Now In its 4th edition, I must say Foot Print Poolside Praise has become like a house hold name for the Christian Entertainment industry.
It definitely hasn’t gone along these years without some ‘bashing’ as to why Christians would be copying secular events with poolside events and all. You know my simple response has always been, is the Gospel for the people already in the church? Or that Christians can’t also have any kind of fun the “appropriate” way.
Would you rather patrons end up at the clubs and secular pool parties instead of the “house of God”… You know, let me just focus on for what reason I’m making this post and just leave that argument for another time as I could go on and on about it. My Bottom line is “Footprint Poolside Praise” is a timely ‘concept’ which has come to fill a necessary gap within the Christendom. Now on to my review….
CONTENT
To start with, I think I need to congratulate organizers of this event for their effort and dedication. I admire the fact that it has always kept the identity of blending all categories of Gospel; urban, praise, worship, reggae and all appropriately..... cos without prior knowledge one could easily think it’s going to be an all funky and urban style program. The diversity in the event is spicy enough.
However, if anyone has been part of this event in the past, it’s as though now one can close his eyes and guess the main acts who will be on bill once Pool side Praise is mentioned. I happened to have (through a conversation with one of the organizers earlier) gathered that the event is more of a ‘Family event”. Thus more like a group of people who would constantly be on the bill. Well, that in itself is not a bad idea, but I consider that fact that, how long can the regular patrons go, before they would have had enough of the same faces already. I think Poolside Praise has come far enough now, to begin exploring new "big" faces on the bill.... for example I’d suggest No Tribe for the next Poolside Praise 'if possible'. Just my opinion though.
I also admire the effort to have extra content this year, away from just the music. Thus the comedy and dance challenge bits were additions worth the try. Parrot Mouth was great and I believe such acts could be extended a bit more next time.
With that being said, i salute all the artiste who made it.... a greater percentage of whose names are already established brands yet made it a point to keep supporting the course.... Myself for example, i always get a bit wowed when I see Nii Okai there; not for any strange reason, but just that one could easily assume that getting such Ministers at “urban, funky” events as this could get a little difficult.
Performances
Before I delve into the performances of this last edition of Poolside Praise, let me just state emphatically that when it comes to Energy, there’s no doubt about it.... there was more than a 101% of it.
I must say organizers did a fantastic job of giving our young and "underground" artiste’s slots at the beginning of the event...to show the world what they also got. Though some of them ended up just adding up to numbers, I believe it also worked quite well, as i was able to spot one act that caught my attention so well. His name i believe is Dave - as i captured it... that young man will really go far if he keeps it up. His stage delivery and mannerism was as though i was watching Deitrick Haddon on the BETs.... LOL ok maybe I’m a little exaggerated with that, but basically this dude for a second made me think, is he Ghanaian, how come I've never seen/heard of him...? Not that his delivery was something too extraordinary but I could see a young man who had either imagined his whole delivery days before stepping on stage or practiced it so well it came naturally. His command over the audience, his communication with band and audience, oh and his ENERGY… God bless him... it takes well-rehearsed, serious and passionate people to flow on stage in such a manner that could easily be called "too know" as the young gentleman did.
To me, as urban as he was, the mere decision to do a live band performance was BOLD enough.., something i think our urban artistes seem to be neglecting a lot. It is as though it’s always turning out to be the "Yo! DJ hit me with track 2" then they mime saaa... then over to "DJ lets go to track 5", then they mime again aaaa and on and on and on, then maybe if we are favoured they give an acappella (mostly when the DJ is still sorting out their song) or a freestyle then they end. Like really? Dude i got all your songs on ma music players & phones and i listen to it every morning... i didn’t pay gate fee to come hear it played back to me, just this time through bigger speakers with you standing on stage. There definitely has got to be some different level of creativity when it comes to ministering your own songs at programs even if it isn’t with live band.
Unfortunately for Dave though, the sound was not too good for me to conclude if his vocal delivery was as great as his stage act. Kudos to the young man and his team and i pray they keep it up with Jesus at the centre not fame. I think one other person I fell in love with was Edna…… errm not because she is a nice lady - LOL - but because yes she is a lady and she can rap so good. I think she is the first I’ve come across if my memory serves me right. Big shouts out to Eno wherever she is now. J
The Team Play
The concept of "Team Play" was a fantastic one and a new twist away from the previous editions. HOWEVER, i think it didn’t go down too well or perhaps it didn’t sync too well for me. First off, some of the pairings made the delivery too predictable. Like putting Selina Boateng, S.P. Kofi Sarpong and OJ, or putting Esaias, KingzKid and Regardless in one team, was like putting 3 lions in one cage and asking them "what will you eat?" Certainly it would be a unanimous answer "Meat"
Well, I can’t tell for now what the organizers actual focus was with regards to the “Team Play”, but if it was to get artistes do songs which they are not known for, or to get artistes out of their ‘comfort zones’, as rumoured about, then i think it should be re-packaged and brought back next time. If the focus however, was to just pair artistes with each other, (maybe because they are many) then i think it was fair enough.
