined up that managed to perform.

Back stage, all was not well, as many more local artistes that had come to perform were politely turned down by organisers and their performances deferred to Sunday, the closing night of the festival.

Jay Polly, Ama G The Black, Uncle Austin, Strong Voice Band and 2T Reggae Man were some of the local musicians whose performances were pushed to Sunday.

Local gospel star Israel Mbonyi was one of the night’s sensations, and not even the rain, which started while he was on stage, could stop him or his audience.

The rain initially scattered everyone away from the cricket pitch, with many taking refuge under the service tents. But his hardcore fans braved the rain, dancing in a circle and singing along to his popular worship hits in front of the stage.

But it was King James who bore the full brunt of the rain, carrying on from where Mbonyi and his fans had left off. Well, his composure on stage made it seem as though he was oblivious to the rain, and this worked magic with the audience.

Ange Umulisa and Lion Imanzi, the night’s MCs, had the unenviable task of keeping the stage alive and active on a chilly and wet evening.

It was a night when people would see the Senegalese world music icon Ismael Lo, and Nigerian dancehall star Patoranking.

Lo came on stage at 9:15p.m, with his full band, and clad in his trademark white Kaftan and blue headpiece.

He went down the memory lane, doing some of his classics from the early to mid-90s like Tajabone, Diawar, Fa Diallo, and Jammu Africa.

Jammu Africa was used as the opening song to Shake Hands with the Devil, the film about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

He ended his spectacular performance with the 1994 classic, Dibi dibi rek.

A brief DJ session then followed, and the crowds started demanding for the night’s crowning act, Patoranking.

Moments into his performances, the Nigerian went down dramatically on his knees to thank his fans for braving the rain just to see him.

However, he was the only act that performed to CD playback, something that many people in the audience were unhappy about.

His performance was dominated by the line, "DJ run the track”. Earlier, organisers had said he would sing ‘semi-live”, meaning he would work with both a DJ and a band.

All that the "Make am” singer could do was promise to come with his band the next time he is in town.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw