American rapper Kendrick Lamar (in cap) on stage during Move Afrika: Rwanda on December 6, 2023, a spectacular night of music, culture, and advocacy that took East African entertainment to new heights as the birth of the first pan-African touring circuit for international artistes.
Reports by the Nation that American R&B sensation Chris Brown had turned down an opportunity to perform at the Madfun Experience in Nairobi headlined by Afrobeats star Burna Boy on Saturday elicited mixed reactions on social media.
In an interview with Joy Wachira, Madfun's managing director, she revealed they had first approached Chris Brown before turning to Burna.
Ms Wachira noted that Breezy passed on the opportunity to perform in Kenya because of lack of proper infrastructure to support his kind of show in recent years.
Albeit disappointed, Ms Wachira maintains:
“Chris Brown turning us down on those grounds, he was right. Look at what he did recently in South Africa, and the same in the US. He wants to come on stage flying from one point of the arena to the other. Majority of his recent performances have been like that wherever he has performed.
American singer Christopher Maurice alias 'Chris Brown' performs at Mombasa Golf Club in this photo taken on October 9, 2016.
"Tell me, where in Kenya is he going to do that? We don’t have a modern indoor arena or venue in Kenya to support such live performance productions, and then we wonder why these A-listers are choosing Rwanda or South Africa in Africa.
"It’s because they have invested in these infrastructures and that’s what our governments need to do. Those involved need to realise events is big business that pumps millions of shillings to the economy.”
When Chris Brown performed in South Africa in December 2024, his concert was held at the 94,736-seater FNB stadium.
Built in 1987, it underwent extensive renovation to modernise it and now includes executive suites, wheelchair access, 184 hospitality suites, parking for 15,000 and an underground parking for 4,000 VIP vehicles among other features. Its new roof enclosure, cantilevered (fixed or supported at only one end) from an enormous spatial ring truss and covered with a PTFE membrane, helps to trap the sound of the spectators and generate energy.
Many international artistes have performed at the stadium, including U2, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Linkin Park, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rihanna.
In recent years, Chris Brown has been part of an influx of these acclaimed trending international music stars who have landed on the continent, put on spectacular performances in various regions - but Kenya.
Those that Kenya has been lucky enough to host have been stars of yesteryear - talk of the likes of Lauryn Hill, Sean Paul, Boy II Men, Glen Washington, Etana, Chris Martin, all of whom are now shadows of their prime career, though they still retain their legendary status.
We don’t need to talk about how Shenseea’s show went down last year, or how the other aforementioned stars’ performances hit a snag one way or another.
The Kenyan live industry seems woefully stuck on rebooking and regurgitating downright washed-up acts that are genuinely past their prime.
Over the weekend, American singer and songwriter John Legend put a stellar performance in Rwanda for the second edition of Move Afrika that saw a number of Kenyans, including influencers and celebrities, among those who trooped to Kigali. John Legend then flew to Lagos, Nigeria for a similar concert tour.
Scriptwriter Abel Mutua, who attended the Kigali show, backed Ms Wachira’s sentiment.
“I said it once and I’ll say it again, proper indoor arenas will save all of us a lot of headaches. Indoor arenas are the next big thing, especially now that the Orange Economy (a term used to describe the economic impact of creative industries) is booming.
"They are easier to secure, they are weatherproof, and they make business sense. Kigali can attest to this. How can the giant of East Africa not have a 20,000-seater indoor arena,” Mutua lamented.
Last year, “Not Like Us” hit-maker rapper Kendrick Lamar, who made history with his Super bowl 2025 performance, also delivered a one-of-a-kind performance in Kigali. Both Legend and Lamar shows were hosted at the BK Arena. The venue has also hosted another American star concert, singer Ne-yo.
Built in 2019, BK Arena is arguably East Africa’s largest fully covered modern indoor arena with a holding capacity of 10,000 people seated.
The modern facility, managed by South African company QA Venue Solutions, has been attracting top tier events and concerts in the region.
QA Venue Solutions signed a seven-year agreement with the Rwandan government to manage the arena, having invested $2.5 million (Sh322 million) into edifying the facility to make it a state of art.
Chris Kirwa, a director at CateChris Ltd, an Events Planning and Management Agency chides, “Let’s keep constructing high rise flats in Kilimani and Kileleshwa and malls in Karen. One day, we will wake up and find we are 60 years behind; currently; we are 35 years behind.”
In 2023 BK Arena hosted the first edition of Trace Awards & Festival Summit, Pan-African music awards show created to celebrate and shine a light on some of the brightest and most impressive Africa music stars of the moment.
The second edition of the Trace Awards & summit which ran from February 24 to 25 was held in Zanzibar.
Some quarters on social media wondered why Kenya missed on the opportunity to host the latest edition, only hosting the Trace Music Awards Media Tour.
“Rwanda had signed to host two editions of the Trace Awards the 2023 edition and this year’s but because of the fracas that has been going on between Rwanda and DR Congo, those plans changed. So, an opportunity arose of where the next ideal place to host could be, and the obvious choices were South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana. Then, there was a mention of new choices like Ivory Coast. I asked, “Why don’t we do it in Tanzania?”
"The first answer from the Trace bosses was no. The questions they asked were if we have ever done such an event of that magnitude, our capacity, logistics and hotels and all that.
"But the Trace CEO Olivier Laouchez was very open minded into trying it out, he came to Zanzibar we met the Minister of tourism and from that meeting it was sealed,” says Seven Mosha, Sony Music Executive for East Africa who was part of the Awards organising team.
The growing reputation of Rwanda has been attributed to the government initiative of setting up a convention bureau to market the private sector as a meetings, events and conferences hub.
But in Kenya, promoters and fans are also to be blamed over the lack of enthusiasm shown by international artistes to perform in the country. According to MC Charles Kimenjo, "Negative press affects the events industry a lot.
These artistes talk to each other, their managers exchange notes. We cannot continue to fumble shows and expect to attract the A-Listers. I think we have to start being more professional before anything else.”
Daniel Tunde, an events and artiste repertoire consultant, blames bungled performances and events to a lot of inexperienced entrants into the events scene.
