Described as a celebration of black music, culture and dance, Yam Carnival is returning after debuting last year – and the line-up has gone stellar with the announcement that Wizkid will perform his only outdoor show at the Clapham Common festival. Tickets went on sale 2 Feb, and they probably won’t hang around long if Starboy’s sold out gigs at the O2 last year are anything to go by!
Who else is going to set to appear at Yam Carnival – the UK’s first and only Afrobeats event? See the likes of Naira Marley, Flavour, Fally Ipupa, CKay and ShaSimone take the main stage. Meanwhile, DJ Maphorisa, Kabza De Small, Major League DJz, Focalistic, Vigro Deep, Kamo Mphela, DBN Gogo and Young Stunna will grace the new Piano People Stage.
Bigger and better than before
If you attended last year’s Yam, you might have reservations about returning after the inaugural event was beset with problems. This included sound issues that led to Kehlani cutting her down her set, and long queues for entry and food. But this year’s Yam, with a year of learning behind it and Covid restrictions all but gone, intends to be the memorable celebration of black culture it promised.
Organisers are pulling out all the stops for 2022. An announcement on their website reads: “Yam Carnival 2021 was the first event of its kind to take place in the UK and it really saddened us to know that some technical and logistical issues on the day affected the overall festival experience for some of our guests. It was an incredibly challenging time to put on large-scale live events as everyone can appreciate, but we did it and we are very proud of that. Now we’re raising the bar and will deliver an even bigger & better show!”
Yam has listened to festival-goers from last year. They’ve hired the sound company behind some of the biggest shows, including the Reading and Leeds Festival, and added two extra food villages, selling some of the most mouth-watering meals to cater for everyone accordingly.
What’s clear is that with WizKid and a host of other stars on board, Yam’s ambitions to make it a must-attend event on the summer festival scene are well and truly under way.
All tickets will be available here: https://yamcarnival.com/
