Franco's Soul Fill Up lives up to hype
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Tuesday April 5, 2022 06:00
And Saturday night came to prove how much that love is after multitudes flocked the National Stadium for his inaugural and long awaited Soul Fill Up with Franco festival.
The 25,000 National Stadium was almost filled to capacity as fans filled the field while others occupied the two grand stands. It was indeed a night of reckoning for the talented Gabane-born Kwasa kwasa artist, and it truly lived up to the hype and promise in terms of both entertainment and its adopted slogan, “Lebala Thiii!” April 2, 2022 will now take its right place in the history books as the day on which Franco delivered a world quality experience that even had him dancing in the air. The skies had also consented as it rained for a short while just as performances kick-started. With an all local line up dominated mostly by your no names, there were always ‘Doubting Thomases’ if indeed he would be able to pull if off.
The COVID-19 almost prevented the festival from going on after it was postponed from its initially scheduled date of April 4, 2020, but on Saturday night, Franco finally managed to put that behind to deliver a splendid show. And the cherry on top was that all the artists in the line-up were able to perform their sets. It was traditional dance artist Mmaratwa who opened a series of performances with her energetic performance. She literally set the tone for the night, as every other artist who came after her had to follow suit. From the onset, her dancers were all hyped up and their stunts attracted revelers who had taken cover in the grand stands when it started to rain. Then Phempheretlhe reminded fans of why he was one of the most loved gospel artists in the early 2000s. When he performed he serenaded with some of his songs such as Lekunutu le Morena.
That was before Mafitlhakgosi Traditional troupe took over and delivered a scintillating performance. Known for traditional music, this time around they spiced things up as they performed Amapiano songs, much to the amusement of the cheering crowd. They nicely warmed up the stage for the main man, Franco, who was about to perform his first of the three scheduled sets. When the moment finally arrived, Franco arrived backstage on a horseback, sending the crowd into frenzy. The National Stadium immediately came to live as everyone hit the dance floor. He preformed songs such as Mmamane robala, Tshutshumakgala among some of his hits.
After Franco’s first set, Matsieng, ATI, Alfredo Mos & Les Africa Sounds and Ditiro Leero, who performed alongside his former mate at Matsieng, Morwa Tsankana, also treated revelers to good performances. Franco once again came back on stage after midnight to perform his second set, where he took his fans down memory lane with his yesteryear heats. He once again got the crowd eating from his palm, with his performance. Something was very clear; Franco’s crispy voice has endeared him to Batswana.
Throughout his performances, they showered him with love, as they sang and danced along to each of his songs.
Vee Mampeezy, Dr Vom and Jeff Matheatau also did not disappoint when they got on stage. They all performed after 4am. However, they were all able to get the crowd dancing with their energetic performances. The crowd had waited for Franco to wrap things up with his last set, which came after 7am. After all, it was indeed a festival worth every penny.