At Lagos’ Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts (FKA The National Theatre) on October 16 and 17 2026, Nigerian-British rapper Dave, AKA Santan Dave entered the main bowl stacked with instruments placed around the stage. The stage had a burnt-orange coliseum backdrop, looked warm, yet melancholic and heavier than the guarded, illuminating divine light of the cover of his 2025’s The Boy Who Played the Harp album — the reason he was on this world tour and why we gathered on our weekend nights to see him live.
Rising rapper and producer Zaylevelten/Tenskii, the only supporting act of both nights, opened the first night to an eager audience while more attendees trooped in, finding their seats and catching up with familiar faces in the 3,500-seater hall. It got lit almost as quickly as Tenskii hit the stage to perform some of his fans favourites like “Tease Me”, “Muzz”, “Guide Pass” and “1sa l0t” that received word-for-word reactions. He warmed up the crowd that transitioned from a mosh-pit attitude to a calm and more engaging one for Dave. These Lagos dates were smaller events and felt more intimate compared to most of the previous venues Dave has performed on this tour since it kicked off in February 2026.
In a limited-release Stone Island plated reflective camo hooded jacket and matching pants custom-made for his 2026 tour, Dave came out opening his set with his first verse of the James Blake-assisted “History” song. The ambience quickly became tense, the armchair attendees got rose to watch the lyricist bolt out emotive lyrics of ambition, legacy and the living of his South London roots.
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“Lagooossss”, he shouted proudly, after the first song, amplifying the room’s energy. He introduces himself: “My name is Santan Dave. I come from Streatham Vale, Southwest London, but today, we’re in Lagos Nigeria.” It was his first time performing here. In fact, it was the first time a musician came to Nigeria to perform as part of their scheduled world tour.
After a little chat with the audience, he got back to the music—Dave is a man of little words. Whatever’s on his chest is preferably saved for the music. He recorded The Boy Who Played the Harp project to deal with the paradox of the fame and success that comes with his job. The album is an internal dialogue built around faith, responsibility, relationships, his persona and evolution over the course of his career.
The 27-year-old’s music has usually explored inner conflicts and global social issues, but a notable part of The Boy Who Played the Harp is also a self-celebration, both as a person and an artist. “No Weapons” opens with: “Go check man’s CV, hand ting in a LV, speedy.” He came alive and one could hear the excitement in his voice, but something heavy, perhaps unresolved, still hovered around. The mood became more mellow after performing groovy hits like “System”, street-heavy jams like “Clash” and “Verdansk” from previous projects, features like “Intoxicated” which brought out Oxlade on the Day 2 show and “Lazarus” which brought out BOJ on both days.
Almost an hour into his set, Dave headed to sit at the piano that was set for him and performed “Both Sides Of A Smile.” He gently paced around, like in spirit. His eyes stayed tightly shut under those lights. He started his rap verse with “You keep bread all to yourself and you get a mold from it”, using his upbringing and past life to show several instances of karmic actions, that one gets what they give. By the time the song ended, his shoulders sagged and his chest heaved. For some second, he seemed completely unmoored from the hall, caught in some personal beautiful agony. He looked like the music was tearing its way out of him, though visibly full of energy to rock the crowd.
The next track was “Skrewface Capital.” At this junction, it’s apparent he was going in and out of moods, particularly juggling heaviness and light moments. From “Location” to “Thiago Silva” and “Professor X” to “Funky Friday” where he rapped, “My young boy in a different country / Be he ain’t ever been on a vacation.” These lines comment on how they (the road men and hustlers) work hard, even doing crime, yet never make enough to take a break or afford a holiday.
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It’s also a Nigerian reality where the minimum wage barely covers the cost of cooking a proper pot soup for a family twice in a month. Dave put the music on hold to talk to the crowd for a few moments. He acknowledged the hardship in Nigeria, and said it can be sensed immediately upon landing at the airport. He mentioned Western power as one of factors for Africa’s regressions. He recognised the bad Nigerian economic state and how it must have been tough for many to afford his tour tickets, but they did out of love for his music. He appreciated the love, reintroduced himself and listed his albums and TV show Top Boy where anyone has likely heard or seen him before.
He resumed the music and did more fan favourites like “Twenty To One”, “Samantha”, “Selfish” where fans screamed back lines like, “What if I’m selfish? / What if the reason they call me the greatest is also the reason that me and you living on different pages?” right back at him.
On Day 2 of the tour, it felt like déjà vu for a short while. The set list, the speeches and the order of the show were the same iteration of the first day. But what that feeling exemplified was practice. The repeated exercise I wtinessed on second day was just him maintaining proficiency. Day 2 had few distinctions like a fuller hall, Dave played a guitar while he performed “Selfish.” Oxlade turned up. Burna Boy joined him on stage to perform their song, “Location” together, and Zaylevelten only came out to perform in the middle of the show.
The attendees sat across sections of the main bowl theatre according to their ticket tiers. The cheapest ticket is restricted to the ground floor. The centre section for the mid-tier and the box section was for the most expensive purchaser. The lights ran across the room often, giving glimpses of the hyped audience. There were no signs of fatigue or the urgency to head home. On day one, I almost believed that everyone who attended didn’t have work to do the following day. Little surprise that more people turned up on the second and final day because it was a getaway to Saturday, the weekend—but the turnout was still impressive.
The crowd had their phones out, recording Dave as he stepped closer to the people and gave thanks to them again for coming out to see him live. “This is an honour of a lifetime, Lagos,” he exclaimed. Then he said it called for a celebration and performed “Raindance.” It was just like he closed his set on the first night of the tour. Many hoped that Tems would surprisingly show up when it got to her part of the song. She wasn’t around, but the audience carried her part so well, she wasn’t really missed.
Whatever emotions contained in the lyrics of The Boy Who Played the Harp—or his previous releases such as We Are All Alone In This Together and Psychodrama—permeated the room when he spoke. But an interesting or colourful contradiction is that the audience’s response to his performances were celebratory. He was expressing himself on stage, the fans engaged and sang back to him with the excitement of experiencing their favourite international artist live—his kind of presence was a rarity.
It’s been three years since the announcement of the construction of “Africa’s first purpose-built entertainment arena” in Lagos. The 12,000-capacity arena was formerly expected to be completed by December 2025, but now shifted to Q2 2028. It was projected to be the usher of international music shows and stars coming to touch base with fans in this part of the world. Clearly, we don’t have to wait any longer for this arena that doesn’t seem to come anytime soon. The Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts (FKA The National Theatre) will serve us until then, more assuredly. Adekunle Gold had his end-of-the-year concert there last year—even going back to the same venue for his December 2026 show. The benefit is these shows and tours, including Dave’s, boosts the chances of bringing more performing and touring artists closer to their fans.
Even after Dave quit the stage, the happy mood stayed in the theatre and spread outside with the crowd. If there’s a takeaway from this 2-day experience at his Lagos tour, Santan Dave is loved at home. He should come around often.
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