As Christians stood in worship on Saturday at the much publicized MTN Ghana stands in worship concert, I could not help but notice a number of mishaps at the stadium held event. This is in no way a deliberate plot to taint the image of the organizers black, but as a staunch patron of Christian events, my critical self cannot simply be at peace in the face of mediocrity and sheer “I don’t care-rism”.
My first beef is the late start of the event which started more than a hundred and twenty minutes after the stipulated 6pm. The concert began with choir after choir taking centre stage and serenading patrons with heart throbbing gospel renditions. Although their performances were top notch, it felt as though it was a strictly choral event, as there were way too many choirs on the night.
The “overflow” of choirs limited Bodiwaa’s performing time. From all indications, she was far from happy when the MC, interrupted her less than six minutes performance, just when she was zooming deeper into the worship zone.
It appeared Bodiwaa wasn’t the only artiste gasping for time. The Nigerian gospel sensation, Nathaniel Bassey needed more “Imela” moments. Nevertheless, his worship carried us closer to the throne room and when Micah Stampley joined him, it was simply heaven on earth.
Micah Stampley’s solo performance, although impressive, was not without hindrances. It appeared the VIPs were not pleased with the American gospel crooner, after he beaconed on the “ordinary” fans to draw closer to the stage. I observed that some of these very important persons registered their displeasure to the security guards who quickly took action by driving the zealous crowd to their original stand in the stadium.
Despite these unfortunate incidences, our gospel artistes did not fail to deliver. Cece Twum . Joe Mettle, Denzel Agyemang Prempeh , Nii Okai, Koda and Elder Mireku definitely lived up to their billings.
Other elements such as lighting and sound were well coordinated.
But for certain apparent organizational deficiencies, the event would have passed off as the best gospel event this year.