I'm Mad At Y'all- Shenseea After Police Teargas Her Kenya Concert, Organisers React

Jamaican dancehall music sensation Chinsea Linda Lee, better known as Shenseea, expressed her disappointment on Wednesday morning, January 1, at how her long-awaited performance at the Raha Festival (Raha Fest) turned out. This was after chaos coupled with police intervening by lobbing teargas cut it short.

The concert took place at Uhuru Gardens and was part of the grand celebrations all over Nairobi to usher in the New Year 2025. However, what should have been a smooth sailing event turned chaotic, with unruly crowd behaviour disrupting the show.

The highly anticipated event was marred by unruly scenes that overshadowed performances by international and local stars.

In one video circulating on social media, Shenseea was seen performing briefly before a security guard rushed her off stage reportedly after just nine minutes. This was after police lobbed tear gas near the arena, creating panic among attendees.

The time fans overpowered security at Raha Fest and caused a stampede.

Police were forced to use teargas after this incident to control the crowd that was still outside Uhuru Gardens #Shenseea #Rahafest #Alikiba @dennothefamous pic.twitter.com/vq960gMx7x — FAMOUS MEDIA (@thefamoustvke) December 31, 2024

The artiste had reportedly only performed two songs before the situation became untenable, leaving fans upset and disappointed. 

Another video captured chaotic scenes of a stampede as revellers without tickets forced their way into the venue. The situation quickly escalated, prompting police to use tear gas in an attempt to restore order, but this only served to worsen the already chaotic atmosphere.

The Hit and Run hitmaker took to X to make her feelings crystal clear. “Now Kenya. Not gonna lie, I’m a bit mad y’all.” Her remarks resonated with that of many fans who had looked forward to her full performance.

Tanzanian superstar Alikiba, who also performed at the event, addressed the incident with humour on his X account, saying, “Experienced tear gas for the first time in my life, but the show must go on. #RAHAFEST Hapa ni amani tu.”

Despite the star-studded lineup, the disorder overshadowed the event, leaving fans and performers alike disappointed by the turn of events. CNN International's Victoria Rubadiri, whose X post immediately drew our attention in the early hours of Wednesday morning, wrote "Tear gas certainly wasn’t one of the scents of choice as I kicked off 2025.

"Sure hope this isn’t a sign of what’s to come. What started as normal coverage of the New Year festivities, quickly turned into some pretty chaotic scenes," she remarked.

What followed was a flurry of enraged reactions on social media, many Kenyans online disappointed at a scenario that has occurred not once but on multiple occasions; Kenyan concerts being infiltrated by non-ticket holders after some hours, seemingly inspired by the 'Occupy Parliament' protests that occurred on June 25, 2024.

Organisers React

Meanwhile, Raha Fest issued a stern statement, lamenting a growing trend of some Kenyans "exhibiting unhealthy and deeply worrying entitlement towards events. They believe they should not buy tickets to events and are entitled and deliberately willing to "occupy" events."

"This trend is disappointing, regretful, and retrogressive. This behaviour poses an immense danger for all, especially people who have spent their hard-earned money to pay for these events. This entitlement poses immense danger to the artists, who must perform in a safe and secure environment, potentially seeing Kenya as an unsafe environment for them. This entitlement poses immense danger to organizers, security personnel, vendors, sponsors, and investors, to name a few," the statement read in part.

"Unfortunately, such behaviour if met by force, by the security personnel, will quickly earn the sympathies of the majority. This dilemma of how to deal with such unruly behaviour creates further risks for all and was fully the crux of the matter on December 31st, 2024 (into the 1st of January 2025)."

Raha Fest nonetheless thanked its security personnel for not disappointing them and hailed the success of its security plan and support, pointing an accusing finger at the "unruly (occupying) Kenyans" for failing them.

"The growing entitlement of a section of Kenya failed us, and there are no winners - we are all worse off for it. We call for soul-searching at this point, what more can event organizers do in Kenya? What more could we have done in the dilemma?" they posed.

"What security lapses on our part were present, with unpaying individuals attacking the gates, forcing down barriers, attacking our staff, destroying property, and violating our security protocols at every opportunity."

Shenseea performing at the Raha Fest concert on December 31, 2024. /CAPITAL FM.THE SAUCE