BRAWL AT USHER CONCERT IN MY COUNTRY NIGERIA!

Photo via ThisDay Online, Nigeria

R&B star USHER's concert in Nigeria in the early hours of Saturday morning (12Jul08) was marred by violence when a fight broke out in the crowd. The Love In This Club hitmaker was performing at the This Day Music and Fashion Festival 2008 in the country's capital of Abuja at around 1am when the drunken brawl took place in front of the stage. Security guards attempted to break up the scuffle as members of the crowd were shoved towards the platform and one man was removed from the venue, The Dome. It is currently unclear whether the unnamed male was arrested, as one source claimed, or was simply forbidden from re-entering the concert. Nobody was seriously injured. The gig also saw performances from rap superstar Jay-Z and pop star Rihanna.

Rihanna showed Abuja residents what has kept her on top of the charts by reeling out hits after hits from her various albums. ‘Turn me On Boy’, ‘Shut Up and Drive’, two of her most popular hits had the crowd yelling for more. Her rendition of Bob Marley’s classic, ‘Is This Love’, got the audience singing along with her enthusiastically and drowning out her performance. But the ecstatic response was like a drug for Rihanna who gave them the thrill of their lifetime. Just when it seemed like she was retreating, Jay-Z joined her and spurred the crowd into leaving their seats. The duo fed the crowd with Rihanna’s biggest hit to date and obviously a crowd favourite, ‘Umbrella’, which stayed atop the US music charts for several weeks after its release last year. Tonight (Sunday 13th) is Chris Brown, Sade, Mary J Blige and more...

Jay-Z, who was performing for the second time at the THISDAY Music and Fashion Festival, stayed on and proved why he has remained a favourite of music lovers in Nigeria over the years. More from Thisday

Regarding the brawl, I already know what happened. It's nothing more than the usual "I paid $300 for these tickets and you are standing on your chair and I can't SEE!" That happened during Beyonce's performance in 2006 while I was there. People get up and wanna dance then climb their seats! Usher should be used to seeing that foolishness. That's why there's security!