Hugely-popular Kenyan boy band Sauti Sol have caused a little sizzle online after announcing the dates of their new shows, to be held in the next three months.
The four-man band, comprising of Bien Aime-Baraza, Mudigi Savara, Polycarp Otieno and Willis Austin Chimano, announced that, come November, they will be staging Kenyan concerts – but they will have to be segmented into two.
Without saying too much, the boy band’s team released a simple poster which pointed out that they would stage a ‘VIP Show’ on the 2nd of November and then another one, titled the ‘Fan Show’ on the 4th of November.
Immediately, a little confusion popped up with a few fans unable to understand what exactly the band meant by ‘VIP’ and ‘Fan Show’ given that the ambiguity could mean different things to different people.
Other fans expressed fears that the ‘Fan Show’ might probably be a watered down version of the ‘VIP Show’ with a much less enthusiastic performance and a shoddy overall experience.
Witty fans even cobbled up quick memes to better classify the events – the most popular one is the meme commonly used to distinguish the rich from the poor while using the Pangani underpass.
A Twitter user, while sharing a meme distinguishing the Nairobi Expressway users from average Mombasa Road motorists, wrote, “Haves and Have Nots wamekua separated…”
While most fans are generally excited to attend any of the shows, whose venues are yet to be announced, it didn’t stop cranky Twitter user @warothe from frothing.
“Instead of Kenyan event organisers getting their act together and providing one decent gig for all, they have decided to go for separate ‘VIP’ and ‘Fan’ events,” he tweeted.
“Ripple effect of Boyz to Men which was two concerts in one? Outright classism?”
Anger aside, most Kenyans are happy to at least see the band playing ‘LIVE’ and are already actively looking out for a significant other with whom they can get soaked in the magical Bien serenades.