‘Big 3’ grossed over $7 million in international concerts since lockdown ease

 The ease on lockdowns and social distancing in 2021 saw the return of social gatherings like

restaurants and music concerts. In recent years, afro-beats and Nigerian artists have had a renaissance, seeing a kind of global demand. Ever since CKay’s ‘Love Nwantiti’ and Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ went viral on the video content app, TikTok, other people including non-native English speakers have taken a liking to Nigerian music.

Capitalizing on this, Wizkid, Burna Boy, and Davido – arguably the three biggest artists in Nigeria, have had concerts in the O2 Arena.

In May 2020, the arena’s naming partner, O2, announced that it had plans to reopen with a series of ‘Welcome Back’ events that will play to full capacity crowds in the arena for the first time since March 2020 when the global outbreak happened.

About the O2 Arena

• Located in London, the O2 Arena has a capacity of 20,000.
• It is Billboard’s top-grossing venue of the decade.
• The O2 Arena also happens to be the only non-US venue on Billboard’s year-end’s Top Venues (15,001+ capacity) chart.

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Burna Boy

Burna Boy

The Welcome Back Series kicked off on August 27 with Burna Boy as a strong opener. His concert, dubbed ‘Twice as Tall’, grossed $1.3 million and sold 15,200 tickets.

In May of 2022, Burna Boy also announced a number of concerts before the release of his album ‘Love, Damini’. The shows were scheduled to take place in the United States and Canada in July. The tour ended on August 

2. 

Wizkid

Wizkid made history by being the first African artist to sell out three shows in a row during his ‘Made in Lagos’ tour. He performed on November 28, 29, and December 1, grossing $2.9 million from 50,800 tickets sold.

He was even joined on stage by Burna Boy to perform their collaboration, ‘Ginger’ and Tems to perform ‘Essence’.  Ella Mai, Skepta, and DJ Tunez were also present at his concert.

For a final surprise, Wizkid was joined on stage by Chris Brown.

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Davido

While Davido did not perform at the Welcome Back show, he had a concert at the O2 in early 2022. The theme of the concert was “WRBLO” – We Rise by Lifting Others.

Davido also wore Nigerian designers and hired Nigerian chefs to cater during the period of the shows. His shows sold out twice, grossing $2.9 million.