Whow.......! These stars have grown day-by-day, and their performances keep getting better and better! Each show had a special plus! The closing of Sunday's show was just ‘on-top-of-this-world’, the newly found Pastor Kgotso sealed the night with the last song “ngibe muhle nami”! His preaching, his stage presence, his dances with Mkhize were just a perfect goodbye for me…. ……. I have been anointed, thanx Kgotso…..!
At closing, and after Mkhize did the preaching from kuyozwakala kyozwakala kuzwakeleeee verse, he thanked his mom (…..this is a very grateful child & he learnt that mommy’s boy ‘act’ from Lusanda) for teaching him ‘choir conducting skills’. Mkhize also announced that Lungisani, Charisma, Kgotso & Spumelele were doing their ‘live recordings’ for CDs to be out in February! Yes, Sphumelele has been signed too, and I thank the Lord for that coz I just love listening to her, she is just great! Her CD will be the first CD I buy; ….as for others, I hope they will do DVDs as well coz …. !
GUEST APPEARANCES
Mkhize called our favourite superstars; Nkanyiso, Hlengiwe, Ntokozo and some other guy (who was that bawo…?) to come on stage and do a line! Yes, you guessed right……, Hlengi & Ntokozo ended up doing 2+ beautiful songs! We worshiped like Jesus was already landing at the Durban harbour! I enjoyed those items, thanx moyoyingcwele…! I think Mkhize was also shocked coz he asked them do one line, not the show….! I am convinced that those items were truly not part of the programme (although Mkhize always say so) coz Sis Hlengi really looked like somebody on holiday, or just emakhaya nje or on a disguise! She was wearing a yellow soccer t-shirt (Bafana-bafana/ Sundowns) and jean skirt! The un-styled hair was nicely covered in white cap which was pulled to hide/ cover at least 78% of the eyes and face! Yhooo, uculile ke u Sisi……! U Ntokozo yena had a great hairstyle, she knew where the cameras were going to concentrate… ! But the rest of her outfit…… nc nc nc……..Let me say it was no Joyous style! But nkosi, she sang…..I was blessed! The band was great, Can somebody feed uNkqubeko please! Hayi ubhityile ubhuti! He looked worse when he stood up during Ntokozo’s performance
REWIND TO THE START……..
We were all well-mannered fans, we arrived at Durban ICC in good time (18h30-19h00), the I want to sing gospel crew was not there and we had to wait and wait and wait and wait…..for the tickets! Perhaps I would have not noticed the ‘long wait’ if the queue for free tickets was not that long…. The whole Mlazi (Mhkize’s kassie), the whole KwaMashu (Mkhize’s neighbouring kassie), the whole Kwadukuza (Lungisani’s homestead, and the whole…. (where does Sphumelele come from…? No wait a bit, …..the whole KZN got free tickets…., the queue was unceremoniously long…..! And there were stickers/ posters that the show has been sold out so there was no choice but to wait….and wait!
Eventually we entered the venue and collected tickets; our cameras were confiscated at the door by security forces! I am therefore not offering any apologies for not having pictures for this dull recap….which is why I have also made it lengthy.......! Mkhize can do the apology….! In fact I strongly feel that I was “manhandled” in the whole entrance/ ticket collection phase.. (sorry ladies, let me re-phrase; I was “people-handled” – I am gender sensitive too ……). First it was Faith who wanted to know my TVSA username (what was that about Sisi…..?), …..And then I was given the blue tags that I was told in-no-uncertain-terms that those tags were not actually “blue”….! Some security guy wrestled me while attempting to ‘whiten’ my tag during the tagging…. ! I felt like I was being arrested and the taggs were hand chains...!
I felt emotionally vulnerable to put it mildly…. Especially considering the fact that this was my third concert of IWTSG to attend! In fact I was wondering as to why did I come…. And I felt that I was becoming the part of the furniture of IWTSG, and I felt that there was nothing new/ exciting to see… I was emotionally down… I could even see that IWTSG poster [that they travel with] ‘waving’ at me’ like a “halo AGAIN” wave with a question like “ulapha futhi……”? All those depressions disappeared as soon as the show started, thanx for the Holy Spirit brought by Lusanda…..!
