Busy Signal Show Review

Zimbabwe is a dancehall/reggae loving country, possibly the biggest reggae/dancehall consumer in Africa. International Dancehall acts are flocking the country, its like a second home to them. In 2015 alone Zimbabweans have witnessed shows from : Konshens, Charly Black, Luciano and the latest one being Busy Signal. 

The show was organised by Chippaz Promotions together with Devine Promotions. Chippaz reputation is stained due to some of the antics he usually does which leave fans feeling cheated. The Davido show is one such show. The last high profile show, the Konshens Concert which occurred two weeks back was marred by massive technical glitches and mismanagement....all these memories had Busy Signal fans praying that their show won't be as those two shows before.

In hope of good faith the fans thronged the Glamis arena in hope of a spellbinding show like the 2012 Beenie Man Concert, which is lauded as the best show by an International act since the start of the 21st century according to the party going youths. Managed to attend the show and this is how it went:

First performer was HKD Boss Freeman, he was a surprise inclusion on the night. Freeman started well, the fans responded well but without a live band an artists can only do so much. The perfomance quickly got boring, plus the guy did not even finish a song, after just the intro he would pull the song...rillly, we did not pay for intro's at least sing till the second verse. [1.7/5 ].

Next artist to perform was Dhadza D, the fire colossal. This guy is a natural born performer, despite having no good song in 2 years on the stage he is an animal. Backed by Hotta Fire Band Dhadza got the crown engaged  dancing till the end of his perfomance. Someone kept switching off the electricity during the beginning of his set but that did not keep the fire colossal down. His collaboration with Kinnah was maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. He invited two new guys from his label and they all did a great job, with the 11yr old one getting the most applause. Dhadza kept the crowd entertained with his high energy and crazy dances.....the Michael Jackson Moonwalk attempt was a good addition to the set. [4/5].

Next up was Seh Calaz Mabhanditi. Like Freeman he came on stage to loud cheers from the crowd. Also like Freeman his perfomance got dull as time went on. He was better that Freeman though, he would at times get the the crowd singing along to his songs. After some time and after the hype died down, the lack of a band also got to him and one could see the crowd waving bye to him. [2/5].

Next up was Chairman Killer T. Killer T is enjoying a purple patch due to the national wide success of his album Ngoma Ndaimba. His performance is not that polished, despite having the biggest songs in the dancehall circles right now his performance was just like Seh Calaz's. He came on stage to loud roars from the crowd, but as time went on people started to give less  and less attention. [2.5/5]

Next up was Chibabababa Souljah Luv. Backed with his dancers Jah Love came on to much a louder roar than his predecessors. He manged to keep the crowd hooked and dancing for longer compared to Killer T, Calaz and Freeman. His did not reach the Dhadza D standard but he managed to keep the crowd entertained.  His inclusion of Bounty Lisa was the lowest moment of his set, that lady is as good a performer as she is a singer. [3/5]

Next was Busy Signal. He came on the stage to a much louder roar from the crowd. His performance was well planned, he began with high energy tracks like Swag Turn up then he later switched to his reggae classics such as One More Night, Night Shift, Comfort Zone...etc. After a couple of tracks he switched the mood up again with some dancehall tunes. He made sure after fans sweated getting down and jumping to some dancehall tunes he turns to reggae songs as they cool down. The transition between the songs was well practiced and kept the crown in the mood.

He controlled the mood and feel of his performance expertly and that kept his set interesting and engaging. Unlike the local acts (except Dhadza) whose sets got dull as time went on, Busy manged his set well and it never got dull. 

Reggae Music Again is my favourite track from Busy and when it was performed, l literary went crazy...If he had played Dreams of Brighter Days after that l would have fainted. The crowd sang word to word to his tracks, it was like a 10 000+ member choir. A friend of mine halfway through the show was like " l always maintained that the Beenie Man show was the best but Busy has surpassed that...."

As Busy said, "music is a performance, and l don't give 5 %, or 50 % or 99.9% but 100%.."On Saturday Zimbos witnessed what a 100% performance looks like. He was not only value for money but in the end one would feel like now we owe Busy!!!! that's just how good his performance was. Busy performed for 3 hours and he didn't even finish his long list of Hits. It was a performance of a lifetime for Zim Fans, one for the memory books. [5/5].

Finishing off by default was Jah Prayzah. Firstly Jah is the biggest artists in Zim but he was the odd one out, personally l thought he was gonna be the first to perform before fans get into a dancehall/reggae mood. He came on after a massive Busy performance and although he was good, he killed the mood a bit. Even Jah himself knew that, he even kept saying, "rega tiite tipedze tisiyire vemangoma stage.." Will not be rating Jah Prayzah's performance due to that he just performed to fulfill a contractual obligation but he was not needed at the show.

Winky D the Bigman or Gafa was supposed to be the closing act and his Legion of fans has to sit through Jah Prayzah in hope to witness another electrifying performances by Biggie but were dissapointed to hear apologies. On his Facebook page Winky posted :

It is with a heavy heart that l wish to officially announce the reason for my no show yesterday. As all of you aware,...
Posted by Winky D DiBigman on Sunday, October 25, 2015

Apology acceptable but the reasons mentioned are questionable!!!! Winky's Band and Manager are well known...if they were acting professionally and respectable as we expected there was no reason for them to be beaten!!! What happened that gave the police reason to beat the band and the manager??? if they were beaten at all??!!! Some are saying Winky could not meet Busy Signal's standard so he cooked up a story!!!! We hope he gives us more to go with except his word, maybe the full unedited story or pics of the band members!!!


Despite all that, the show was worthwhile and it was amazing.

Proud_Zimbo