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Last year in June, my friend suggested we attend a famous Kenyan reggae dancehall artist’s album release party. We purchased advance tickets at $5 each then waited for the much anticipated Saturday.
We arrived at the sports stadium hosting the album release party an hour after opening time. It was a challenge getting through the entrance because the event organizers didn’t bother to designate different queues for attendees with advanced tickets. Plus, the event bouncers kept pushing people in the queue.
After struggling for 25 minutes, we finally get inside and purchase a couple of cold beers since it’s a hot afternoon. We had to endure an entire hour of confusion for the show to officially begin since the sound technicians were setting up speakers at the last minute. Due to this sluggish attitude, only half of the artists scheduled to perform graced the stage.
Finally, the hyped dancehall artist appeared three hours later. He was psyched and the crowd reciprocated his energy. However, the speakers seemed unreliable as they went frequently went mute for no reason. This made sections of the audience angry and they hurled bottles onstage. A mini stampede occurred as everyone in the front tried to flee from the crude projectiles.
Contributor: Maina Ndugo | LinkedIn
