Runtown thrills Trace Live! crowd at Terra Kulture

On the night of September 25, 2019, Nigerian singer, Runtown thrilled his fans at a Trace Live! event which held at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The event was meant to kick-start another leg of his Sound God Africa Tour which has already visited African cities like Freetown. The tour is set to take Runtown to 18 countries in Africa. But as part of the first dates, he did one for the ones at home.

The event was attended by artists like Patoranking, Prettyboy D-O, Wurld and so forth who stood at the foot of the stage to cheer Runtown as he performed hit after hit. The event started at 9:43 pm in the evening when the MC for the evening ushered Runtown's band - which is heavily talented by the way - into the shimmering neon lights.

A moment later, two female singers took their place behind the leading mic as the band thrilled the fans with a thoroughly melodious instrumentation of alternative music. The bass guitar particularly made fans feel alive.

At 9:53 pm, Runtown made his way onto the stage as the fans roared and got on its feet. Around this time, camera phones also inundated views of the stage as people had to get one or two for Instagram and Snapchat. The artist himself looked calm and laidback with an air of happiness apparent on him.

Spotting dark shades, braids, a white tee, a red shirt and a pair of jeans, he performed the following songs in chronological order, 'Lucie,' 'Gallardo,' 'Emergency,' 'Lagos To Kampala,' ' Unleash,' ' 'Pain Killer,' 'Mad Over You (freestyle),' 'Said,' 'The Banger,' 'Goosebumps,' 'Energy,' 'Mad Over You,' and finally, 'International Bad Man Killer.'

For each song, there were key moments. For example, as he performed 'Lucie,' Runtown asked everybody to stand up as he wanted to feel the energy from the crowd and they gladly obliged - I mean, it's Runtown.

However, the instrumentation for 'Emergency' was bad as the band tried to do too much with uniqueness. This was regularized by 'Lagos To Kampala' as the two female back-up singers were just ridiculously brilliant.

Then the response from the crowd when 'Said' came up might have surprised one or two people. However, when 'The Banger' came after that, the energy could only be matched by how good the song is.

That said, the moment of the evening was when Runtown's saxophonist went crazy after Runtown gave him a minute to showcase his madness just before 'Energy' came to an end. He duly responded with one of the most beautiful live solos this writer has ever seen.

It was as magical as what Drake's Guitarist did during the London Wireless Festival in 2012.

After all has been said and done, Runtown needs to improve his stage craft. Sometimes, he mumbled through some songs and intermittently failed to rally the crowd with his stage presence. He's not terrrible, but he needs to improve.