A highly anticipated gospel concert featuring American groups Maverick City and Kirk Franklin turned into a night of frustration and disappointment for fans on Friday, 9 August. The Kingdom World Tour event, held at Wanderers Stadium, was plagued by technical issues that left the audience fuming.
The concert, initially scheduled to start at 2pm, was delayed for over two hours, finally kicking off after 4pm. However, just as the crowd was buzzing with excitement for the headliners to take the stage, a blackout plunged the stadium into darkness.
For almost an hour, the stage remained silent, with frustrated fans chanting for sound and singing worship songs like "Malibongwe Igama Lenkosi" to keep themselves entertained. Some even prayed in tongues for the technical difficulties to be resolved.
"We want sound!" echoed through the stadium as the crowd's patience wore thin.
Eventually, the long-awaited group took to the stage and delivered a five-star performance, much to the relief of the audience.
Sammy Mbele, one of the music fans who attended, said despite the long wait, he enjoyed the concert.
"The technicians must be commended for a sterling job to fix the sound. Otherwise, it was going to be a disaster," said Sammy.
However, many fans took to social media to express their disappointment. Social media user Noa_brownie23 commented under their videos: "One day, I’ll unpack the traumatic and horrific experience of this concert. Genuinely not worth my money. I feel scammed, to say the least."
"It’s an understatement to say the coordination and planning were poor and we just had to accept it because it was for God? Can we then take note that God is not a God of disorder and dysfunction? I could write a book about this, still so upset."
The concert in Johannesburg was not the first setback for the Kingdom World Tour. The group's performance at Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town on 8 August was postponed due to bad weather.
In a video shared on their social platforms, the group expressed their disappointment about the Cape Town postponement.
"Cape Town, what’s up? It’s Maverick City. We are so disappointed and so sad that we were not able to be with you guys tonight. You know that we like to sing in the rain, and we love to worship," stated the message.
The organisers of the event, The Fresh Impressions Team, released a statement on Saturday, expressing their gratitude to the artists and apologising to their fans for the shortcomings.
"While we thank our international guests and local artists for their outstanding performances in Johannesburg, we also want to unreservedly apologise to everyone who had a negative experience at our events. We take full responsibility for the shortcomings that disappointed you and caused much frustration," they said.
"To our Johannesburg family, we deeply regret the sound and technical issues you experienced. The sound company has also issued an apology regarding this matter," the statement read.
They also apologised for all delays.
"These processes did not meet the standard you deserve, and we are truly sorry for the disappointment this caused. We cannot overlook the need to apologise to all our artists, MCs, and musicians who also suffered due to the technical difficulties," they said.
The Fresh Impressions Team acknowledged the importance of their fans' time, money, and experience.
"Please know that we are taking these matters very seriously and are committed to learning from these mistakes to ensure they do not happen again," they said.
