December is generally known as the month of fun in Lagos, with concert after concert being held every other day, and Nativeland is no different.
The concert attracted guests to it with its impressive lineup – Burna Boy was to headline the event, while a stream of equally impressive artists would also perform.
Heavyweights like Santan Dave, Naira Marley, Koffee, Joeboy, Rema, Fireboy DML, Tems, among others were billed for the youth culture event, and of course, these attractions had people streaming out in their numbers.
The success of the previous shows, along with its reputation for being the prime concert for IJGBs ensured that people would stream to the concert to see their faves.
But instead of it being a banging success, people took to Twitter to report all sorts of mishaps that befell them at the concert.
The VIP stage fell, wigs were lost, people were assaulted, and parents had to rush out of their houses in the middle of the night to pick up their panicking children.
https://twitter.com/addie_kay1/status/1207874213056536577?s=20
The concert was full of people of all ages, as usual, and one parent, in particular, took to Twitter to put the event organizers on blast after the show.
The events at the concert caught so much attention and were so talked about that it has become the number one most talked about topic on Twitter NG.
Going by the tweets from concertgoers, the mishaps of the night started from ticketing at the gate.
Concertgoers reported that the ticket collection points were jampacked and rowdy. The event, which was held at Muri Okunola Park, was overcrowded. As expected in a situation like that, there were stampedes, which unfortunately caused injuries.
A disabled woman took to Twitter to share how she became unconscious because of that and put the organizers on blast for it.
F--k whoever that stood on me. F--k the person that made me lose consciousness. F--k the people who did nothing except from one person. #nativeland f--k you. #traumatized. Don’t go Nativeland if you’re disabled. NOT. EQUIPPED. FOR. PEOPLE. LIKE. US. #FUCKYOU #NATIVELAND
— Prostheticgirl (@zainabEmohammed) December 19, 2019
#NATIVELAND19
1. You can’t say people can only enter with wristbands and not have a designated spot for collection of wrist bands.2. Paying Guests/Customers cannot be tased and whipped and assaulted while trying to enter the venue for which they bought tickets ????? @NativeMag
— Fikeyinmi (@fikeodu_) December 20, 2019
HOW ARE YOU SO GREEDY TO THE POINT THAT YOU CANNOT PUT A LIMIT ON THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE YOU ADMIT TO YOUR SHOW ?????? YOU BROUGHT CROWD ENOUGH TO FIT 02 CENTER TO F-----G MURI OKUNOLA PARK ? You’re actually all crazy. @NativeMag #NativeLand2019 #NATIVELAND19
— Ifeoma B. Nwobu (@ifbnw) December 19, 2019
While the show started early at 10 am, unlike previous editions, there were still more tragedies to be had.
Presumably to control the massive crowd while ticketing at the entrance, the gate to Muri Okunola park was locked. This measure did not work and only caused a lot more injury to concertgoers.
Word on Twitter is that security agents beat people who were trying to get in or out of the event and even went as far as tasering them.
The fact that the gate was pushed down, people were tasered, phones were stolen, people were beaten by police and the VIP stage collapsed all in one event is honestly so shameful and I hope I get a refund for this mess #NATIVELAND19
— ? (@thiccyyniccy) December 20, 2019
https://twitter.com/Kinglamar___/status/1207900070017933312?s=20
One parent confirmed this in a Tweet. She wrote:
“F*** you #NATIVELAND19. Finally got my sons home safely only to hear of kids in hospital due to your recklessness and greed. Gate fell on their school friends. Another friend was beaten by the police.”
https://twitter.com/emsiebeee/status/1207822162721148928
As stated earlier, people of all ages were at the concert, including teenagers who had curfews. They were not let out of the event (when the gate was locked) and as such, many of them called their parents who had to go all the way to pick up their children.
Event hosts had to announce that parents were there to pick up kids, and many had to scale fences to exit the event.
https://twitter.com/LiveLoveLams/status/1207823667725508610?s=20
The highlight of the night came much later, after the artists started performing their sets. Twitter reports state that Fireboy DML was halfway into performing ‘Scatter’ off his album, Laughter Tears and Goosebumps when the VIP stand collapsed.
Several people were injured, and one person was reported to have broken her leg.
Just realised I was recording when we fell. ?@NativeMag can you see the sham of a stage you set up? #NATIVELAND19 pic.twitter.com/9Sp4tg4IlV
— Menks (Peach Bums) (@ChopLifexo) December 20, 2019
One twitter user wrote:
“i was on the floor struggling for life because i wanted to see koffee and co. my earrings are gone and I’m in a mess. Big ups to y’all #NATIVELAND19.”
Many put it down to the earlier stated overcrowding at the event. A lady even lost her wig at the event and this has quickly been turned into a meme on Twitter NG.
https://twitter.com/EtniesJags/status/1207867340207071232?s=20
That was not all though. The sound was bad and several artists, including Tems and Burna Boy walked off angrily when the sound issue could not be fixed.
Tems sang the chorus of her super popular song, ‘Try Me’, before walking off the stage angrily. In a video which was shared by concertgoers, people can be heard wondering aloud what was going on.
Tems has followed in Burna's steps at #NATIVELAND19.. She dropped mic and left angrily because of bad sound ?? pic.twitter.com/2iB0gE19Ad
— Salman? ????? (@NotJustSalmanPR) December 20, 2019
In spite of all of this, the show still went on. But some people took to Twitter to say that they were actually asked to leave, which many did, believing that the concert was over.
They now had the AUDACITY to lie to people that she show was cancelled to empty out the space they they f-----g overcrowded in the first place. Smh f--k #nativeland19 https://t.co/oWBhLdEnlX
— Séun the artist (@seuntheartist) December 20, 2019
After the terrible events of the night, and probably seeing all the bad reports from the event, the organizers released a statement on @NativeMag, a Twitter account which belongs to its media arm, attempting an explanation for the event.
Many believed, however, that the statement was insensitive and could have been much better. The organizers were further slammed on social media.
The tweet has now been deleted, but the damage is done.
However, after that, a more solemn apology was released from the founders of the concert.
From the Founders of The NATIVE pic.twitter.com/HYPfWjaCif
— The NATIVE (@NativeMag) December 20, 2019
Many have sworn off Nativeland concerts, but we’ll have to wait until next year to see what happens.
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