The first stop of the Campus Connect: 2face and Friends Tour on Thursday, May 9, was a very huge success as the university community in Benin turned out en masse to show love to 2baba and his team.

The star-studded team which included Sasha, EFA, Capital FEMI, Dencia, Dammy Krane, Rocksteady, Harrysong, Crystals, Sheyi Shay, Vector, Sound Sultan, Solidstar and, of course, 2face arrived Benin City on Wednesday evening in readiness for the show the next day.

At about 3:00 p.m., a crowd in excess of 8000 whose appetite were first whetted with the performances of some of their local talents, had the experience of a lifetime as the rocked with 2face and the stars.

EFA opened the show with his hit single, Open and Close before Rocksteady took the stage and impressed. Crystals followed before Dammy Krane showed his stuff. South South’s favourite rapper, Erigga, was next and then fast rising female star, Sheyi Sheyi thrilled with both songs and sexiness. Harrisong performed I’m in Love and a couple more of his songs.

Award-winning rapper, Vector, was next on stage with some cool stuff; Solidstar then drove the crowd wild with Skibo before Dencia got the crowd going with a performance that had the audience screaming for her to stay while rap queen, Sasha, went with her new song, Raingroove.

The contemporary veteran, Sound Sultan, brought along a retinue of his evergreen hits – starting from Jagbajantis to his latest hits, before 2face came.

2baba remains a master of the game and his love for the university community and theirs for him showed forth in a mutually enjoyable performance.

From the age long hits of the Plantashun Boiz to his early solos and still onto the latest ones, 2face was in his element in a performance that one couldn’t tell between him and the audience who enjoyed the most.

Some of the students who spoke to 2faceonline.com afterwards registered their gratitude that their school was among those selected for the tour.

Maxwell, a 300-level student of Accountancy said: “Our school is privileged to experience 2baba live and we would really love to have him back very soon. Though I don’t know how possible that is.”

Osas is a 200-level student of Sociology and he said: “I thoroughly enjoyed myself. This is the kind of show that one witnesses only once during his school life and I am happy to have seen it live. It was wonderful!”

2face had told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview last week that he was looking forward to inspiring students to develop their talents and he feels he achieved that in Uniben.

“It was a great moment connecting the way I did with the students and I hope they learnt something from me because I learnt from them and I felt their love. I love them too so it’s one love my people,” he enthused.

The Campus Connect: 2face and Friends Tour 2013 will make the next stop at the University of Port Harcourt on May 14 before going on to the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu on May 16 and the University of Abuja on May 23.

The University of Lagos show which was to have come on May 7 was postponed due to slight logistic issues but the organisers have promised Unilag that they will be visited once a new date is set.

The Campus Connect: 2face and Friends Tour 2013 is produced by NM En.Core and sponsored by Nigeria’s No.1 premium non-alcoholic brand, Low-Sugar Amstel Malta. Hypertek Music and Soundcity are partners. ENDS..