Tems and Runtown headlined Spotify's first ever Surround Sound live shows, which officially kicked off in Lagos.
Nigerian music stars Tems and Runtown returned to the Lagos stage on September 25 and 26, headlining the first edition of Spotify’s Surround Sound live performance series at Livespot.
The two-night event offered notably different performances, with Tems revisiting songs from across her catalogue on the opening night before Runtown took over the following evening for a career-spanning set that included some of his biggest records.
Their selection as the first artists to headline the new series was particularly notable given the relative rarity of both artists’ live appearances in Lagos in recent years.
For Runtown, the occasion carried additional significance as the singer revealed that the performance marked his first time performing with his band in a decade.
“This is the first time in 10 years I am performing with my band, and I am looking forward to seeing my fans,” Runtown said ahead of the show.
The singer opened his set with “Lagos to Kampala” and “Gallardo”, before moving through records including “For Life,” “International Badman Killa,” “Unleash” and “Kini Issue.”
Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest moments of the night came with his 2016 hit “Mad Over You.” Runtown performed the song during his set before returning to it for a second performance to close the show, with the audience singing along.
The appearance provided a rare opportunity to see the singer revisit different periods of his career onstage, particularly at a time when his public performances have become less frequent.
A night earlier, Tems had opened the Surround Sound series with a performance built around the different chapters of her career.
The Grammy-winning Nigerian singer revisited her 2020 debut EP For Broken Ears, performing fan favourites including “Ice T” and “Damages.” She also reached further back into her catalogue with “Mr Rebel” and “Try Me,” while more recent releases such as “Love Me JeJe” and “What You Need” were also included in the set.
Ahead of the show, she recalled creating “Free Mind,” one of the standout records from For Broken Ears, from her bedroom.
“I remember making Free Mind on my bed, on my laptop, experimenting with chords and seeing what stuck. The first two chords sounded so good, and it ignited melodies in me. Those melodies I made on my bed are what is in the song right now,” she said.
At different points during the performance, Tems allowed the audience to take over parts of the songs, turning the intimate setting into a sing-along between the singer and fans.
Her appearance also came six years after the release of For Broken Ears, the project that arrived shortly before she became the third artist selected for Spotify’s RADAR Africa programme in September 2020.
Having Tems and Runtown headline the inaugural edition of Surround Sound therefore gave the new series a distinctly Nigerian opening. Tems represented one of the defining voices of Nigeria’s more recent global music breakthrough, while Runtown revisited a catalogue that includes records that helped shape the Afrobeats era preceding it.
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