It wasn’t the talk of the town in a noisy way as perhaps a visit of say Naira Marley, Davido or Wizkid would have drawn, given the vast popularity and music style as well as the razzmatazz of these contemporary Nigerian artistes. But Nigeria’s number one folk and alternative rock crooner, Johnny Drille’s one day tour of Benin City on December 15 was highly anticipated by those of a finer romantic music taste.

Thousands of fans turned up at the Image Garden event centre in the GRA of Benin City to watch live Johnny Drille bring a soft oft-soothing, invigorating voice in the enervating harmattan Benin evening.

The crowd came to witness the experience of one of their own, Johnny Drille, an Edo boy born and raised in Benin City, sing live, not the fraud of lip-syncing sometimes seen of popular artistes, but a performance of his famous songs sung directly to their hearing.

Drille did not disappoint.

Aptly tagged ‘Homecoming’, the Benin City tour was the final leg of the artiste’s Johnny’s Room Live tours which saw him perform in Abuja on December 8.

He belted all his released tracks to the appreciative ears of the audience with lovers clinging to each other like it was valentine night and the sing-along were a loud tribute to the high esteem that Drille is held.

Dressed in dark green sweat shirts and slim-fitted dark Jeans trouser, Drille was classy as usual, connecting with his audience in his smooth British English accent, dancing and delivering sans-vulgarity.

There is a suspiciously growing number of Nigerians in love with the soul, RnB and rock culture of white singers from the United States and Britain like Mumford and Sons, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi etc and Drille is the Nigerian version of these music greats.

When he belted his remake of Jon Bellion’s “All Time Low”, the Benin fans went wild, singing the words with exhilaration. “Romeo and Juliet” got the fans even wilder while super hit “Wait for me” sent the audience crazy.

Johnny Drille got himself encircled by the crowd while performing the much anticipated “Wait for Me”. He sang the song with a phone in his hands in all self-admiration as the fans clung on.

One fan of Drille’s, who incidentally grew up in the same Umelu neighbourhood in Benin city as the artiste, Omeke Chukwuemeka, said it was an unforgettable experience watching Johnny Drille perform live. “The show was great. I really enjoyed Johnny Drille tonight. He hits you like no other,” he said.

Omeke is a huge fan of Johnny Drille and belongs to a group of hardcore Johnny Drille fans self-styled 'The Drillers”. He usually posts snippet videos of the artiste performing and was with his beautiful sweetheart Odion Ehinomen to watch Drille dish out his songs.

Asked which track he enjoyed most, he said: “Without a doubt for me, it was “Wait for me”. Though the audience reaction to “Romeo and Juliet” was very loud, Johnny put everything into his performance of “Wait for me” and it was just awesome.”

Benin fans of Johnny Drille wished the show didn’t end, but they were happy nonetheless to have been put in an all-time high even if it was for one night.

•PHOTO: Johnny Drille on stage at the Image Garden, Benin City. “Drillers” Omeke Chukwuemeka and his sweetheart Odion Ehinomen (right) were among thousands in attendance and who were in awe of Drille’s performance.

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