Not even her string of hits, stage presence and desire to impress could save the much-hyped Makhadzi show held at Alexandra Sports over the weekend.
The much anticipated gig dubbed JamAfro Festival, almost turned into an epic disaster as the sound system was poor, putting a damper on the entire show.
Although Makhadzi came fully prepared for her part, wearing the right outfit – a glittering silver attire with black ankle boots, the South African songstress left a disappointed woman.
She dished out hits like “Sugar Sugar”, “Ma Yellow-bone”, “Beke le Beke”, “Matorokisi” and “Haulakwe” among others but the PA system hiccups, which clearly annoyed the singer, ruined the night.
“Zimbabwe is my home and I love you all. Thank you for coming. I know the bad sound wants to affect my performance, but let’s have fun,” said Makhadzi as she resorted to dancing. “I am performing the songs by one of your own Mr Brown who produced them.”
The bad sound was not only on Makhadzi, it was even worse for South Africa-based Zimbabwean Mr Brown who abandoned his act midway through.
Visiting Jamaican singer Neelah was booed and pelted with water bottles.
Organisers also shot themselves in the foot not just with poor sound but failing to control the gates, which saw bouncers taking advantage of the chaos to smuggle both people and beverages into the venue.
This resulted in some guests, including some local celebrities, being turned away at the gates. To make matters worse, the stage was overcrowded affecting not just performers as they were denied space to do their craft but blocked VIP guests’ view.
Turnout was low as organisers did not do enough in terms of proper and well organised media campaigns on both print and radio platforms. A press conference for Makhadzi would have helped.