Campbell thrills huge crowd
Jan 02, 2003
It was the sort of show you go to with unrealistically high expectations. Tevin Campbell at the Nile Hotel Gardens on New Year’s eve? ‘The’ Tevin Campbell, the international star in Uganda? Wow!
By Sebidde Kiryowa
It was the sort of show you go to with unrealistically high expectations. Tevin Campbell at the Nile Hotel Gardens on New Year’s eve? ‘The’ Tevin Campbell, the international star in Uganda? Wow!
Only this Tevin Campbell was not the star of yesteryear. That showed in some cases. He could not perform our nostalgic Round & Round from 1991 well because his voice is now broken. That was a 15 year-old boy singing on that record. What we were faced with here was a 26-year-old young man lurking in the shadow of his stardom. Naturally, you would expect problems.
At one time in the course of the concert, Tevin himself confessed as much (albeit jokingly) when fans pestered to do Tell Me What You Want Me To Do, his biggest song of all time from his 1991 LP T.E.V.I.N. Said Tevin: “I did some of those songs over 10 years ago. I can’t sing ‘em now. They are too high. You’ll bear with me.†Was that a persistent problem? Well, not really, no. See, Campbell has one of the most amazing voices ever. It is not only luscious and soulful, but also has not changed much overtime. In fact, we were all amazed when he eventually did Tell Me What You Want Me To Do virtually flawlessly.
I say virtually flawlessly because the way he performed most of the songs left a lot to be desired. He played the original songs on disc and sang over the words. The fact that he could not skim smoothly over every minute detail as he intoned, meant that he was forced to mime in some areas. It would have been more gratifying if he had recorded bare instrumental tracks with backup vocals and sang over them. Then watching him would have been a wholesome experience.
However, he had to do a live acapella of Tomorrow, his first major hit at 13 because there was no way he could have pulled that one off.
Notwithstanding, Tevin’s show was a satisfactory experience. He performed with gusto. For most of the crowd, which predominately consisted of the under 30s, seeing Campbell live on stage in 2006 would have been great. This right here was a dream come true. Naturally, the enthusiasm hit fever pitch.
The concert was meant to have kicked off at 8:00pm, but a stream of revellers were still queued outside at the time. So, at 9:57pm, Radio One’s R.S Elvis hopped on to the podium, made his apologies for the delay and declared the show started. The stage was open for local curtain raisers. Some of them truly stirred the crowd, whereas others were booed off the stage.
Emperor Orlando was one of those who found favour in the audience’s eyes. Klear Kut’s performance of I Remember and Super Star with Bebe Cool was stunning, but when they took the liberty to freestyle with Campbell’s DJ, Dennis The Menace, the audience got uneasy. Kaweesa probably attracted the most vivacious response from the crowd with Spend Time In Africa and East Africa Hakuna Matata. Then the firebase Crew took centre stage and one by one they entertained us. From Tool Man, Bobi Wine did his popular Kagoma while Bebe Cool did Mambo Mingi and Okunsunasuna. Menton Krono & General Mega Dee gave us a taste of their reunion album while Hakima Namakula summed up this section with performances of Tuzina and Omusajja Wa Takisi among others. Campbell hit the stage after the fireworks galore.
It was 2003 already. Towed in from above on a lever, he created quite a tumult as fans shrieked in excitement. He burst into Can We Talk from his 1991 album I’m Ready as the dance group VIP backed him up with creative footwork. He wore a combination of slack cream pants and a flowing shirt with a straw heart. He twisted and turned with ease.
The next track was Always In My Heart, then Back To My World from the 1996 album of the same title. He rounded off with Round & Round. The whole while ululation and shrill yells rocked the air.
After an interval in which Dennis The Menace showed off his disc-scratching skill, Campbell was back with the very mellow Brown-Eyed Girl. Temperatures were run high as did testoterine levels. Couples curdled close together. I hugged my notebook.
The situation was liberated by Another Way, a mid-tempo track from 1998. People let loose and danced as vendors made a quick buck selling bootleg versions of Campbell’s greatest hits CD.
