Chris Brown attends a pre-Grammy gala at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. PHOTO | AFP
American RnB sensation Chris Brown has no desire to perform in Kenya again even if the money is right.
This is according to Joy Wachira, the managing director of Madfun Group, an event production, travel, and ticketing company.
Madfun is the company organizing Afrobeats star Burna Boy’s Nairobi show scheduled for March 1.
Speaking to Nairobi News, Ms. Wachira says before settling on Burna, they first approached Chris Brown who immediately turned down the chance to perform in Kenya for the second time.
“We approached Burna Boy after approaching Chris Brown to bring him to Kenya but he turned us down. For Breezy, it wasn’t even about the money, it was about our infrastructure. What he said as the reason for turning us down is that ‘Kenya does not have the appropriate infrastructures that are good enough to support his kind of show. And I tell you, he was right. Look at what he did recently in South Africa (during his performance), Chris Brown wants to come on stage flying from one point of the arena to the other. You tell me where in Kenya is he going to do that? That was a wake-up call for me that we need to do better,” says Ms. Wachira. Ms. Wachira says.
The last and only time Chris Brown performed in Kenya was on October 8, 2016, in Mombasa as part of the Mombasa Rocks Festival. His performance made headlines in the country as it was reported that he was paid $900,000 (Sh90 million at the exchange rate) to perform for 90 minutes.
At the time, regular tickets cost Kshs 10,000 and Sh20,000 for VIP tickets, which was a first in Kenya for tickets to be expensive. VIP tickets for the upcoming Burna Boy concert cost Sh65,000.
“‘ Chris Brown’s performance in Mombasa was more of a private concert because I was there. Also, it’s a long time and artists evolve and standards and way of doing things change too,” says Joy.