Burna Boy earned his metaphorical flowers – and his very literal bras – as he ripped through a majestic two-hour set at New York’s Madison Square Garden, the first Nigerian headliner to do so at the famed venue. The first fire engine red bra was pushed onto the stage for the beloved Afro-fusionist at the start of his set, as he performed “Rock Your Body” from his groundbreaking 2018 album Outside. By the end of the night, no fewer than six others had been hurled at him – at one point he had several slung around his waist like a belt. “Burna is so cool yo!” cried one male fan as Burna charged down his long runway fenced in by sharp flashing lights to “Gbona” from his seminal African Giant title.
The audience’s only moment of relative silence came as they attentively recorded a new song that sampled Toni Braxton’s “He Wasn’t Man Enough for Me.” Burna performed the unreleased track after revealing on his 31st birthday, July 2, that his next album would be called Love, Damini and drop. Moreover, the crowd at the Garden was in constant motion, its ranks of bodies like waves in a dark ocean of mostly black Diasporans. Burna Boy’s frequent use of an a cappella or minimalist arrangement meant that eager participants could often clearly hear their voices singing as sweet as Burna’s smile. While set-close “Ye” evoked an undeniable reaction from across the Garden, a careful look around the stands revealed just how diverse everyone’s favorite songs from Burna’s deep discography could be.
In the pit, three young men moshed to his remix of Ghanaian rapper Black Sherif’s “Second Sermon,” carefully throwing their bodies into each other without disturbing those around them. Further back in the seats, a young woman in a pink bandage-wrapped top had a spiritual response to “Way Too Big” from Burna’s latest album, the pandemic-produced Twice as Tall. Over a railing, a young man dressed more for a day in the office than for the hottest concert in town banged “Bank on It” at the top of his lungs into his girlfriend’s phone, whose flashlight beaded his face with sweat. Burna’s mother and manager Bose Ogulu, affectionately known as “Mama Burna,” watched stoically from the left stage until she approached party starter “Killin Dem.”
The show reinterpreted Burna’s long catalog and highlighted already excellent songs. A brass section tore down the outstanding African Giant “On the Low”. Violins upped the ante on Location. A saxophonist competed with Burna’s impassioned vocal runs as they finished “Onyeka.” On “Ja Ara E,” a team of traditional African drummers surrounded his trusted backup singer, Christina Matovu, who has been with the band for five years, and they danced in unison from left to right as they performed. Burna Boy’s live arrangements brought the funk and drama.
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The show, titled “One Night in Space,” found Burna as urgent as ever, playing a barrage of songs while only stopping a few times to drink water or address his fans. “Feel free to throw some more,” he encouraged after the first bra toss, before listing the New York venues he’d played earlier in his career while working to the Garden. After performing “Soke” for a little over half the night, he was quick to admit that the performance was “some emotional shit [him]’ before setting MSG ablaze with some of his liveliest hits, songs like ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Anybody’ and ‘Kilometer’.
Burna soloed several songs together – the remix of “Second Sermon”, the late Pop Smoke’s “Enjoy Yourself”, his latest record with Wizkid “Ballon D’or” and his remix of “Sungbe” by Nigerian rapper Asake (an early contender ). for Afropop Song of the Summer). In fact, apart from a brief spoken introduction by Busta Rhymes, there was only one musical guest, one of his heroes, Senegalese legend Youssou N’Dour, who kicked off the show with his song “New Africa,” cleverly translated on-screen. “Call to all Africans,” read the expansive graphics. “Let’s come together and let nothing tear us apart.” His message was hopeful but somber: “When I think about how our grandparents suffered, I cry,” one song says.
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A segment from three of Burna’s most political songs added seriousness to the night: “Collatoral Damage” spoke truth to greedy power; Another Story began with a visual lesson in the ravages of colonialism; And most excitingly, Burna performed an unreleased track online that was often credited as “Off Your Mic.” In it he sang passionately about a snake in human form swallowing money as a criticism of Nigerian politics – “Off your mic”, one of the lyrics, is likely a reference to an incident in the summer of 2020 when a Nigerian government official accused members of the National Assembly to corruptly tuck into profitable government development contracts.
Still, Burna Boy – whose team banned him from asking political questions during the interview for his Rolling Stone UK cover story – is more rock star than expert. He smashed an acoustic guitar to pieces, sprinted down his expansive catwalk, danced with springy knees and quick feet, and maintained absolutely flawless vocals throughout the performance. The energy, the joy and the feeling of being seen could be felt in the garden. “We made history tonight,” said the night’s host, a young Bronx African, after Burna descended from the ceiling in a shower of sparks. “We started it all,” he said of the Africans. “We will finish everything. Congratulations to the culture.”