Three Conclusions from The Cavemen’s Trace Live Session

Trace Live is one of the hottest out there

Trace Live is a monthly series of headline concerts created in partnership by Bolanle Austen- Peters and Bingwa Initiative, supported by Lord’s Gin, Tom Tom Desperado, Leadway Assurance and refreshed by Pepsi.

The format lends itself to artists being able to take fans through their discographies over the course of the night. This year, acts like Phyno, King Promise, King Perry and M.I. Abaga  have taken to the format and delivered electrifying performances. The Cavemen were only following in a long line of Nigerian royalty. 

Shoddy’s going to be eating good for a while! 

These days, hypemen can be a hit or miss. When they hit, they enhance the experience by making the audience eat out of their hands while building momentum for the main acts. As host, Shoddy the hype man and comedian Pencil welcomed members of the music community to the show and helped whet the appetite for the headline act. They were so good we’ll even pretend their Afrobeats heavy set wasn’t a distraction from the Highlife acts. 

Highlife might be here to stay! 

This event took place in the wake of the whole conversation about the authenticity of The Cavemen’s brand of highlife. While their response to that was to remind us that they provide “premium Highlife”, it’s pertinent to remember in these times that there’s nothing to be gained from gatekeeping an indigenous genre when it gets mainstream love and adulation. What is important is to nurture it and develop it with love and open ears. In that sense, the fact that The Cavemen can headline such a show is an achievement in itself. What comes next must be an intentional and sustainable plan for growth.