Llona won hearts and converted souls with his gospel, one state at a time 

When Llona climbs the stage on August 2, 2025, to perform in Lagos state, it will be his 25th stop and a grand finale to one of Nigeria’s most memorable tours. It will also be the beginning of a future filled with endless possibilities for music touring in the country. 

Touring in Nigeria is no mean feat. It takes grit, defying economic challenges and security concerns, and a strong desire to connect with the fans. 

In 2024, award-winning star Llona came into mainstream consciousness with his critically acclaimed debut album ‘Homeless’, which shares the story of the pain, hope, and resilience that have shaped his reality. 

The raw emotions his music offers and the soothing effects his lyrics and melodies provide found a home in the hearts of many listeners whose realities he documents. 

It’s the desire to bond with his fast-growing community that has inspired Llona to embark on a nationwide tour of which scale has not been recorded in the recent history of Nigerian music.

When Llona kicked off the tour on February 22, 2025, in Zaria, Kaduna State, it was with an intimate curtain raiser as opposed to mainstream fanfare. After filling up shows across different states, attention would quickly turn to the Homeless tour, which was challenging the status quo of music touring in Nigeria. 

From the South to the North, fans have weathered poor weather, economic challenges, and the general inconveniences of a typical Nigerian concert to catch a glimpse of the artist whose music is therapy to them. They show up united in cause to sing, cry, and be merry, so that when they return, it’s with a lighter heart and unforgettable memories. 

For Llona, ignoring the prospect of a modest international tour, many other rising artists have consistently jumped at reflects his desire to solidify his community in Nigeria before connecting with fans abroad. 

United in vision with his team at KVLT, led by Jemedafe Caleb Ukoli, with the star lineup of Olamide “Badman Mide” Olabiyi, Olamide-Adeola Ademeso, and Tolu Daniel, Llona elected to take his message of hope across the country, one state at a time. 

Like everywhere else, touring in Nigeria is expensive, but the country also brings another set of peculiar challenges. The economics, logistics, and security concerns are factors that have consistently discouraged many stars from hitting the road. 

However, for Llona, this was simply the price to pay to connect with his people. Olamide “Badman Mide” Olabiyi tells me that the intention to go on tour was conceived after the album dropped, but even then, they never thought it would be a nationwide tour. 

“After the album dropped, we knew we wanted to do a tour, but then we didn’t know it was going to be a nationwide tour.”

He shares that, like everything that has shaped Llona’s music and career, the desire to connect with his people was what necessitated a bigger tour. 

“The nationwide came in from a place of just standing out. Llona is also an artist who always wanted to preach the gospel to his people.” 

With a nationwide tour conceived, the team led by Jemedafe Caleb Ukoli had to figure out a way to make it work.

Using the consumption data from his music backend, KVLT identified the states where Llona had the most listeners and shortlisted them as potential stops.

The data helped them identify Lagos, Kogi, Kano, PortHarcourt, and Abuja as cities where Llona had major listeners in Nigeria. However, for a nationwide tour, they had to research, build connections, and figure it out. This was not going to be easy. 

Badman Mide shares that when they announced 22 cities on the tour flier, they only had 2 cities on lock. 

“We listed the numbers of cities we believed our streams were coming in from. The cities we had communities in. We had just 2 cities on lock, and we had listed like 22 cities on the flyer we did. But we were calm  because we knew it had to be done.”

And boy did they get it done. City after city, Llona packed venues with each stop hyping up the next. But it was by no means easy. As expected, the tour was expensive, especially when it was essentially internally funded.

“The biggest challenge of organizing this tour is funding and security. We have to do this thing from our pocket. You know, zero support. For every booking that comes in, we have to return the money to the tour and marketing,” Badman Mide shares on the challenges, which is made even worse by logistical nightmares. 

“Logistics is crazy because it takes a huge part of our budget, especially for certain cities. For instance, when we had to go to Kogi, we had to stop at Abuja first for security reasons because we couldn’t just go straight to Kogi. We stopped to get mopols and officers. We just need to know the city we are going to.”

He revealed that partnering with Airlines, transport companies, and local show promoters helped to navigate these challenges and kept the tour going. 

Building a partnership and an admirable level of courage and sacrifice turned a desire to tour with his album into a tour with 25 stops across 23 states. This shows that touring is indeed possible in Nigeria if we try harder.

“I think we just have a team that is willing to go above the norm, do something nobody is doing. I think touring is very possible. You just need to build connections, do your research, and be bold.”

In the past decade, Nigerian pop music has gained ground globally thanks to the advent of social media, music streaming, a large diaspora community, and more funding. 

However, the Nigerian ecosystem has little to show for this success, with the neglected local touring scene serving as the most visible example.

Llona’s tour came with predictable challenges. Logistics was expensive and insecurity forced him to cancel his stop in Jos.

Despite these challenges, the success of the Homeless tour is evidence of the possibility of touring in Nigeria, which is in desperate need of commitment from more superstars whose profiles can command the injection of private equity.

It’s also a call to the government to create policies that would give listeners the disposable income to afford concert tickets. The authorities must also quell insecurity and provide transport infrastructure for logistical ease. 

From Kano to Enugu to Port Harcourt, Markudi, Nigerians poured out to fellowship with Llona. This is the power of music to unite listeners across tribal, religious, and social lines. The country and industry simply stopped giving listeners the chance to show this, and Llona’s tour is a sobering reminder.