Promoters Boobed On Mafikizolo, Loyiso Bala Gigs

EVENT WORX, the promoters of both the Mafikizolo and Loyiso Bala gigs, might have blundered after they lined up two consecutive shows at the same venue over the weekend.
They had Mafikizolo on Friday and then Loyiso's show on Saturday. Although the two shows were targeted at different audiences, it was inevitable that one would flop. While it was good for the arts, the gigs proved the newcomers still have a long way to go inasfar as music promotion is concerned.
For starters, they didn't expect such a huge turnout but when that happened instead of using one gate they could have used at least three since it was a big show.
Generally in Zimbabwe, it is not in our culture to buy tickets in advance. This is because there has been a number of promoters who promised to bring foreign artistes only to fail at the last minute.
Quite honestly, it is difficult to reimburse the funds especially considering that most promoters rely on the bars and entrance fees to cover their costs.
A case in point was when General Defao failed to come to Harare almost a month after the scheduled date. Another high-profile flop was Michael Jackson's "This Is It" tour.
So when Event Worx saw the poor advance ticket sales, they should have expected a huge turnout on the day of the show. While the Mafikizolo gig was well attended, it was a different matter altogether with Loyiso.
The reason being that the organisers took a gamble thinking that they would make a killing in just two days.
Firstly, they created a lot of hype around Mafikizolo show and forgot about Loyiso. All we heard was more of Mafikizolo and little of Loyiso.
Secondly, there was no way they could have had a big crowd at Loyiso's show when it was almost the same crowd which attended Mafikizolo's gig the previous night. Traditionally, family shows are held for those people who don't go out at night. Unfortunately, Loyiso's crowd is the one that hit the clubs and do not attend shows during the day.
If Event Worx had wanted to stage two gigs they should have started off with Mafikizolo and then bring Loyiso at a later date.
This was going to give them enough time to promote the show as well as brainstorm. There is no doubt, Event Worx are newcomers who could do well in future gigs judging by the thousands who attended the Mafikizolo gig.
Yes, the South African group is topping the charts with the hits "Happiness" and "Khona" which was played twice at the show but how much was known about Loyiso?
It appears Event Worx was a bit ambitious to put two consecutive shows at the same venue. It would have been different if it was a festival of some sort not just one-off performances.
However, the supporting acts among them BaShupi, Sniper Storm and Junior Brown were good while the sound system was up to scratch.