What Rocked and What Sucked at the #AMVCA2016

The buzz around the #AMVCA2016 was not small at all! The stars came to slay and slay they did. I was there live at the event (don’t worry, you didn’t miss me on the red carpet! Hehehehe) and the red carpet was extremely smoky and hot.
There were 2 points for the photogs and at least 7 points for interviews from various networking stations namely Africa Magic, Pulse TV, Spice TV, MiTV and CNBC.

I can go on and on about the red carpet and the celebrities, but after four days, I will focus on ‘What Rocked and What Sucked’ at the #AMVCA2016.

*What Rocked*:

Attendees turned up early – Africa Time has been a thong in the flesh of all events that take place in Lagos as people naturally don’t like turning up on time. For the AMVCAs,

• Attendees turned up early – Africa Time has been a thong in the flesh of all events that take place in Lagos as people naturally don’t like turning up on time. For the AMVCAs, reverse was the case as the celebrities, stars and the likes turned up on time. I arrived at 5 pm and there was already a queue for pictures, interviews were going on and a little confusion as to what was next for us after taking pictures.

• Opening performance – The opening performance by The Star Act Dance Company, was an impressive one. It had an African feel with the dancers adorned in white and gold costumes (did I spot Sisiano of ‘Saro’ and Wakaa fame?) The performance was well choreographed, kind of like ‘Coming to America’ and gave a sense of what to expect, for the rest of the night.

• Alikiba, Yemi Alade and Flavour Performances – Alikiba had a good performance with his crew and he had pockets of the audience dancing to his rhythm. With Yemi Alade and Flavour they also had okay performances, by the time I started appreciating ‘Nagode’ she had moved to her new song ‘Ferrari’ and something about the performance felt slow but it was well choreographed and colorful so her performance rocked for me.

• Short speeches – Speeches are the bane of most awards, both international and local. However, the speeches here from winners were short and on-point. At no time did they cue in music except when Stanlee Ohikhuare was giving a speech, for his Best Lighting Designer and was cut off, now, I am not sure if it was because it was too long or something technical happened cause this is Naija, anything can happen.

• Salvador the Star of the Night – Nothing like a foreign comedian telling us what is wrong with our productions. Salvador was hilarious, initially, I thought what do Ugandans produce that can stand with Nigerian productions however when he kicked of and tore apart our productions in the right places, I could have given him a standing ovation. He was also spot on with Indian productions and was the star of the night for me.

• The Life time achievement awards – Anyone who was there or watched the awards can attest to this fact that we were moved especially when Bukky Ajayi rolled up in a wheel chair. She had delivered over the years to great performances my best among them ‘Diamond Ring’, I was pleased that she was noticed for her work.

• My predictions came true – Before the actual awards, I had a little prediction of my own with the main categories, (click here if you missed it) well maybe for the Actress category and I am excited that Adesua won. I think our older acts have gotten lazy, (yeah, I said it) they might be claiming they are waiting for scripts that challenge them and showcase their creative juices but will they turn up for such productions when approached? The young and upcoming acts dominated the awards and I was proud of that. They do need to pick up after an award such as the AMVCAs and get their publicity team together to get them noticed.

*What Sucked*:

• Use of Eko Hotel – So this might not be a bad thing, but it totally sucks that Eko Hotel is the only event venue that can accommodate AMVCAs. I see the venue’s carpet and I want to puke. Can they like change that orange carpet that is almost brown now after all this time? Com’on, it irks me that there is no worthy event center that can challenge them sha. Rant over.
• Event Didn’t Kick off Early – So the red carpet was on fire and like I mentioned the guess arrived on time as it stated on the IV that the event will start at 6.30pm because it was live. However, this event didn’t start until 7 pm. After we had going through the red carpet, we were made to stand for a good 30 minutes in the hall with no fan, air conditioner or any form or entertainment.
• Production Gremlins – So I had mentioned Stanlee Ohikhuare been cut off which I have attributed to a production gremlin. But asides that, during the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ category, was it Damilola Attoh I saw in place of Beverly Naya? Who caught that?
• Disability Access – So this didn’t totally suck, but as Bukky Ajayi came up on stage and she had to be carried, that just showed it wasn’t consider and it won’t be a bad idea to consider one for the furture.
• The Need for an Audit Company – The AMVCAs is in its 4th audition and for some time I have wondered, so fans and viewers vote 100 times and make their choice, however who audits this process? Who checks to ensure that people actually voted and the votes are legit? I understand that a couple of people are campaigning for a juror system and Oscar typed structure however, PWC audits the Oscars balloting process so much so it has social media engagement that follows the ballot box from their office to the Oscars so why don’t we have an audit company for the AMVCAs, that totally sucks and truth be told, if my career was based purely on what fans think, once they loose interest in you, that is it!

I am extremely glad that ‘What Rocked’ totally overshadowed ‘What Sucked’ that means we are doing something right and adequate planning and preparation went into the #AMVCA2016 awards.

Congratulations to the winners and the 2016 AMVCA team.

It’s a wrap…