The much anticipated “Deborah Cox and Musiq Soulchild Magic Music Sessions“ concert took place at the Grand Arena, Grandwest on Thursday, July 27, and boy did the duo deliver - performance-wise!
Sadly, the bad outweighed the good with this concert.
What could have been one of the best concerts in Cape Town turned into a huge disappointment for fans who waited for four hours to see Cox.
The chaos unfolded at 6pm, which was the starting time, was shifted to an a hour and a half later.
While fans, myself included, could hear sound checks being done behind closed doors, they were no impressed by the wait.
When we finally got to our seats, there was a dazzling set by Ami Faku, who lit up the stage with a lengthy performance of soulful sounds.
This was followed by dead silence as we sat in darkness for about 20 minutes before Vusi Nova delivered a mesmerising set as well as he got the audience on their feet.
Did I mention that the show was apparently sold out but the 5 000-seater arena wasn’t even half full?
The show flowed informally with little to no communication during the 30 -minute wait between sets.
One patron, Roxanne Abrahams, was furious as she paid R1 350 for her tickets.
She said: “ I am extremely disgusted by the show last night… we paid so much for Deborah Cox yet all we got was wasted time sitting in the dark and eventually only 30 minutes of her… with extremely bad sound!
“The event organisers failed her big time for such a huge artist shame on them!!!
“It was a total mess to disrespect us the way they did yet no apology or communication to let us know what the hold up was.”
While we waited for the next act, there were sound checks happening on stage, but no announcements were made.
This carried on until the last act and when the host apologised this time around, people couldn’t care less.
Cape Town clearly adored the local acts and the international artists were no different – Musiq Soulchild killed it on stage.
Cox sealed the deal with an amazing performance not to mention her breathtaking black-and-gold dress and dramatic black coat.
It’s safe to say that this event was ruined by the bad organising and saved by the spectacular performances of the artists. The organisers failed dismally.
The MCs introducing the international acts only shared a mic. Was there a lack of equipment?
During changeovers, there was no MC or DJ. Music was played but at times it couldn’t be heard. It was a mess, I tell you.
I got to chat to one of the local technical team members who said: “The client (Vertex) was disorganised… we literally loaded everything and set up all gear yesterday for an international show.
“So there was a lot of components that got delayed because of payments. On top of that the sound engineers from both Deborah and Musiq Soulchild went way overtime with sound checks.”
Here’s what others had to say:
Rather an unfortunate experience. The organization was a let down, artists delivered.Sound was horrible, especially Musiq's set.
— MissX (@FakuThahla) July 28, 2023
Transition between artists was too long. Had to leave just 2 songs into Deborah's performance. Well done to Vusi Nova. #deborahcox
@MusiqSoulchild was the absolute best👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾 left after him, it was too late sorry and they tried it by making us wait a bit for Deborah Cox , I was like ✌🏾 miss me. pic.twitter.com/6za6OEb1lm
— Mirriam Sewela (@MirriamSewela) July 28, 2023
Organisers @VertexEvents really let the incredible artists down with the production and sound @GrandWestSA, but hear me when I say that @Deborah_Cox DELIVERED!! 👌🏽#DeborahCox pic.twitter.com/iQOMKBqdiT
— PJ Smith 🏳️🌈 (@PJ_Smith1) July 27, 2023