Jose Chameleone’s concert dubbed Gwanga Mujje has been postponed after heavy rain on Friday evening downed the stage.
A sunny afternoon suddenly changed to a dark cloud over Kampala city before it started to rain. What started as a drizzle progressed into a storm with heavy winds.
Videos began to make rounds on social media, showing a collapsed stage.
The stage was built by Fenon Events, which until Friday was Uganda’s most reputable events management company. The gabble roof stage wasn’t sophisticated or extraordinary of all the previous work that the Steve Jean-led 360 events management and audiovisual company has done.
On its website, Fenon says it takes prides in creating “a lasting impression”, “building strong bonds” and making sure events are “everything attendees will be drawn to”.
However, confronted with Friday’s crisis, the teams involved – client, event organizer and Fenon – might have weighed the implications that the pictures of the collapsed stage presented, and reached the consideration that interested concertgoers were likely not to be drawn to Lugogo.
For Fenon, Gwanga Mujje was not just another gig. It was supposed to be an opportunity to reaffirm its place in events management following ATS’s (an events management company run by Steve Jean’s prodigy) spectacular stage which became the highlight of Spice Diana’s concert last month.
Chameleone who showed up at the Lugogo Cricket Oval after the incident announced the show had been postponed to February 24, 2023.
“We shall be back bigger and stronger on 24th February. I thank all my fans who were coming to the show. Keep your tickets,” the singer said.
He said Friday’s incident was beyond his making. And that all that was in his control was all set.
“Rehearsals were done, we were all set because I’m sure you all saw the photos of the setup. On my part, I’m still alive and still firm. What sets me apart from all the other musicians that you compare me with is, I am bold,” Chameleone added.
The disaster, he added, was a making of Satan, and “we will prevail over Satan”.
He says the show in Mbarara which was scheduled for February 11 at University Inn will go on as planned.
This isn’t the first time a concert is being postponed at the last minute in Uganda. In February last year, organizers of a concert headlined by Nigerian singer, Ruger, were forced to postpone the event to the following day, after Police canceled the event on the d-day for failure by organizers to meet basic security and safety standards.
Police said the event had no traffic plan, or access control measures and that organizers failed to liaise with the territorial police and inform them about the number of revelers they expect to attend. The event also didn’t have an ambulance in place and that clearance from the venue owner and local authorities was not obtained.
The implications of postponing a show can be painful, especially financially. Luckily for Chameleone, he had sold the show to another promoter – Biggie Events. That implies Biggie gets to shoulder the risk alone.
For example, getting the venue (Cricket Oval) costs about Ushs 18m. With the show canceled, that implies Biggie will have to incur that cost twice. Not to mention other costs such as marketing, security and other services. Biggie had checked the singer into Speke Apartments for over a week, to ensure he was in the right state of mind. This is another cost that could be incurred again.
For Fenon, it is not clear whether considering the damage it took, it still has the capacity to execute the next show effectively.
Ordinarily, many factors go into determining which date to hold a concert. Extending that date means the odds could play against the organizer affecting the turn-up.
Asked what the implications of a concert cancellation are, seasoned events manager, Tshaka Mayanja said it could actually be less burdensome on a Ugandan events organizer since the culture of ticket pre-sales isn’t popular in Uganda.
“Overseas, it’s a bit easier since they sell tickets way in advance. That way, refunds are easy, or people can reuse the tickets on the new date,” Tshaka who has been in the events promotion business from as early as 1996, told Pugged on Friday.
“Ironically, it’s probably easier here as very few people buy advance tickets for mass events. People usually buy on the day,” he added.
Considering Fenon’s vast technical experience in managing big events, some would argue that with this profile comes great expectations. Like expecting a stage to withstand a storm.
But according to Tshaka, Fenon should be cut some slack since Friday’s incident was a natural occurrence that was not in their (Fenon) control.
“That’s like asking whether structures should not be firm enough to hold during natural phenomena like earthquakes. Lots of situations are unpredictable. We only hope and pray it doesn’t happen,” he said, adding that “Fenon is very professional, this was just an unfortunate incident”.
In the event that the storm caused damage to Fenon’s equipment, Tshaka says this can be covered by insurance.
“I’m not sure whether the event organizers themselves took out insurance. But yes, insurance for this exists.”
However, an insurer that spoke to Plugged said there is currently no product that covers an event organizer against losses incurred once an event is canceled. This is because events like concerts are one-offs.
Even in the case of damaged equipment (as is the case for Fenon), they must have had a contract with the insurer that specifically covers their equipment against perils such as wind, rain, floods etc. Even then, the insurance company must be convinced that the policyholder took all the necessary measures to safeguard this equipment against such natural disasters.
Many event organizers in Uganda have always turned to rain stoppers to mitigate natural risks such as rain. The organizer will pay a rain stopper to cause rain to divert or stop.
In Gwanga Mujje’s case, a source who preferred anonymity disclosed to Plugged that the organizers were hesitant to meet the demands of the rain stopper. They downplayed the risk, the source said.
