Saturday October 21st saw Grammy Award winner and sensational musician Anthony Hamilton wow Kenyans at Carnivore grounds during the Tusker Lite experience. The event had been dubbed as a must attend by Neo-soul lovers and they turned up in large numbers to see what he had in store for them.
The tent had been set up from Tuesday and the VIP section was simply amazing. Comfort for the audience seemed to be the idea behind the set up and I liked how no one had to squeeze and shove people around to experience the show. The lighting was great bringing out a great effect to enjoy the melodic tunes blasting from the PA systems.
The night started off with DJ Andre setting the pace for great music with his DJ set. He started off with great classics by R Kelly and Mary Mary among others to get the audience mellowed enough for the acts of the night. Kavi Pratt was the first performer of the night and her melodic tunes and great vocals only made the audience more eager for Anthony Hamilton’s performance.
Anticipation only increased as Atemi Oyugi set the pace with her melodic voice backed by Chris Adwar and his band made up of fast rising star rhythm guitarist Kato Change and Benjamin Webi on the vocals with Adwar. Violinist Aaron Colversion, bass guitarist Asaph Uzele and drummer Brian Omondi wrapped up the band backing Atemi as she performed her hits “Happy†“Speechless†and her newest track “Nairobiâ€
The 3 kings; DJ Styles, DJ Adrian and DJ Pinye were great building up momentum before Anthony Hamilton got on stage. DJ Stylez was the hype man for the evening and though he seemed a bit noisy, he seemed to do a great job in exciting the crowd. They took us on a musical journey of Neo-Soul. From the likes of R Kelly, John Legend and Alicia Keys. They set a fantastic mood for the man of the night Anthony Hamilton to get on stage.
I wasn’t expecting a hyped performance form the first song. I thought he would build up to it, but from the get-go everything was energized. Anthony Hamilton got on stage and made the crowd go wild with his songs and dance moves.
His background singers also did not disappoint. They had great vocals, hitting the high and low notes in a way that I always thought was impossible for men and also acted as hype men, making the crowd more excited. They turned Carnivore into a Church for a few moments and nobody seemed to mind the songs. Everyone was energized and wanted Anthony Hamilton to go on all night, he walked off stage 3 times and the audience just didn’t seem to want him to be done. He eventually gave in to the demands and did an encore of his song “Pass me over†before walking off stage to let the 3 kings entertain the audience. Ticket holders had a chance to mingle and party with his band later on at the Simba Saloon
His electrifying performance was a great way to start the long weekend to mark Mashujaa day. The Tusker Lite crew delivered an amazing concert as promised and it was all worth every penny spent. I would definitely choose to a trend the concert over and over again.
I will confess I knew very little about Anthony Hamilton before the event. Despite having Googled him and listening to his songs online, I wasn’t really excited about the event prior to it. But by the end of the night, the Tusker Lite Experience became the best event I’ve been to all year.