Bulawayo Shutdown lives to billing!

Brandon Moyo

On Saturday night, Queens Sports Club hosted the 2023 Bulawayo Shutdown gig and in front of a packed venue, the artistes delivered, giving thousands of party lovers a time to remember.

Prior to the start of the much-anticipated show, event organisers had promised fireworks, not literal fireworks but an electric atmosphere throughout the night.

And if you were not there, you missed out on one of the biggest shows that the city hosts annually.

In simpler terms, the fireworks that were promised were delivered much to the amusement of literally everyone who made their way to the venue.

This is how the fireworks started cracking on the night.

Before the headliners, the artistes who came before kept everyone up on their feet from the time the gates were opened.

They delivered good music to revellers, making sure that everyone was well catered for with a variety of genres.

At 11pm, Sandra “Sandy” Ndebele took to the stage with her group Intombi Zomqangala and gave those who missed her album launch last year, a taste of what she served.

With their choreography on point, she delivered a good set, as those who follow DJs would say and when she left the stage, it was time for some dancehall.

Pumacol alongside Bazooker took to the stage with their unmatched energy and also stepped up, and for Bazooker, there was no better way of exiting the stage than leaving with everyone singing along to the hit song, “Kamunamato Kekubhawa.”

‘Dlala Stokie!’
One of the pioneers of, arguably, the biggest music genre in the continent at the moment, South African Amapiano star, DJ Stokie took to the stage at midnight and who said South African acts only perform for 20 or less minutes?

Stokie was behind the decks for one good hour, playing hit after hit, with the crowd obviously executing their part very well, which is quite simple, dance, dance and dance till you drop.

There was no way that he was not going to give people what they wanted and he served the hit song Dlala Stokie and bowed out with the much-loved Ipiano eSoweto.

If you thought the previous acts had energy for days, then you had not seen DJ Levels and Fantan.

Man, oh Man! Levels behind the decks, Fantan on stage, it was one electric and exuberant performance, Zim Dancehall/hip-hop hits galore. Some fans even went out of voices from screaming.

As if their energy was not enough, Fantan had to take his NBA jersey off and climbed the stage pole, much to the delight of many.

They shut their set down with the hit song Fire Emoji Remix.

“I was happy because I never knew that Zimdancehall and DJ Fantan and Levels are loved like that in Bulawayo.

I was so shocked. I’m emotional and very touched. I’ve never seen such a crowd in Bulawayo so I’m so happy.

“More is coming. This is just the beginning of Levels and Fantan,” Fantan told Chronicle Showbiz after his performance.

They set the bar and South African songstress, Lady Du had a huge mountain to climb, coming in to perform just before 01:30am.

She gave a good show, once again with good choreography from her and her team. After she left the stage, Jah Signal came, with no disrespect intended, to warm up the stage to the closing act.

‘Gafa Rapindira!’
Dancehall chanter, Winky D was the closing act and he shut it down! A performance lasting for more than an hour, he gave Bulawayo a time worth of the money they paid to get in.

He took revellers to 2004 and brought them back to 2023 with his hit songs in between coming in.

He gave fans hit songs like Mu Garden”, Dzika Ngirozi, and Shaker just to mention a few because it would take a long time if all the songs were to be named one by one.

Winky D shut it down in style and Bazooker joined him on stage. Together, they performed Vafarisi more than twice as fans kept begging for more.

Time permitting, he could have performed till the sun came out, but he had to leave and left thousands still asking and begging for more.