Beyoncé and Jay-Z dazzle fans at Jo’burg’s Global Citizen Festival

American musician couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z put up a splendid performance to the excitement of thousands of fans at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg last Sunday.

The duo was performing at the concert organised to raise funds for the Global Citizen cause and to climax celebrations in honour of the 100th birthday of former South African President, Nelson Mandela.

For well over two hours, the globally recognised pop superstar, Beyoncé and her mega millionaire hip-hop superstar husband, Jay-Z performed one hit song after another while the over 90,000 fans who had thronged the stadium sung, danced and screamed along.

The well planned and excellently produced performance by Mr. and Mrs. Carter was the highlight of a long day of great performances, fund raising and speeches towards a good cause.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z did not only put up a stupendously good show for the audience, but made it very well to tell the story of their love life. From their appearances on stage, which was preceded by the boldly written EVERYTHING IS LOVE, till the end of the performance when THIS IS REAL LOVE was emblazoned on the gigantic screen, the two put their best performance to tell the story of love.

Beyoncé sang and danced with a bevy of ladies at different parts of their show, while Jay-Z put up 5-star rap performances on almost all of his top songs, some songs were respectively performed solo while others were performed jointly by the couple. The audience went gaga all through the show.

There were big collaborative performances during their set as well. For example, Beyoncé performed the hit duet “Perfect Tonight” with Ed Sheeran. She revealed it was the first time they were performing that song live anywhere. On his part Jay-Z brought on Pharrel Williams to hit the fans with some of their popular joint pieces.

The concert which was hosted by South African comedian and host of the Daily Show in America, Trevor Noah lasted 12 hours and featured some of the biggest names in African and world music.

Nigeria’s Wizkid, D’banj, Femi Kuti and Tiwa Savage did their best on the stage for the rest of Africa. D’banj especially got the crowd worked up with his animated performance of some of his popular songs. South African rapper Casper Nyovest put up a great show for his home fans and so did his compatriot, Sho Madjozi aka Captain of Limpopo.

America’s Usher Raymond, Pharrel William and Ed Sheeran put up spirited performances that got the crowd singing and dancing along every single step of the way. So did the other great performers such as Chris Martin, Soweto Gospel Choir, Kacey Musgraves, Sir Bob Geldof, Stormzy and Eddie Vedder.

The Motsepe Foundation, established by South African businessman and millionaire Mr. Patrice Motsepe and his wife Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe, organised the Johannesburg edition to coincide with the centenary celebration of Nelson Mandela as his principles align with the objectives of the Global Citizen movement.

The Motsepe Foundation, established by South African businessman and millionaire Dr. Precious Motsepe, organised the Johannesburg edition to coincide with the centenary celebration of Nelson Mandela as his principles align with the objectives of the Global Citizen movement.

The concert was held to raise awareness about poverty and women empowerment and also to raise funds to support initiatives designed to end same. Similar events had taken place in other parts of the world including New York and Canada.

The festival brought together some of the greatest world leaders and celebrities to Johannesburg to be part of the action and to celebrate Nelson Mandela and his ideals with supporting the cause. Among those present were the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, Oprah Winfrey, Naomi Campbell, Bob Geldof and Gayle King.

There were pledges of millions of dollars from countries, multinational organisations and individuals during the course of the festival. For instance, Canada’s president took Trevor Noah’s challenge on Twitter to pledge $40million, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $17million, the Motsepe family pledge $100million, the Motsepe Foundation pledge $250million among other mega million donations.

At the end, several 100 dollars was raised at the Johannesburg edition of the Global Citizen Festival.

By Francis Doku|3news.com|Johannesburg