Wande Coal delights Trace Live audience in Lagos

The concert series, which began in 2017, is a partnership between media enterprise Trace, Cabal Entertainment and BAP Productions. It first hosted singer Omawumi, who showcased her then-new album Timeless to a hall of entertainment stakeholders.

It has since hosted such acts as Falz, 2Baba, Adekunle Gold and Flavour. Last year, an event with Mr Eazi was cancelled at the last minute.

While some artists have used the opportunity of the live concert as publicity for a forthcoming project, Wande Coal decided to give his audience a walk down memory lane, performing hit after hit in what has been one of the most celebrated careers in Nigerian contemporary pop history.

Wearing a lemon-green hoodie over tight red pants, King Coal, as he was described by the event’s organisers, began his set with the single ‘You Bad’, one of the singles from his era-defining debut album Mushin2Mohits. The night would see him sing more songs from that album, including ‘Bumper to Bumper’ and ‘Who Born the Maga’, and hardly any of the main tracks from his sophomore album, Wanted. Each song drew excited shouts from the crowd gathered at Terra Kulture.

Part of the crowd included pop acts DJ Spinall, Reekado Banks, Skiibi and Lynxx. But it was Orezi who received several shout outs from the night's star. Both knew each other at the University of Lagos. 

Coal's performance was interspersed with accounts of his school days and his first moves towards a career. He told the audience about his penchant for singing the opening cry from Usher’s ‘U Got It Bad’ back as an undergrad. He had done it so much that on a certain day, following a power outage, girls in the area began to mimic his daily recreation of the song. He laughed at the memory. “Shi was crazy,” he said.

His career as a singer began around the time he dropped out of school. He was introduced to the famous producer Don Jazzy and did a song for him.

“Is that the only song you have,” he was asked.

After receiving the producer’s blessings, he was invited taken to the US embassy to apply for a visa for his first trip to the west. Seeing how young the applicant was, the officer advised him to finish school, not knowing he had dropped out. Wande Coal panicked, reached out to his then label-mate D’Banj and began to sing.

“Excuse me,” the officer cut in. “We don’t sing at the embassy but, wow, imma give you this visa.”

Upon getting to the US, he went on his knees thanking for Don Jazzy.

“D’banj laugh me,” he said.

The night proceeded with such anecdotes stashed between songs like ‘My Way’, ‘Gentility’, ‘Wonderful’ and ‘Turkey Nla’. It ended with a rendition of ‘So Mi So’, Wande Coal's 2018 hit with Ghanaian producer Juls.

The event's organisers are yet to announce the next artist for the Trace Live showcase.