When Llona said ‘ I’m on the road for a long long time’ on Another day, it sounded like manifestation. One year later and he has really been on the road, on a journey like no other. The Homeless Nationwide Tour.
My first education of music tours were from teen shows that popped sometime in the late 2000s – early 2010s thereabout, Jonas, Hanna Montana and the likes. I’m sure some people will get it. These bands went on tour in a tour bus, instruments in the van, going around places in their towns and surrounding towns playing their music in restaurants, small venues and events. And fans of those artists would come out as well as the locals, and everyone is singing along, hands waving flashlights in the air, experiences being made in real time, beautiful scenes. And before you know it the community is tied to the music and by extension the musician. That’s touring. And that’s what Llona and the entire Homeless Tour team did. State to State, city to city, fans from all over Nigeria, one superstar connecting all of us, beautiful isn’t it?
Llona made himself known to Nigerian mainstream just last year, even though he’s been releasing music for years and most might not know it even going by another moniker. But you can’t keep a star away from the spotlight forever, his inspirational breakout came as a result of relentless hard work, a team that feared no one and debut album that continues to prove its worth and value both in cultural impact and numbers, as well as the fact that it is just a gem of an album. The sheer quality of Homeless has already put it in the history books, with many music listeners- myself included, arguing it was an undeniable album of the previous year contender. All these brought Llona into the watchful and critiquing eyes of the Nigerian entertainment industry with everyone wondering what his next move would be.
And what a move it was. Touring Naij. A feat almost unheard of in our country, and although some did not believe especially the tweet hungry haters who named him a twitter community artist. Him and his team carried on- special shout out to Mide, Llona’s manager and the Kvlt Team.
EXPERIENCE AT THE TOUR
I asked fans of the experience at the Nationwide Tour stops for their experiences and frankly it was just good reviews all round
Fashina (@fashthe creator on X fka as twitter) who was at the tour stop in Ibadan said this about why touring Nigeria is so important and Llona’s performances
“I feel it’s important because the music is for us or to us but it’s been the norm of artists to focus abroad where they make more revenue so it allows upcoming artist to sell at the roots… He’s a very good performer he sometimes loses his voice but I know it’s because it’s a tour he’s probably tired…emotional
Youtuber Nuel, who is the host of ‘Love and Cruise” on his reaction to hearing Llona was going to be at Uyo
“I was so happy! Honestly right there I knew I couldn’t miss this. I think it’s very important, like crazily important what Llona is doing because artists should be able to have that close relationship with their fans When Llona was performing on stage if felt like he was performing for just me, solid performance all round, even wanted to cry but hard guy.”
Millions of reviews on social media where similar, with fans showing love from different cities, a testament to the work of the team behind it.
REMINISCING ON ONE YEAR OF THE HOMELESS ALBUM
The end of tour grew closer with Abuja and Lagos, the two megacities ready to host Llona and his army of homeless people, Coincidentally or NOT, the last day of the homeless tour in Lagos would mark one year of the Homeless Album hitting our streaming platforms and our ears, Thank God for the first time. To celebrate it I reached out to friends in the music industry to talk about the man of the moment.
“It made me appreciate the difference in quality of albums that are intentional and tell a story from start to finish, it felt like Llona and I were walking side by side along a journey of his life and I was witnessing everything he had gone through and he allowed me reflect on my journey too,” Chelsea says when I asked her how the album had affected her personally “like a therapist slash friend The dialogue between songs added an extra layer of emotion and depth to the music, one that really stood out to me, the ending of the song Rollercoaster “this is a story of a boy painting portraits of pictured promises of daring dreams from a broken bed”… It made me appreciate life
What more do you expect from Llona
“He’s set the standard so high I don’t even know, I hope he can continue with the quality and spirituality. I don’t need the club bangers from him in fact I hope his songs appear in big movie soundtracks…
I think his sound is so mature motivational and sincere, feels like when he sings he’s painting art”
When I asked Peniel Uma, what the nationwide tour means for the Homeless Album and for Llona he says, “in his opinion tour means a lot for the industry because it means something like that can be achieved locally. It also serves as a reference for future artists showing them that they do not need to rush abroad to gain recognition. They can always build connections with the people who believed in them first, their local fans.”
When I asked him whether he resonated with Llona’s Homeless it was an immediate YES, “because I felt it was one of the most honest albums I have heard in a while, it was raw and authentic.” He added how the first place he heard Still Scared he was at the infamous Tarkwa Bay and how the song had almost brought him to tears because of the story and vulnerability of the artist
To Nneka, she resonated with the projects because the lyrics from the project just hit close to home. “Personally, the album helped and is till helping me come to terms with how much creativity I have to offer, still scared will always keep speaking to me’ She says when I ask her how Homeless affected her personally. “As far as debut projects go I’d say Llona’s homeless is really a mind blowing project and it’s by far one of the best and yes it’s definitely still in my rotation, still scares, can’t breathe and cold war, I can’t enough of those.”
WHAT IT MEANS
Yes, it must have a cost a lot, yes it was very strainous and most definitely yes it’s going to be difficult but most importantly Yes it can be done. And Llona has shown us that. With Afrobeats to the world and blah blah blah, we have seen many of artists perform on the brightest stages from US to Europe and even Asia. But majority of their domestic fans only get to see such wondrous moments through their screens and Instagram updates, a sad case of leaving home to feed home. With the exception of Lagos and Abuja, music lovers in other states can only ever dream seeing a big artist perform live either at night or a malaria induced hallucination and frankly that’s bad even by Nigeria standards. And yes, most of the problems involved is still Nigeria. Even the tour was hit by its own share of Nigeria with the Jos Stop cancelled due to security reason that were heightened during the time (Herdsmen clashes and the killings in Plateau, God bless their souls). But now Llona and his team have laid a blueprint, a structure if you may, one hope will be followed by many others..
If the Nationwide tour was a marathon, then Lagos was the defining victory lap. A FULL 365 days after the album that changed Llona’s life and many others, mine included. The grand finale saw many Afrobeat OG acts grace the stage with Llona, Illbliss, MI and Phyno just to name a few. And that’s the beauty of the homeless tour too, it was not just Llona. For most part of the tour he was accompanied by many artist so fans from across the country got so many experiences for the price of one. Jeriq, Fave and Wizard Chan were amongst some of the biggest stars that accompanied him with states like Kano, Port Harcourt and Abuja feeling the heat. In fact Kano produced one of my favorite moments from the tour, deep in the north and hundred if not thousands were rapping along to Jeriq and screaming Iyoo Cartel, music truly knows no boundaries or division and the tour kept steady proving it. And it did not stop there. The tour also made sure that up and coming artist from most of the cities were spotlighted as some took to the stage in their cities to open for Llona. One of my favorites was when the young rapper Cyza performed his hit song in Abuja lap of the tour.
You could call it Llona’s way of giving back, platforming upcoming artists and giving some of them a stage for the very first time but all in all it was lovely.
And so the once Homeless artist looking for a place in this very large world, found home in every city he toured, in the heart and voice of everyone fan listening to his music and singing along with him. And they found a community with each other, and really is that not what why we perform, to belong?
I would not be surprised if Llona and his team recreate the Homeless Nation Wide Tour in the coming years, nor would I have any faults when he travels abroad to spread the gospel. No. instead I will remember the crowd in Kano going crazy with Iyoo Cartel, I will remember the beautiful scenes at Uyo and Ibadan painted to me by way of words and videos by fans like Nuel and Femi and when I inevitably get sent to somewhere like Jalingo to serve my fatherland, it might just be alright, cause even Boy Llona was here. I’d always remember, there’s Llona at home
