Not Again! Wizkid Fails To Show Up At Coachella Festival, See Possible Reasons
Written by MaxFM on April 24, 2018
Starboy Records CEO, Wizkid had been listed as one of the artists billed to perform at the 2018 Coachella Festival but at the end of the second weekend of the event, the Nigerian pop star was a no-show.
This year’s festival was deemed to be the most extravagant since the inception of Coachella.
With an expanded venue, top headliners and side attractions, tens of thousands of festival goers gathered at the festival ground over six days for a fun-filled weekend.
While performances like that of Beyonce alongside members of her erst-while group Destiny’s Child, Eminem bringing out Dr Dre, The Weeknd, Cardi B, Migos were winners at the festival, one absence that stuck out, not just for Nigerians but Africans was that of Nigeria’s Starboy, Wizkid.
The singer had missed the first leg of the festival due to visa issues relating to his band members and had promised his fans on social media that he will be attending the second leg of the festival the following weekend.
But barely 48 hours to the festival, there were reports that the singer was sighted at hang-out spots in Lagos and rumor began to circulate that he may be set to miss out on his performance the second time.
Just saw Wizkid at 57. Shouldn’t he be on his way to coachella?
— Ubong (@KingSweetiee) April 20, 2018
Saturday night came and Wizkid was a no-show and despite the grand finale of BBNaija doing well to deviate attention from the singer and his carefully planned release of four singles and a collaboration within the same week, fans have continued to question why the singer has missed out on one of the biggest international stages at this point in his career.
These are 3 possible alleged reasons that could have led to Wizkid’s absence at the Coachella Festival;
1. Visa Issues
When it was revealed that the artist will not be performing at the first weekend of the festival, Wizkid had immediately taken to his twitter handle to explain that his band members had been unable to secure visas to the concert.
It has been speculated that as at the second weekend, all members of the band were yet to get their visas and the artist didn’t want to perform at a festival of that magnitude without the full compliment of his members.
2. The singer opted out due to technicalities
Now it has also been said that in the absence of Wizkid appearing with his own band, the festival organizers were not willing to provide him with an alternative team, something that they willingly make available for big name international artist who at-times fall short of the full members of their band.
This Wizkid felt was inappropriate, and as such decided to cancel his performance.
3. Unresolved Demands
Show business has evolved into a huge money-making industry, and with the downward slide of album sales, performances at concerts is a major way by which artist earn their money.
These artists taking into consideration the large team that may be required for certain performances like band members, stylists, DJs usually make requests that serve as criteria for them performing at a concert.
Maybe Wizkid made quite a few demands that the organizers of Coachella could not meet.
Wizkid is however billed to perform at the AfroRepublik Indoor Festival holding on May 26, 2018 at the 02 arena in London, we wait to see if the Starboy and his band will be showing up this time.