A Gospel takeover: How Maverick City, Kirk Franklin's Nairobi concert went down

Maverick City Music, the renowned American contemporary worship collective, officially touched down in Nairobi early Saturday morning, marking the Kenyan leg of their African Kingdom World Tour.

Coming second after a night of vigil in neighbouring Uganda, the Kenyan tour was not short of Christian magic for the more than 3,000 attendees and worshippers at Nairobi’s Uhuru Gardens.

The group accompanied by Gospel icon, rapper and producer Kirk Franklin and Nigeria’s worship sensation Tim Godfrey took the crowd by storm with the event aftermath leaving the excited crowd yearning for more.

With the gates open from 2pm, celebrated Kenyan Gospel singers Kambua, Bethuel Lasoi and Timothy Kaberia set the anticipation and mood for the concert with their electrifying performances that brought a flurry of excitement to their fans.

The soft-spoken Kaberia who had so much in store for the day, created an emotional atmosphere with a life-changing testimony that moved the audience as crowds sang and danced to musical ariose.

After hours of waiting, the Maverick team made its way at around 7:35pm in the night where the atmosphere took a new turn and everyone was on their feet before they even appeared on the stage.

The restive crowds resulted in nursery rhymes including ‘Baby Jesus’, minutes before the group made its way to the glossy glowing stage at around 8.00 pm.

Fresh from their Uganda show, the vibrant welcome set the tone for what would be an unforgettable evening.

Though most of the crowd looked forward to the group setting the pace with their most popular hits such as ‘Jireh’ and ‘Promises’, Maverick opted for the most recent tunes such as ‘In the Room’ which were performed by lead male and female singers Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine.

From flawless sound quality, to consummate singers, the night was filled with high-energy music, deep moments of worship, and a shared sense of spiritual connection.

Popular ‘Nara’ song hitmaker Godfrey and the 20-time Gospel Grammy winner Kirk Franklin overwhelmed and dazzled the audience with their unending energy and dance moves.

At about 10 pm, the event’s curtains came down with seemingly satisfied crowds applauding the group for the worthwhile performances and jamboree.

The two-hour performance culminated in the audience, in their typical Kenyan way, chanting ‘We want more,’ which forced Kirk Franklin to continue displaying his piano skills one time before the group left hurriedly to catch their flight to Ghana where they were also expected to continue their African tour.

Royal Media Services (RMS), the official media partner for the event, had widely publicized the concert across its platforms, including Gospel Sunday on Citizen TV, HOT96, and Citizen Digital, building up the anticipation.

“We never give God enough time so I felt like this was the perfect time to come and experience Franklin and worship God,” said a concert attendee Miss Katiwa.

Speaking after the concert, RMS Marketing and Digital Transformation Director Carol Wachira said;” We are honoured we thank Kenyans for turning out in large numbers, we thank them for selling out the tickets and for enjoying the event.”

“This stop in Kenya is part of Maverick City's African tour, which has already seen them perform in Johannesburg in South Africa, Harare in Zimbabwe, and Kampala Uganda.”