Darey raises the bar with N300m concert

Soul Muzik act Darey performs at The Convention Centre of Eko Hotel, Lagos, during the LLAM concert. Photo: Victor Ekezie

It’s a been over a week since R&B king Darey held Lagos spellbound with his ‘Love Like a Movie’ concert but those who attended the memorable event are still talking about the unforgettable experience.

Darey set high standards on Sunday, February 17, 2013 at the Convention Centre of the Eko Hotel and Suites, doing something that had never been done before. Where should we start? The jaw dropping vertical stage, the over 20 professional choreographers, flying over Kim Kardashian (and her entourage), the flamboyant costumes, The stunt-acrobats from Italy, One could go on and on.

You saw the output of what had been planned for weeks and like the headline suggests, hundreds of millions went into producing what might just be the best concert ever held in Nigeria.

Let’s do a quick breakdown…

Using the full Convention Centre of the Eko Hotel and Suites for a one-day event costs around N25M. Darey’s label Soul Muzik booked the hall for a week to setup the vertical stage, lighting and projectors, prep the choreographers and give time for over five days of rehearsals.

We’re told over 100 rooms were booked for hotel accommodation at the Eko and nearby Hotels – this included meeting rooms, personal rooms for performers, guests and crew members and also feeding. A standard room at Eko Hotels costs between N40-60, 000. One Soul Muzik source says the hotel were ‘support sponsors’, although we could not confirm this.

There are no specific costs for the vertical stage but experts says it may have gulped up to N60m, this would also include the lights and projectors.

On Kim Kardashian’s visit, there have been a lot of speculation – but we can tell you it’s far from the outrageous amounts you’ve heard. There’s no word on how much Kim K was paid but from what we gathered Kim charges from $150K (N24m) upwards for appearances like the one she did for LLAM.

Then there was the massive publicity – insiders say Darey rode on partnership deals with AIT, Beat FM, BHM, Cool FM and hundreds of blogs, newspapers and magazines. But there was a lump sum attached to the ubiquitous online ads deployed using AD Dynamo and Google’s ADwords. PR and Advertising experts who spoke with NET say it’s okay to put publicity cost at around N100m.

No figures were immediately available for Kaffy’s Imagneto the dance group but we can tell you most of the artistes, including 2face Idibia performed as support for Darey and Soul Muzik.

Then there were the numerous flight expenses – Kim K and her crew (she came in First Class aboard Air France, with Kanye West’s aide and bodyguard and at least two others), and the choreographers from Europe, not to add the cost of costumes, props, transportation etc.

Money well spent, if you ask. Especially as everyone agrees Darey pulled all the stops to challenge stereotypes and give Nigerians a concert they wont forget in a hurry.

NET gathered it took over six months to put the concert together, with Darey and his crew flying all over the world to seal deals and scout for rare acts. And, the Abuja-based singer moved temporarily to Lagos early this year, to focus full time on the event, according to sources who spoke with NET.

But the big question is who brought all that money to the table? Inside sources say Soul Muzik made initial investment covering most of the cost thanks to VIP table sales. Then there was also support sponsorship from First Bank and Fayrouz. There’s no word yet on what each company coughed out – but both are not known to be heavy spenders.

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