Photo Courtesy of Afro Nation
Burna Boy | photo courtesy of Sounds of Africa Music
Written by: Wyatt Westlake
Upon arrival at Praia Da Rocha beach in Portimão, Portugal, one joins a sea of people from all over the world excited to dance and take in the lively, carefree energy of Afro Nation’s impressive 2022 lineup, ranging from afrobeats, dancehall, and amapiano to R&B and hip hop.
CKay | Photo Courtesy of Afro Nation
Praia Da Rocha is the location where Afro Nation held its inaugural 2019 festival, produced by Live Nation, Event Horizon, Smade Entertainment, and Memories of Tomorrow. In the time since its inception, Afro Nation has expanded into other locations, including a Puerto Rico edition that took place back in March as well as a Ghana edition set to happen in December. The scheduled Portugal festivals in 2020 and 2021 were canceled due to COVID, making this year’s edition its second ever festival in the main location and an even larger event than the previous one.
This year introduced a second stage in addition to the main stage called the Piano People stage, featuring a lineup of amapiano DJs and performers including Vigro Deep and Uncle Waffles. Though it did not host the bigger names on the lineup, the Piano People stage never failed to have the crowd dancing and kept things festive throughout each evening.
Taking place on the weekend of July 1-3, the festival lucked out with clear skies and comfortable summer temperatures, allowing fans to enjoy the aesthetically-pleasing beach venue in all its glory.
While most aspects of the festival appeared to run smoothly, there were some upsets in programming as well as a few logistical issues. There were the heartbreaking cancellations of Tems, Pa Salieu, and Koffee who were some of the most exciting acts on the bill set to perform, as well as the frustratingly late start times of many performances. The lack of water stations was also a problem, especially for a festival taking place on a beach in scorching summer weather.
Rema | Photo courtesy of Afro Nation
Day one was definitely the hottest day of the festival. The first impressive main stage performance of the day came from Rema, who ran through most of his Rave & Roses album, which included popular singles such as “Soundgasm” and “Calm Down.” While the wait for P-Square to come on was excruciatingly long, their performance was easily the best of the night. The legendary duo consisting of brothers Peter and Paul Okoye ran through their arsenal of hit songs from the mid-2010s, including a fiery performance of “Alingo.”
Day one headliner Davido closed things out with a great performance that seemed to put every exhausted audience member in a great mood because his music is just irresistibly cheerful. His backup dancers brought great energy to performances of songs like “Jowo” and his hit single “Fall,” which was one of the most anticipated songs of the night and did not disappoint.
Day two’s programming started off as confusing as Popcaan and Naira Marley did not go on as scheduled. Marley’s appearance was eventually canceled while Popcaan announced he was going to be performing Sunday instead after being brought out during Wizkid’s set.
While that was disappointing, everything was made right as soon as Chris Brown came on, delivering an incredible performance full of elaborate pyrotechnics, fog machines, laser lights, and plenty of dancing, both from himself and his talented backup dancers. While he is not an afrobeat artist, Brown ran through many of his afrobeat collaborations, including Davido’s “Blow My Mind,” “Time N Affection” with Rema, who joined him onstage, as well as Lojay’s “Monalisa,” which was one of the most frequently played songs from DJs throughout the three days. He played an impressive setlist of hit songs spanning throughout his legendary career, ranging from early songs such as “With You,” “Forever,” and “Yeah 3x” as well as later songs including “No Guidance” and “Go Crazy.” He also took time to play highlights from his new album, Breezy.
While it is extremely difficult to follow Chris Brown after he set the bar so high for the night, headliner Wizkid immediately captivated the audience with his setlist full of classic afrobeats songs. His phenomenal band brought the perfect live energy to songs like “No Lele” and “Come Closer,” and even completely reworked songs like “Don’t Dull.” Songs like “Soco” and “Energy” instantly had the crowd jumping and his selections from Made In Lagos including “True Love” and “Essence” had them singing as loud as they could. He finished his set with “Ojuelegba,” which he described as “the African national anthem,” making for the perfect closer to the festival’s second day.
Chris Brown | Photo courtesy of Sounds of Africa Music
The first artist to make a great impression on day three was dancehall legend Beenie Man, who performed a medley of Jamaican classics backed by a full band. With clean transitions between songs like “Who Am I” and “Girls Dem Sugar,” Beenie made his way across the stage with some exciting call-and-response interaction with the audience, not to mention he had the entire crowd singing along to “Rum & Redbull.”
Popcaan finally performed after him and was also backed by his own band as he jumped around onstage while singing catchy melodies of songs like “Love Yuh Bad” and “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times).” After a few hours of dancehall, the energy changed to a different yet equally as fun atmosphere when Megan Thee Stallion started her set. While her music may not correlate with most of the artists at Afro Nation, the crowd loved every second of it, especially the female demographic as they screamed every word to songs like “Savage” and “Body.” Her choreography as well as her crowd interaction made for a great show. She even invited fans on stage to dance with her.
While every set of the night was great, none of them held a candle to Burna Boy’s headline performance, which was nothing short of spectacular. Everything from the band and the backup singers to the pyrotechnics, not to mention Burna Boy’s high level of energy and his interaction with the crowd which sang every single lyric. He can really sing live too. His song selection was on point as he came out to “Gbona” and continued to run through African Giant and Twice As Tall standouts like “Secret,” “On The Low,” “Onyeka,” and “Anybody.” He ran through some of his most well known features like “Own It” and “Location” as well as the anthemic “Last Last” from his new album, Love, Damini. The transitions between songs were fantastic and he even took time to celebrate his birthday as his team brought him a cake on stage and sprayed champagne over him after he closed his set with “Ye.”
Despite certain setbacks in programming and production, Afro Nation successfully accomplished its goals of giving fans an unforgettable experience. It is a special celebration of music and culture in a location that creates the perfect atmosphere.
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Wizkid | Photo courtesy of Sounds of Africa Music
Uncle Waffles | Photo courtesy of Sounds of Africa Music