Crowd support hits high note with Big Ben

Hundreds of music fans gathered in Windhoek on Saturday for the annual ‘Big Ben Live Concert’, which knit together nostalgia with contemporary sounds and drew a diverse audience.

The show saw Big Ben revisit some of his best-known songs, including ‘Moro Moro’ and ‘Okinikini’, while introducing newer material such as ‘Okaira’.

Backed by his long-time band, the set list stretched across more than 30 songs from the gifted singer’s discography.

The band, featuring Kali Kasinda (on keyboard), Pierre Ntsika (on bass), Sam Batoli (on guitar) and Pio Paulus (on drums), brought a polished and cohesive sound developed over years of collaboration.

Supporting act The Ells opened the evening with a high-energy performance, incorporating renditions of songs by regional icons such as Brenda Fassie, Oliver Mtukudzi and Ringo Madlingozi, alongside contemporary amapiano selections. Their set drew strong crowd engagement, particularly among younger attendees.

While the mix of regional and international music broadened appeal, it also highlighted ongoing debates about the promotion of local content within Namibia’s music industry.

The concert also included tributes to former president Hage Geingob and musician Ras Sheehama.

Big Ben describes his concert as a turning point, citing strong attendance, improved planning and positive crowd behaviour as key indicators of growth.

“We were impressed by the turnout, because we didn’t expect it,” he says.

“We’ve done this before, but Saturday proved that we’ve grown. We’ve grown just a little more.”

While acknowledging the milestone, Big Ben says his ambitions remain bigger.

“We think we should be able to one day have at least 10 000 people in a venue, but that will take a lot of hard work and smart planning and so on, which is exactly what we tried this time,” he says.

The artist attributes the event’s success to collaboration and preparation.

“We worked with some of the greatest people in Namibian events, companies like Event Solutions, and we also had the best we could pick from other supporting acts like The Ells, DJ Ambizi, and DJ Kiki. I think that’s why it was successful,” he says.

The artist also challenged perceptions about local audience support.

“Although we always complain that Namibians do not support local music, yesterday proved to me that we must appreciate the support we have, because it’s massive already,” he says.

On safety during the concert, he highlights attendees’ behaviour.

“We had a crowd that was so easy to manage that the bouncers didn’t have any major issues,” he says.

“We didn’t have any theft of phones, you know, muggings and things like that. That impressed me a lot,” he says.

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