From here, he moved fast through Could You Learn To Love to the raunchy slow jam Shss! with highly suggestive lyrics. I’m Ready and Tell Me What You want Me To Do were the biggest with the crowd, attracting feverish responses from the crowd. Then, he was gone. It was 2:00am.
It was the sort of show you go to with unrealistically high expectations. Tevin Campbell at the Nile Hotel Gardens on New Year’s eve? ‘The’ Tevin Campbell, the international star in Uganda? Wow!
Only this Tevin Campbell was not the star of yesteryear. That showed in some cases. He could not perform our nostalgic Round & Round from 1991 well because his voice is now broken. That was a 15 year-old boy singing on that record. What we were faced with here was a 26-year-old young man lurking in the shadow of his stardom. Naturally, you would expect problems.
At one time in the course of the concert, Tevin himself confessed as much (albeit jokingly) when fans pestered to do Tell Me What You Want Me To Do, his biggest song of all time from his 1991 LP T.E.V.I.N. Said Tevin: “I did some of those songs over 10 years ago. I can’t sing ‘em now. They are too high. You’ll bear with me.†Was that a persistent problem? Well, not really, no. See, Campbell has one of the most amazing voices ever. It is not only luscious and soulful, but also has not changed much overtime. In fact, we were all amazed when he eventually did Tell Me What You Want Me To Do virtually flawlessly.
I say virtually flawlessly because the way he performed most of the songs left a lot to be desired. He played the original songs on disc and sang over the words. The fact that he could not skim smoothly over every minute detail as he intoned, meant that he was forced to mime in some areas. It would have been more gratifying if he had recorded bare instrumental tracks with backup vocals and sang over them. Then watching him would have been a wholesome experience.
However, he had to do a live acapella of Tomorrow, his first major hit at 13 because there was no way he could have pulled that one off.
Notwithstanding, Tevin’s show was a satisfactory experience. He performed with gusto. For most of the crowd, which predominately consisted of the under 30s, seeing Campbell live on stage in 2006 would have been great. This right here was a dream come true. Naturally, the enthusiasm hit fever pitch.
The concert was meant to have kicked off at 8:00pm, but a stream of revellers were still queued outside at the time. So, at 9:57pm, Radio One’s R.S Elvis hopped on to the podium, made his apologies for the delay and declared the show started. The stage was open for local curtain raisers. Some of them truly stirred the crowd, whereas others were booed off the stage.
Emperor Orlando was one of those who found favour in the audience’s eyes. Klear Kut’s performance of I Remember and Super Star with Bebe Cool was stunning, but when they took the liberty to freestyle with Campbell’s DJ, Dennis The Menace, the audience got uneasy. Kaweesa probably attracted the most vivacious response from the crowd with Spend Time In Africa and East Africa Hakuna Matata. Then the firebase Crew took centre stage and one by one they entertained us. From Tool Man, Bobi Wine did his popular Kagoma while Bebe Cool did Mambo Mingi and Okunsunasuna. Menton Krono & General Mega Dee gave us a taste of their reunion album while Hakima Namakula summed up this section with performances of Tuzina and Omusajja Wa Takisi among others. Campbell hit the stage after the fireworks galore.
It was 2003 already. Towed in from above on a lever, he created quite a tumult as fans shrieked in excitement. He burst into Can We Talk from his 1991 album I’m Ready as the dance group VIP backed him up with creative footwork. He wore a combination of slack cream pants and a flowing shirt with a straw heart. He twisted and turned with ease.
The next track was Always In My Heart, then Back To My World from the 1996 album of the same title. He rounded off with Round & Round. The whole while ululation and shrill yells rocked the air.
After an interval in which Dennis The Menace showed off his disc-scratching skill, Campbell was back with the very mellow Brown-Eyed Girl. Temperatures were run high as did testoterine levels. Couples curdled close together. I hugged my notebook.
The situation was liberated by Another Way, a mid-tempo track from 1998. People let loose and danced as vendors made a quick buck selling bootleg versions of Campbell’s greatest hits CD.
From here, he moved fast through Could You Learn To Love to the raunchy slow jam Shss! with highly suggestive lyrics. I’m Ready and Tell Me What You want Me To Do were the biggest with the crowd, attracting feverish responses from the crowd. Then, he was gone. It was 2:00am.