THE STARS
Lungisani entered the stage with his famous ‘vote vote vote’ phrase, the KZN crowed went wild….! Then he did five solo songs, starting with his winner-song “you are holy” and the third song was his popular Vuma (with the accompanying dances…)! He then did a trio with Thabisa & Sphu, a duet with Shannon and the trio with Mzo and Belinda! The performance was great! Shaaaame u Khehle, I think he was so happy and overwhelmed by the warm reception and the vibe from the audience, he actually forgot his lines when introducing his co-starts, so Thabisa and Sphu just showed up on stage, then he remembered them! The same went for Shannon! He remembered to introduce Mzo, but there was no mentioning of Belinda…..! Please Lungstar get your act together bhuti…..!
Mzo performed immediately after the break when half of the audience was still clearing the last tomoto source from those take-away plates! He did three songs; the first two are ‘slow’ worship songs, not a good idea if the audience has just returned from the break… so everybody was just sitting and digesting those supersize cheap wors rolls that were on sale! Who was the caterer for this event? I am sure somebody like Mkhize's aunt or so...! The last song by Mzo, “spheti golide” got the crowed crazy, and he did those ‘soccer-team mate” dances and soon went off stage! This last song was so short, and I think it could have been made longer, and be modified to involve audience like it was case in Pretoria…! What up with that Mkhize?
I liked Charisma’s performance, it was my best performance of the night! For starters she learnt and listened to our comments for the Cape Town show, she interacted with audience from word- go! Can we get paid for these valuable inputs into the show? Can Mkhize employ me as a stage director? Charisma was invited and introduced on-stage by Tsepiso (who described her as a “friend of mine.., and a woman of God”) for their duo, and she remained for her performances! That was great intro, and she lived up to it, from preaching to singing! She taught the audience to sing the last two songs which were Afrikaans, they were “gee bietjie my water” and the Klompste song! Eish, I better get the CD to pronounce and write the correct names of these songs…! There is only one thing shame u Sisi can’t do, and that is dancing…! She was just like egxuma-gxuma nje….!
Kgotso was the last to perform, and that was after oo Hlengi and others had perfomed! Believe me, he did not tone it down- he did his thing! He started with his song on the CD, and just went on and on! Washumayela ke u Bhuti, the stage walks, the interpretation of each song, the up and down voice tones, etc; silivile izwi lika Somandla! I felt like ndisebandleni lika Namba for while! Kgotso ndoda, God will take you places, can you do a Theology course now? I think Damelin or some other ABET institution do have correspondence classes, so you won’t to give up singing…!
I felt that Sphumelele was given a very limited time! In fact I did not realise that she was also recording her CD! Where are the rest of the songs Mkhize? Her performance was fabulous, I have ran out of words of describing her! I can just say she did what I know her for! I just love her style, its suits her voice and music! The CD is already in my shelf the day it gets to the stores! No, can Mkhize post it to me as soon as it is out of production house? Yes I will pay for it Bhuti….!
Tabisa was only given one song to do, “U-Lothixo mkhulu”! I was really hurt coz I was looking forward to “Nkosi sihlangene”. I think that song is the best on that top 13 CD! I had already ironed my voice to sing ‘ubuncoko bakho….. part of the song, but nope…..! Yhini Mkhize usenza ntoni?
Lusanda was a charmer on stage! It was during his song that I felt the Holy Spirit in the house! And unyana had those times where he was marching up-and down on the stage, ‘speaking in tongues”, shaking head, lifting the arms etc….. ! Let me just say the whole “holly package” …… was displayed by the kid!
Tsepiso was brilliant Bantu, uyacula hayi nje….! One of my groupies did not follow the IWTSG, and did not know them! He kept asking me ukuthi who is this, who is this, why engazange awine….? And I was thinking that he should have voted to win his star….!
The last two Cape girls , Belinda and Shannon also sang well, especially in their duos and trios…! I really can’t wait for the DVD of this IWTSG! Too bad we could not take pictures coz some had different clothes! I did not stay for the after show autographs but the artists were there to interact with the fans and I am told that it was fab.
As this is the last show under this season of IWTSG, I would like to thank mjj and his TVSA! Indeed we have wonderful memories that we will cherish for a long time to come! Siyabonga