Grammy award-winning artist Zakes Bantwini made history by becoming the first African artist to headline a show at DHL Stadium in Cape Town. Although the show had a stellar lineup and screened the final game of the Rugby World Cup, many concert goers relayed mixed reviews on social media.
Zakes’ concert, which took place on Saturday, 28 October, included many local artists, such as Nomcebo Zikode, Boity, Mi Casa, YoungstaCPT, Musa Keys, and Ami Faku to name a few. Before the big day, the artist (whose real name is Zakhele Madida) announced the release of his first song, Mama Thula, from his latest album, The Star is Reborn.
A day before the event, the Osama hitmaker confessed on Instagram that he felt “extremely emotional” and wished his mother was with him to witness the history being made.
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Concert attendees also took to social media – specifically X (formerly Twitter) – to share their thoughts and opinions on the concert.
One social media user described Zakes’ performance of Thula Mama at the concert as “powerful,” despite the planning of the event.
Watching Zakes Bantwini perform Mama Thula at Abantu yesterday was powerful 🙏 Cape Town even planners need to do better though 🤞 pic.twitter.com/hlDDFe3l9h
— Scotch56 (@LwandoScotch) October 29, 2023
Another person stated that they were “very disappointed” regarding the waiting time to get into the VIP section and the lack of food.
@ZakesBantwiniSA this is a mess. Firstly we had to wait for hours to get into the VIP and now there’s no food. Very disappointed 😢 #abantu #zakesbantwini #zakes #dhl
— khanya Mahlase (@ZamaSibisi21) October 28, 2023
“Which events company was in charge of this festival? They did Zakes REALLY bad,” commented another person about the event.
Which events company was in charge of this festival? They did Zakes REALLY bad #abantu
— Mr. Kabini (@itsmrkabini) October 29, 2023
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