Shone, a hip-hop singer from Zimbabwe, is about to become the first Zimbabwean musician to play to an audience larger than 500,000 people.
While the British rock band Coldplay is in India this month for their Music of the Spheres World Tour, he will be performing as a support act.
Starting tomorrow at Mumbai’s D.Y. Patil Stadium, the five-show series is anticipated to attract around 580,000 spectators. Both shows, including Sunday’s, are expected to draw in crowds of around 100,000 people to the stadium.
Officially, the facility can accommodate 60,000 people, but depending on the setup, concertgoers can also fill the pitch area, which increases the capacity even more.
On January 25 and 26, the tour will head to Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, where an estimated 140,000 spectators are expected for each performance. There will be an exciting atmosphere at what is billed as the biggest cricket stadium in the world, which can hold 132,000 spectators.
Shone has achieved a remarkable feat, surpassing the legendary Bhundu Boys, who were a supporting act for Madonna in 1987 at Wembley Stadium, where 80,000 people were in attendance.
Tickets to last year’s concerts in Mumbai by the globally acclaimed band Coldplay sold out in under 30 minutes. The band will be joined by Shone, who has opened for them in Abu Dhabi, Australia, and New Zealand before, for this historic leg of their tour.
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Manager Magic Wacho expressed his enthusiasm for this watershed point in Shone’s career in an interview with H-Metro. Shone has previously played to audiences ranging from forty thousand to eighty thousand people on previous tour dates with his DJ, Tatenda LXA.
Sharing the stage with arguably the most legendary rock band of all time is an extraordinary honour. The opportunity to perform for such a massive audience is an incredible thrill, and the band is eternally thankful to Chris Martin and the rest of Coldplay for making it happen, Wacho added.
“The engagement from the crowd has been fantastic,” he continued, adding that the reaction from spectators has been remarkably good. We didn’t know how they would react to us at first, but it became obvious during the shows that they were very into our music and vibe. They were enchanted by Shone’s one-of-a-kind fusion of Zimbabwean dance and rhythm, which not only made an impression but also opened doors for additional shows.
Shone, whose most recent EP Love & Trap included tracks by Tatenda LXA, Onlymunashe, and Mulanation, boasted that the tour has gone off without a hitch.
