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Opinions of Friday, 19 August 2022

Columnist: Ebo Sarfo

Stonebwoy: Therapy summer 2022 festival tour highlight – impressive, contagious, and magnificent

Stonebwoy Stonebwoy

It's difficult to predict where Stonebwoy will be in the coming days, weeks, months, or years. As a musician with a keen interest in pushing his sound to the world and etching his name in the minds of new fans, 2022 has been described as his busiest music year thus far since gaining mainstream recognition in 2012 with Pull Up — seven years after he made his official debut—the musician confirmed this via social media after his last summer show.

Following up on his brief stretch of tour dates earlier this year, which saw the Ghanaian Star perform at notable festivals, including Afropunk Festival in the US; Scorpion Festival in Gambia; and City Splash Festival in the United Kingdom, the multiple award-winning reggae, dancehall, and afrobeat musician hit the road for his just-ended Therapy Summer 2022 Festival Tour.

The tour was scheduled in support of his latest single "Therapy", which comes off the back of an already illustrious career of four albums, countless hit tracks and movie roles, not to mention his philanthropic work as part of the "Livingston Foundation", educating young Africans and elevating the youth of Ghana.

The single is the first release from his newly signed record deal with Def Jam back in May, home to some of the biggest names in hip-hop, Afrobeats, and trap talent from the continent, and is the lead single from Stonebwoy’s brand new album due to drop in mid-2022.

On July 2nd, the 2015 BET Award winner kicked off his long-awaited "Therapy Festival" Europe and America tour with an incredible, sold-out show at Summerjam Festival, Cologne, Germany.

According to fans in attendance, his show was impressive — and the performance was everything they had hoped it would be and more. "Let me take you to Ghana!" he says, and his dance crew underlines this suggestion with beautifully choreographed movements. The organizers said that Africa is well represented at this festival indeed.



In Berlin on July 9th, he delivered a riveting performance at the maiden edition of Afrobeats Festival and kept the crowd on its feet. Stonebwoy performed some of his crossover singles, “Tomorrow”, “Everlasting”, “Shuga”, and more.

But perhaps, the highlight of his set was his surprising collaboration performance of "Activate" with BET award-winning Afrobeats artiste, Davido to close out the festival night.

The tour continued on July 29 when Stonebwoy headlined Sweden's Uppsala Reggae Festival for the second time since his festival debut in 2018. The Ghanaian reggae and dancehall artiste performed songs from his discography, eliciting a wide range of emotions from the energized audience.

1 GAD opened with "Tomorrow" and ramped up the energy with notable reggae songs before running through songs from various eras of his career before concluding with his most recent releases. Meanwhile, prior to the show, hundreds of African Music Festival-goers queued up to get autographs from the Ghanaian-based musician.

Minutes after his set, he returned to join renowned reggae artiste, The Gentleman, on stage to close out the first night of the two-day festival. On Saturday, July 30, he was brought back by Grammy-winning reggae band Morgan Heritage for a joint rendition of their song “Africa & Jamaica”.

The four-time Africa’s best reggae & dancehall artiste award winner took the tour back to Germany on Saturday (August 6) for an incredible set at the African Music Festival.

On an epic night, Universal Music Group/Def Jam signed artist invited the festival audience into his performance while exploring his evergreen catalogue, creating a high-energy atmosphere in Emmendingen.

His delivery was deemed compelling as he performed a medley of his hits before surprising festival goers with an engaging rendition of “Therapy” that had everyone singing and dancing. The crowd was elated at his intense delivery.



The tour ended on a high note, with him bringing a decisive energy to this year's No Logo Festival in France on August 12th and the Reggae Sundance Festival in the Netherlands on August 13th.

At Reggae Sundance, Stonebwoy created a memorable moment when he shared stage with legendary Alpha Blondy for a debut performance of their collaborative single dubbed “Love Power”. He is best known for his perfectly smooth musical ability as well as his unparalleled showmanship. He created the distinct atmosphere that has made the carnival famous and popular all over the world.

Therapy Summer 2022 Festival tour was beyond Stonebwoy headlining the most renowned festivals in Europe and North America during the summer, but the Ghanaian leveraged the opportunity to establish working relationship with some of the notable names in the music business ecosystem, and further collaborating with legendary crooners who have and are still trailblazing the turf.

Earlier, he was spotted with the creative director for Kanye West, Clarence "Coodie" Simmons. The Ghanaian musician and pioneer linked up with the acclaimed screenwriter, cinematographer, and producer in New York a few hours after Universal Music Group announced his addition to the Def Jam artist family.