Gbenga Adeyinka’s ‘Unity Tour’ to climax in Lagos
For the second time in 13 years, ace Nigerian comedian, Gbenga Adeyinka will return to Lagos to stage Laff Mattazz.
Award winning musician, Innocent Idibia Listen, known by his stage name 2Baba, Atunyota Alleluya Akpobome, professionally known as Ali Baba, Adewale Ayuba, Omo Baba, Funny Bone and others are billed for the 13th edition tagged Lagos Again.
For 13 years, Adeyinka has been building the comedy base in the southwest, discovering talents and putting them on stage.
Laff Mattazz 13 years ago started in form of giving back to the community and to develop the comedy sector in the six states of the southwest.
Adeyinka’s brand of comedy has continued to attract people from diverse backgrounds and ages.
This year’s edition will witness young comedians such as Baba Alariya, Lizzy Jay, Goroso Ekiti and others perform.
Speaking on the show in Ikeja, Lagos, Adeyinka said though Lagos has yielded more financially but it’s more tasky staging the show in the commercial capital of Nigeria.
“The plan was that we would do a big call Lagos at last for the 10th year but COVID distrusted our plan so we pushed it to the 12th year which we held in 2022 and it was massive. We have not dropped the standard in f the show and the best of artistes including Davido, Kcee, Olamide, Tiwa Savage, Teni, and this year, we started a tour we call unity tour because nothing has divided Nigerians than the last election, even my daughter and I fought over a candidate so, it’s important we use what we have to preach peace, unity and progress in the country. We started the tour in Ibadan and brought comedians from every part of the country, and from Ibadan we went to Oshogbo, then Akure, Epe and Abeokuta. We have been able to show that no matter what happens, we are one and we must not let anybody to divide the nation.
Over the year, we have built a platform that allows young comedians to grow. This platform has help many to get a sense of belonging and build their confidence.
Speaking further on this year’s show, he said: “Our line up is awesome; we have a line of the legend, the race and myself. For legend in music, we have Adewale Ayuba, 2Baba, Reggedman to give flavor to the show. We also have artistes such as Countryman, Asmine and others. We have two Djs and magicians.
Speaking on other comedians, he said: We Desk Talker, Madiba of Comedy, Omo Baba, Baba De Baba, Dr. Smile. This is a comedy convention promises to be lots fun with lots of giveaways from our sponsors who gave us products.
Lagos is where it happens but that is not to say other cities are far behind because that is the mistake we make in Lagos. We believe that it starts and ends in Lagos. Our show in Akure happened in the Dome and we fill it up every time and the audience is alway enthusiastic; I have never met a crowd like that in my life. Ibadan is the same but what I’ve noticed is that the purchasing power is different in Lagos. They find it strange asking them to pay N3000 for ticket in some states but we found a way around that, we started reaching out to some of our friends who buy tickets for people to attend the show as a form of CSR. But the fact is, Lagos is Lagos, the challenges are more in Lagos, the return will be more in Lagos. Outside Lagos you see people who really want to be entertained, in Lagos you see people that come to show to see people who just want to show off that they attend a show.
When asked about his experience staging first Laff Mattazz, he said: “Unfortunately, that is the first show that put me in this struggle for 13 years. The first show was in Ibadan. Davido and Funke Akindele headlined the show; the show put me into trouble because we used to have two shows those days; we had 3.p.m to 6.p.m so that we can get back our money. The first show was filled to the brim, and my team came to me that we should end the show because there were more people outside and persuaded that the first one should be allowed to come to an end, then it started raining and the people stayed in the rain. I was told that ticket had been exhausted and I was told that we should be cutting papers for people as ticket; people came in and stood. We also had bad years especially in Ekiti State because someone told me to bring the show to Ekiti that he’s going to support, a day to the show, he disappointed me. I never let the disappointment stop me. Here I am today.
On his part, Omo Baba who is the longest headliner of the show, said: “Laff Mattazz has created creative comedians and some of they are big influencers. I asked about the idea of going to Ibadan to stage a comedy show where people were asked to pay N3000 for people to watch comedians perform when people were buying a table for for N1 million in Lagos but at the end of the day, I saw that there’s a reason for that, one of which was to help younger people grow.
As the show progresses, we discovered that people from other regions were performing more on the platform.
