Shody The TurnUpKing

Let me tell you about Burna Boy Live at Eko Hotel in 2018. I don't even know where to start with this one 😂 It all started at soundcheck. Burna came in, took one look at the setup and wasn't feeling it. The original concept was something else entirely. Tunde Phoenix, a guy based in the UK, had this vision to build something like an aircraft structure on top of the stage. Burna would emerge from it, move around, the whole thing. But the space at Eko Hotel just wouldn't allow it. We had to scrap it. Burna was not happy. He started complaining during soundcheck. "This is not what I want for my first event." Back and forth, back and forth. Then at some point he threw the mic. In the direction of where myself and his mum were standing. Then walked off the stage without finishing soundcheck. His mum didn't say a word. Just quiet. I called Larry Gaga. I called my guy Gattuso, who was like Burna's godfather at the time. We needed someone he would actually listen to. Eventually Gattuso got through to him, he came back and finished the soundcheck. We convinced him to stay in the presidential suite at Eko Signature rather than go back to Fahrenheit down the road. He said he'd be back before the show. He went to Fahrenheit anyway. Openers performed. Time kept moving. One thirty came and went. Burna was supposed to be on stage. I'm asking around, "where is Burna Boy?" Still in Fahrenheit. The guests were agitated. And to make things worse, most of the table bookings hadn't paid yet. Sponsors hadn't paid yet. Everything was riding on that night ending well. He finally showed up close to 3AM. But what we didn't know was that he'd already created a scene leaving Fahrenheit. Area boys, his people, a whole crowd had gathered around him and were essentially walking him down the road to Eko Hotel. Me, Elvis, and some of my team literally walked from Fahrenheit alongside his car. Clearing the road, making sure he got there safe. When he got to Eko Signature he stepped out of the car and started performing right there in the street. For the crowd that had followed him. Just like that. Then he went upstairs, got himself together, came on that stage and gave one of the most rousing performances I had seen in a long time. Those same guests who were ready to tear me apart an hour earlier were hugging me by the end of the night. "Achievas thank you, what a show." That night lowkey took years off my life. But it ended well. 😂