Event Review: Joe Mettle’s Wind of Revival concert

Ghana’s greatest Gospel music export, Joe Mettle, has successfully pulled off the 2019 edition of his annual Praiz Reloaded concert under the theme, Wind of Revival, on 30^th June inside the Perez Dome.

The night was adorned with a plethora of diverse genres that constitute gospel music from the perspective of both local and global stakeholders, as the ministration of each featured artiste came with a unique sound and vibe.

The performances for the night commenced with an opening act by one of the young upcoming male ministers and then quickly switched over to a rather surprising delivery by the ‘Be Lifted’ hitmaker, MoG who simply set the tone for a spirit-filled time in His Presence.

The first and only artiste signed under Joe Mettle’s Reverb Studios record label, Luigi Maclean, then took over with the creation of a soothing worshipful atmosphere through a fine selection of spontaneous contemporary worship songs and local Twi songs as well.

Revered pacesetter of the urban gospel movement, Cwesi Oteng, turned the heat up to the next level with a remix to his all-time hit single, God Dey Bless, while finishing it off with a couple of other songs from his first album, Mercy Project, right through to his recently out doored album, Anthems.

Talk of the gospel music divas in Ghana at the moment and Ceccy Twum would be somewhere within the top 3 on the list and she proved her relevance in the industry and ministry by taking us down to our roots with some indigenous local worship selections that stirred up the already charged atmosphere to another realm.

 As if that wasn’t enough, she switched it up to some danceable tunes giving patrons a holistic feel of her artistry.

And then the moment we all had been waiting for, arrived with a choral reverberation of Joe Mettle’s hit single, Onwanwani. The man of the moment, Joe Mettle, mounted stage clothed in a classy black sparkling apparel and wasted no time in leading thousands to the throne room with a continuation from where Ceccy Twum left off.

He ministered some of our very own ancient anointed local worship songs that had a blend of Twi, Ga and Ewe songs. The Wind of Revival had already begun.

The response from the audience was rather overwhelming as it seemed that these ones had come for an encounter with divinity rather than an entertaining night out.

It would be interesting to note that most patrons were prevented from taking videos or pictures with their smartphones especially when Joe mounted stage with reasons given that it was a live recording and the organizers wouldn’t want any videos of the new songs being recorded to go out there as it impedes sales and dwindles expectations and anticipation of the yet to be released ‘Wind Of Revival’ album.

However, a discerning individual could judge from this motive that the actual reason behind this injunction was to get as much people as possible worshipping and having their eyes fully fixed on the author and finisher of their faith, Jesus Christ rather than on their smartphones.

Apparently, that move worked so well as the entire dome got so fully immersed in the music and the worship, giving no way to distractions that are recently inevitable at gatherings where people are expected to be in a meeting not with their bosses but the actual creator of all things.

By the time the internationally recognized artiste, producer, songwriter and worship leader from the USA, Jonathan Nelson was introduced, the entire room filled up with a warm reception to one of America’s chart-topping Gospel hitmakers who did two new songs with Joe Mettle and surprisingly sang in our local Ga dialect.

The stage was evacuated for Jonathan and his team to have a full time of ministering to the audience and they did justice to the opportunity given.

Typical of Ghanaians who wouldn’t be on time to an event but leave right after the highlight of the event is done, several patrons exited the venue as Jonatan Nelson exited the stage.

But the night was far from ending with KODA up next. He came and thrilled the audience as always with his lead guitar playing skills, signature live horns and groovy highlife tunes that sent the audience into a dance off.

Joe returned with the entire team for a second package of heated praise songs that triggered a surge of adrenaline into the bodies of the remaining patrons when he sang several remakes of his old praise songs.

Before that, he encouraged the audience to sow into his vision of assisting several needy Ghanaians in more deprived areas of the country. He did this via a short video documenting his Joe Mettle Foundation initiatives so far.

The security detail for this year was beefed up as a car owner would be held up in traffic for about a mile to the venue because each car had to undergo a screening with an under-vehicle inspection mirror and each individual screened with a handheld metal detector anytime one enters the dome.

The event also commenced about half an hour late and the sequence and assimilation of the program line up was partly digitized to enable a free flow with very much reduced intermittent emcee delays which all helped to make it at least one of the best events organized this year so far… if not the best with regards to time consciousness and value for money.

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