I must confess also that my little brain could not simply pin point the exact routes that Team 4 ( i.e Nii Okai, Akesse & Jon Winner) and especially Team 3 (Francis Amo & Jay Shady) were gonna take. That suspense alone is a big plus for organizers and I was expecting it to be same suspense for the other teams.
That notwithstanding, my best Team Play for the night, no doubt, was the urban sect; KingzKid, Esaias & Regardless. Not because I’m a fan of Urban Music or that they got me hoping with my camera all through, but because u simply can’t put 3 cool friends of such calibre on one stage and expect something below EXCITING. I mean, it’s like these guys know each other’s songs back to back... they’ve featured themselves simultaneously for God knows how long and have been on several stages together... to the extent when "A" misses his own line in his own song, "B" can sing it in and u wouldn’t even know "A" made a mistake.
They really brought ‘fireworks’ to the stage. In my opinion, if there was an award for best "Team Play" it certainly shouldn’t miss that team... cos that Team Played!
My next best team from that was Francis & Jay Shady. Energy - check; Creativity - check; Vocal dexterity - double Check (of course it’s Jay Shady and Francis, what else could you expect... LOL). Now as I mentioned earlier, I couldn’t really guess what was gonna come out of this team until I saw it. The blend of songs, the coordination and renditions of songs. Jay Shady’s “Bestest Friend” went down so well with that twist with Francis and indeed the two were fantastic. Now that is a typical example of what I called "Team Play".
Followed by Nii Okai with Akesse. I bet you could guess why. Imagine Nii Okai and Akesse ‘falsetting’ the part of Akesse’s new track (My World) that says "twaa-la-la-da-da-da-daaa"... ooh YEAH! that was a great deal of healing to any hungry ear – you know how Nii Okai does already. I bet the reggae rendition of “Moko Be” they did would be hotcake by now. I indeed saw a different version of Nii Okai on stage; with much more excitement full of jumping, dancing and energy.
My only problem with that team though was Jon Winner at the beginning. He just stood by the side, sometimes moving a little, or dancing, then idle, then tries to get involved and so on.., like it was just an Akesse – Nii Okai affair. He was just a little too dormant for my liking from the beginning up until it got to his songs. My only conclusion was he either missed rehearsals or didn’t get the “Team Play” idea well. I was finally happy when he stepped in with his “I Can’t Imagine” which easily blended with the reggae flavour already set on the stage. Then came his hook that kept the audience going on and on and on…. I call it the ‘Jonn Winner dance’ with the “everybody, everybody ee ee ee ee eee eeee”. Even his remaining team members got hooked up and started rendering it as Nii Okai turned it to “miy3 wu bibiaa 3ny3 yie, miy3 wu bibiaa 3ny3 yie” in the same groove.
Just like I Indicated, these were my best teams with regards to the concept of Team Play. The rest ended up more like, the team steps on stage, then each of them takes a turn to lead whiles the others back him/her up - sometimes with some unique form of harmony, then that's it - not too "Team Play" for my liking.
The Flaws
I think the first flaw anyone who was at the event would complain about is with regards to the start time. I personally don’t know what went wrong this year as I had seen pictures of set-up from as early as 6am yet the event started very late. About 2 hours after the advertised time.
There also seemed to be too many technical hitches this time around, especially with regards to sound. I must admit the overall sound of the entire event was not the best at all.
I must commend Fifi Folson here for his efforts to keep audience engaged at points when the sound would go off. His “Sing and Pick” game went down quite well. I think that game should actually be fixed as part of the main event instead of it being an improvise next time. Cos in actually fact I think it was a bit refreshing for the artistes to know how best people loved and knew their songs as they also sat to hear people sing their songs. Some totally ‘damaged’ their songs but others did justice to it.
Oh yeah and a little bird whispered to my ear that most (if not everything) of the giveaways in the special basket he used as bait to get audience indulgence were his personl belongings. Big-ups bro
Conclusion
This year’s Footprint Poolside Praise went down with great success on one side and yet the opposite on another. Personally I was very impressed with the massive turn out at the event and I just hope most of the “plenty people” I saw didn’t come in with ‘complimentary tickets’…LOL...
In a conversation with a colleague in the industry concerning the overview of the event, he said “after doing a show for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd time, you should know what to do next in order to make subsequent editions far better” of which I agree. This was the 4th edition and was expected to go beyond the petty flaws like poor sound (to the extent it left Denzel - one of ma fav contemporary worshipers - blaring mostly throughout his ministration) and the like.
I pray more grace for the organizers and wish to encourage them to keep up the good work too.
Cheers!
(PS. To view the whole picture preview of the event, be sure to check them out on our page; www.facebook.com/gospelgh - dont forget to tag a friend in them when u spot them)
By: Julius Ofori Boadu
Twitter: @CwesiOfori
(GospelGh)
