Burna Boy’s ‘Twice As Tall’ World Tour

Burna Boy’s ‘Twice As Tall’ World Tour

By Ferdinand Ekechukwu

Afro-fusion singer/songwriter, Burna Boy, is good to go for his Twice As Tall World tour . Following a well-deserved success in 2019, the self-acclaimed African Giant announced his 2020 tour on Instagram: “Back On Road with the Twice As Tall Tour. Grab your tickets now! Don’t snooze,” he announced early this week. The tour will take the superstar artiste to theaters and venues across the U.S. in the spring followed by a European run throughout the summer and North American stops in Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Miami, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, Houston and more.

Burna will embark on the European leg of his tour on June 28, stopping in the United Kingdom, Norway, France, Germany, Portugal, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden. The tour also includes multiple performances at major festivals. The three-month engagement will see the artiste appear at a string of festivals like Broccoli City Festival in Washington, D.C., Roots Picnic in Philadelphia, Lollapalooza in Paris and Osheaga Festival in Montreal, Canada and more. His solo shows kick off May 7 in Atlanta, and he’ll make his way over to cities like Los Angeles, New York and Miami before ending the US leg in Dallas.

Burna Boy hasn’t stopped moving since releasing his 2019 album, “African Giant,” which came with nominations at both the Grammys and BRIT Awards and a trophy for the Best International Act at the BET Awards. He won Best Male MVP, African Artiste of the Year and Song of the Year at the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival. At about same time last year, the Nigerian star toured North America and Europe. Last year, the “African Giant Returns Tour” which kicked off in Toronto saw the afro-fusion artiste playing live concerts across Canada, the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Burna Boy released his Grammy-nominated album African Giant last year. He followed the record with his single “Money Play” in December 2019. Money Play is off his fifth studio album which is ready and would drop soon. A new single titled “Odogwu” was released yesterday, off the forthcoming album. The Grammy 2020 nominee lost out on the much-coveted Best International Act at the 40th edition of the BRIT awards 2020 to American rapper, Tyler The Creator. Burna Boy also got his second nomination in the ‘Song of the Year’ category after featuring on Dave’s hit single Location, but the pair lost the award to Lewis Calpaldi’s Someone You Loved.

This may be hard on him after just losing another major international award. The singer, last month, was beaten to the award for Best World Music Album by Angelique Kidjo at the 2020 Grammy Awards. The 2020 Brit Awards was held on 18 February 2020 at the O2 Arena in London. Following his recent controversial tweets, which he later deleted on his social media handles, on becoming a success without anyone paving a way for him, some of his fans expressed mixed feelings, saying that it was clear the singer had not recovered from the loss of the just concluded Grammy Awards were he lost to Beninese music legend, Angelique Kidjo.

Burna Boy had incurred the wrath of Nigerian Twittersphere after declaring himself the best artiste after late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. He wrote: “Fact! I always knew I was and I am the best. Everyone you think is the best knows I’m best since Fela Kuti. But @timayatimaya told me something a long time ago that made me not care about being the best. The World can do without the Best. The world will still spin regardless.

“Remember I told you I was the African Giant and most of you laughed and said I should be grateful for small fonts. I pray that you learn from me. I mean this in no bragging way and the wise knows that the future of Africa depends on the kind of strength and resilience I show. You say ‘thank God he didn’t win’ because I say the truth? And because of your twisted fake views on humility. I’ve been out here with my family since 2012 going through unspeakable things just to get here against all odds.”

But his followers were quick to remind him that some artistes paved the way for him so he shouldn’t consider himself the best to come out of Nigeria. “Nobody paved shit for me. Everybody dey find them own. I bin out here if you knew the way they made us look weak by begging and paying the western world to like us, you will see that no table was set and I’m the one that brought you the respect you currently enjoy”, Burna Boy replied. In another development, the singer has unfollowed everyone on Instagram, except his London-based girlfriend, Stefflon Don. Burna Boy has 5.1million followers Instagram. On Twitter, he has 2.6 million followers and follows 1043 others.

Related Articles