Negative Rections Trail Native Mag's "NativeLand19" Concert

It is Detty December and you know what that means, partee after partee. This period is about building memories to last a lifetime. But for the concertgoers who attended “NativeLand19” organised by Native Mag, they want to put their Detty December experience behind them.

Flooding social media is a tale of anger, resentment, regret, exasperation among others following what many have tagged “a poorly organised concert”.

Tales of overcrowding, harassment by concert security, stealing, the collapse of the VIP stage, a stampede, among others are some of the horror stories that surfaced on social media.
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Following the public outcry and backlash that trailed the concert with calls for a boycott of subsequent NativeLand concerts, Native Mag released a press statement in a bid to assuage already frayed nerves.

A wrong move it would seem as the press statement appears to have only infuriated an already aggrieved lot who bashed the organisation for the insensitivity of its statement.

In its statement, Native Mag said it pulled together experts from all around the world for the 2019 concert that happens to be its fourth edition.

Contrary to claims that the show didn’t start on time, Native Mag insisted that the show kicked off on time while admitting that at around 11pm there was a stampede at the ticketing area with the security team overwhelmed causing entry of unticketed attendees.

Native Mag adds that this was responsible for the overcrowding, collapse of the VIP stage, long music break that occurred.

The statement goes on to solicit future support to “ensure that The Native can continue to tell stories for our generation no one else would.”

As a note, the statement acknowledges that Native Mag is aware of reports of injuries at the concert stating that no one officially contacted its team until the close of the show at 4 am. It, however, asked those with details to send an email.

Here are some reactions to the NativeLand19 concert and the subsequent press statement.