R Kelly concert was an eye-opener
<b>Letter of the day</b><br><br>EDITOR—Zain Uganda would like to thank all the Ugandans who turned up in their tens of thousands to enjoy the ‘I Believe’ concert with international super star R Kelly. We are sure he did live up to more than expectations and put in the class of performance pr
Letter of the day
EDITOR—Zain Uganda would like to thank all the Ugandans who turned up in their tens of thousands to enjoy the ‘I Believe’ concert with international super star R Kelly. We are sure he did live up to more than expectations and put in the class of performance previously not experienced in this country.
There are always two sides to a coin and it has come to our notice that, apart from the quality of the music experience, some members of the public have expressed concerns on other aspects of the experience they had at the concert. We would like to use this forum to address those concerns and ensure that we all have the same understanding.
The first concern surrounds the length of time that the artiste performed on stage. I would like to clarify that R Kelly fulfilled his contractual obligations to perform for an hour.
This is not different from the obligations that, for instance, other international super stars like Akon and Wycliffe Jean performed under. Unlike them, R Kelly has a natural problem with flying. His having just concluded a very long flight and practised practically all day affected him physically.
So, in spite of the desire to do so, he was unable to go beyond his contractual obligation or even address a press briefing the day after the show. He expressed his regrets to Zain on not being able to interact more than he did with his Ugandan fans.
The second major concern that has been raised is the unruly state of affairs at the entry points and the number of people that were still trying to get in when the show actually ended. We, and the other partners who helped make this show happen, had anticipated (indeed looked forward to) a large turn- up. In order to mitigate this, several steps were put in place:
- Ticket sales began 10 days before the concert in many towns across the country to avoid last- minute ticket purchases
- To avoid over-congestion we put in place separate gates for the different classes of tickets and, in particular, the silver tickets had multiple entry points
- The fact that the gates were to be opened early (4.00pm) was publicised 14 days prior to the concert
- The security for the concert was organised in conjunction with all the major security organs to ensure everyone’s safety and a very large security team was established to run this. Unfortunately, the best laid plans are not foolproof.
This has been a learning experience for all parties concerned and we are sure the lesson will make future experiences infinitely better.
Fred Masadde Kabuye
External Affairs Manager
Zain Uganda
EDITOR—Zain Uganda would like to thank all the Ugandans who turned up in their tens of thousands to enjoy the ‘I Believe’ concert with international super star R Kelly. We are sure he did live up to more than expectations and put in the class of performance previously not experienced in this country.
There are always two sides to a coin and it has come to our notice that, apart from the quality of the music experience, some members of the public have expressed concerns on other aspects of the experience they had at the concert. We would like to use this forum to address those concerns and ensure that we all have the same understanding.
The first concern surrounds the length of time that the artiste performed on stage. I would like to clarify that R Kelly fulfilled his contractual obligations to perform for an hour.
This is not different from the obligations that, for instance, other international super stars like Akon and Wycliffe Jean performed under. Unlike them, R Kelly has a natural problem with flying. His having just concluded a very long flight and practised practically all day affected him physically.
So, in spite of the desire to do so, he was unable to go beyond his contractual obligation or even address a press briefing the day after the show. He expressed his regrets to Zain on not being able to interact more than he did with his Ugandan fans.
The second major concern that has been raised is the unruly state of affairs at the entry points and the number of people that were still trying to get in when the show actually ended. We, and the other partners who helped make this show happen, had anticipated (indeed looked forward to) a large turn- up. In order to mitigate this, several steps were put in place:
- Ticket sales began 10 days before the concert in many towns across the country to avoid last- minute ticket purchases
- To avoid over-congestion we put in place separate gates for the different classes of tickets and, in particular, the silver tickets had multiple entry points
- The fact that the gates were to be opened early (4.00pm) was publicised 14 days prior to the concert
- The security for the concert was organised in conjunction with all the major security organs to ensure everyone’s safety and a very large security team was established to run this. Unfortunately, the best laid plans are not foolproof.
This has been a learning experience for all parties concerned and we are sure the lesson will make future experiences infinitely better.
Fred Masadde Kabuye
External Affairs Manager
Zain Uganda