No carnival, but it was fun still
- Written by Frank Kisakye
The first-ever Ugandan carnival never was! Some people mistook ‘the carnival’ to be Peter Sematimba’s victory party (perhaps due to the closeness of the orange colour to his party colour- yellow). But an average crowd turned up for the after-party at the Cricket Oval although initially they had got the Chief Commercial Officer, Allain Moffom, worried.
“Hopefully they are still more people outside the gates, otherwise I am a little worried…..” The Observer overheard him tell Marvin, a colleague at about 8p.m. (the party had kicked off at 5p.m.), at the VIP section at The Oasis Bar and Restaurant.
But if there was any gratification for him, then it must have come from the VIP attendance. For once, those in the ‘general happiness area’ had more legroom and space than their counter-parts, never mind that they had a Shs 60,000 bridge between their ticket prices! The VIPs’ only consolation was the Alcatel phones and free bites that the rest didn’t get.
There was no linkage of the ‘carnival’ to the after-party except for the few cheeky girls in skimpy shorts and dresses that could as well have passed for undies – probably the new dressing custom girls have adopted at concerts and shows. Only God knows how they manage to withstand the cold nights!
Mowzey Radio and Weasel were the first performers at 8p.m., though their five-song performance was a little fagged but they still managed to work up the crowds. Then Kenya’s Nameless did his usual Sinzia, Megarider, and Onfire. GNL as always took a swipe at his rivals before we had a 10 minute-long fireworks display, which were quite unique to Kampala’s skies, especially the silent, cross-cutting and the alternating ones.
With that, Orange was launched to the masses. Shaggy stepped onto the stage at about 10:15p.m. and gave a high-spirited performance, singing most of his old time songs. He only stopped at midnight when revellers started leaving and he felt abandoned on stage.
fkisakye@observer.ug
“Hopefully they are still more people outside the gates, otherwise I am a little worried…..” The Observer overheard him tell Marvin, a colleague at about 8p.m. (the party had kicked off at 5p.m.), at the VIP section at The Oasis Bar and Restaurant.
But if there was any gratification for him, then it must have come from the VIP attendance. For once, those in the ‘general happiness area’ had more legroom and space than their counter-parts, never mind that they had a Shs 60,000 bridge between their ticket prices! The VIPs’ only consolation was the Alcatel phones and free bites that the rest didn’t get.
There was no linkage of the ‘carnival’ to the after-party except for the few cheeky girls in skimpy shorts and dresses that could as well have passed for undies – probably the new dressing custom girls have adopted at concerts and shows. Only God knows how they manage to withstand the cold nights!
Mowzey Radio and Weasel were the first performers at 8p.m., though their five-song performance was a little fagged but they still managed to work up the crowds. Then Kenya’s Nameless did his usual Sinzia, Megarider, and Onfire. GNL as always took a swipe at his rivals before we had a 10 minute-long fireworks display, which were quite unique to Kampala’s skies, especially the silent, cross-cutting and the alternating ones.
With that, Orange was launched to the masses. Shaggy stepped onto the stage at about 10:15p.m. and gave a high-spirited performance, singing most of his old time songs. He only stopped at midnight when revellers started leaving and he felt abandoned on stage.
fkisakye@observer.ug