Whatever happens in Naxvegas

Peter Ndoria makes yet another road trip to his Nakuru hometown and scoops the highs and lows at the Niko na Safaricom Live concert  

As we steer towards Afraha Stadium, the excitement is palpable. Inside the venue, Gloria Muliro entertains the crowd with her melodic tunes.

Next to the stage, Jalang’o is pacing up and down, chatting every now and then with his co-emcee, MC Pengle. They are about to get onto the stage.

When he does, Jalang’o is a ball of fire and his synergy with Pengle is commendable; the jokes keep flowing, one punch-line after another. Being World Aids Day, they do not miss the opportunity to educate the audience — a blend of humour and knowledge that they will maintain for the entire night, with the random insane moment where some exuberant fan decides to inflate a condom, balloon-style and throw it their way!

Next on stage is the local homeboy, Allan Aron. His first song, Kiriro, gets the crowd into a hyped mood. By the time he gets to Ritwa Ria Jesu, he too seems to be on another plane and intersperses his delivery with loud screams.

His very able backup team keeps the performance solid, as they perform Uka Jesu.

By the time Mr T gets onto the stage for their collabo Hitho, what seemed like the apex of Aaron’s performance actually goes higher. His fierce rap lights up the stage and lifts up the crowd, before he wraps it up with his own song Maisha Finje Finje.

It is a high that Camp Mulla maintain when they walk on stage to the beat of 50 Cent’s Window Shopper and perform their first jam, Fresh All Day. They do a good job, with Addicted and Sunday Swag, a jam from their new album — getting lots of love from the crowd.

The pocket rocket, Size 8, hops onto stage with Fire — arguably her hottest song yet, unperturbed seemingly by some small accessory that falls off her hair at the beginning of her performance. Her dancers are clad in firemen’s garb and as the show gets even hotter, she removes her jacket to reveal her curvaceous self, in what remains of her yellow trousers with slits and a top that slightly more than subtly — does a good job of revealing.

After delivering a good rendition of Busy Signal’s Come Over and Destiny’s Child Survivor, she ties up her performance with Siali, covered by male singer Amani. A lucky fan from the crowd gets a hug, a phone and peck on the cheek, thanks for being loyal enough to have her call-back tune on his phone.

Ekko Dyddah’s performance is more like a sermon; he comes off forcefully, with a pervading sense of humility about his message, all wrapped up in joyful rhymes. He has enough energy to fill the stage, flying solo. His performance is almost never ending — like he risks overstaying his welcome.

Next up, Sauti Sol.

The quartet are accomplished performers and their lingala-laced tunes flow effortlessly, as the backup troupe of energetic dancers join them on stage to an explosive performance of their evergreen tunes, from Blue Uniform, Soma Kijana and, with a fan on stage, Coming Home.

Nameless also gets to have his time up on stage with a fan, just after he gets on to the tunes of his all-time classic collabo with Amani, Ninanoki.

His reggae rendition of the song Karibia, sounds refreshing, almost novel. Before performing Boomba, he takes his time to salute his fallen comrade, E-Sir, and performs another classic, Kamata.

He ties up with Coming Home, a patriotic song, before reminding the youth on the importance of maintaining peaceful co-existence. He then gives a taste of his latest track, the inspirational Nibebe.

Jaguar is not new to inspiring many and his show today does not fall short, as his lyrics invite the youth to think big. He performs his retinue of hits, including Kigeugeu and Matapeli, before inviting a unique fan on stage.

The wee hours are, by now, with us but the crowd seems unmoved. The audience follows the proceedings attentively as Jimmi Gait gets on stage.

He flaunts his prowess on the piano while performing Muhadhara, hitting some pleasant notes before going on to perform his latest serving, Appointment, hitting his characteristic high notes.

With the crowd still wanting more, DJ Wesley gets on the one-and-twos to take the show away.