R. Kelly performs at Lugogo Cricket Oval

It was short. And that will probably be the main criticism people that attended the concert by R&B artiste R. Kelly at the Lugogo Cricket Grounds on Friday

night will have. Just over an hour after he took to the stage, the singer saluted, bowed and left. And thousands remained standing, hoping he would come back on stage.

But, in the words of a local musician who was there, “…it was short, and it was sweet, what did you expect?”

After months of one of the most intense and sustained advertising campaign we have seen, that the singer actually took to the stage was almost an anticlimax.

Probably remembering what happened at the concert by British reggae band UB40 two years ago, people started entering the venue by early afternoon, and by the time local artistes started curtain-raising at around 8:00pm, there was no room for standing, even in the VIP section, where the entrance ticket cost sh125,000.

R. Kelly is one of the most successful R&B singers in the world over a career that spans more than 20 years, and although he promised to sing each and every song he ever wrote, there was not enough time to do that.

But what he gave, the crowd appreciated very much and danced to such songs as I Believe I Can Fly, Happy People, and a host of others.

He sang, he talked to the crowd, and he gave quite a consummate performance. And while the feeling that it was too short a performance will remain; and the comparisons between his show and UB40 will be the subject of debate, at the end many will be the people who will just say: “I was there.”

Kalungi Kabuye