REVIEW: Masego: Made for the stage

The love for music brings so many people together, and the love of jazz mixed in with R&B and soul brings smiles to people’s faces. Masego performed the second show of his “You Never Visit Me” tour for a full crowd in Santa Ana on March 13 at The Observatory. 

The show started at 8 p.m. with opener Ogi. She spelled out her name for the crowd after singing her first song “ENVY” from her EP titled “Monologues.” She interacted with the crowd by telling stories of how she came to write her songs. Ogi mentioned the story of her friend being in a toxic relationship, explaining how she always tells her to leave him but her friend never listens to her. She tells the crowd that her friend got engaged with her partner which had everyone gasping, Ogi then said that they called off the engagement and this is how the song “Let Me Go” came to be to get a message across. 

“We are about to be getting a little vulgar – we’re going to say some bad words” she said, hyping the crowd, having the audience repeat the three words that are the chorus to her song “Bitter.” As Ogi has only four songs on her EP, she finally reached her very last song “IKYK.” She begins to cry as her performance is coming to end. Ogi then announces “Masego is in the building” which brought cheers and applause.

The introduction of one of Masego’s most popular songs “Navajo” came on, which rapper Drake sampled half of the song in a single for his album “Certified Lover Boy.” A minute later, Masego came on stage wearing a colorful suit and holding his saxophone. He played song after song with small breaks in between. With each song he performed, he interacted with the audience. While he performed his song “Mystery Lady,” he grabbed a bouquet of red roses and threw all the roses to the crowd aiming in all directions making sure to get roses to those in the back. 

The crowd was vibing with one another. Everyone was in tune listening to his voice. A crew member surprised Masego by bringing out an apron for him to wear during one of his songs. When Masego played his saxophone the crowd yelled, wanting more and more. In between his songs when only his band was playing, he did the moonwalk across the stage as everyone was grooving with the music, the more he danced the more encouraging the audience were. “It’s about to get nasty” Masego said as he removed his jacket, leaving him shirtless leading to whistles and applause from the crowd. 

Masego performed his song “Yamz” as he continued to sing the song he brought actual yams to the stage, singing the song to the yam. He eventually throws the yams towards the crowd, and everyone tries to catch one. A nearby concert goer caught a yam, showing it around to the audience. The whole crowd was supportive of him laughing and cheering him on. Masego also threw money during his song “Say You Want Me.”

Masego used his hands, and moved his head along while he sang, showing that he was into every beat that his band was hitting. In the slower parts of his songs, he would sing a high tune or a hum at the end of his chorus. It was like an unwritten rule that for every one of his songs that had a chorus, the crowd would sing with it even if Masego didn’t. For all the concert goers, there was enough space for everyone to move around and dance, and there were many people closing their eyes, swaying side to side with a smile on their faces enjoying the moment. 

Masego performed his last song and left the stage, however the crowd was still stationed not believing that this was the end. Masego came back minutes later, with a t-shirt and crown to perform his hit song “Tadow”. This being the song where every person in the room sang along to. When the song came to an end, he thanked the crowd for coming. He walked off stage singing two different choruses in which the audience sang back in repeat “thank you” Masego said ending the night. 

Masego’s next local performance of his “You Never Visit Me” tour is at The Wiltern, in Los Angeles. He will be performing April 27 and 28, doors open at 7 p.m. and show begins at 8 p.m.