Bole Festival marked its tenth edition this year with a bigger program and three days of music, food, and entertainment. Held at Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt under the theme “Power of X,” the anniversary edition brought together artists including Timaya, Duncan Mighty, Johnny Drille, Peruzzi, Guchi, Mavo, and Dandizzy.
But for some attendees, the scale of the anniversary did not translate into a smoother experience. Complaints about crowd control, entry screening, network connectivity, vendor prices, toilets, and late performance times came up repeatedly across the three-day festival.
The festival was originally scheduled for August 28 to 30 but was moved to September 4 to 6 after the Nigerian Bar Association booked the stadium for its conference. Organizers also extended the festival from its usual two days to three for the tenth anniversary.
The event has grown significantly since its first edition in 2016, when about 300 people attended. It drew more than 35,000 people in 2024 and over 40,000 in 2025, according to figures cited for the festival.
That growth was visible at the stadium, but so were the logistical challenges that come with accommodating a large crowd.
Ade, who attended all three days, said crowd management was one of his biggest concerns.
“For one, they should ensure better crowd control, better admittance, and better screening to enter the venue,” he said.
He described the ticket authentication process as confusing and said people were able to enter without what he considered adequate checks. He also said the crowd became difficult to navigate.
“Anybody is just entering, people are just pushing, girls were lucky, also being harassed because of the way people were pushing,” he said.
Ade eventually left the main crowd and sat on the bleachers because he felt he could not enjoy the performances.
“I couldn’t enjoy any of the performances; I was like, What’s the point?” he said.
He also reported seeing people moving through the crowd with laughing gas and spraying it at people without their consent.
“What these boys were doing is that they were moving around, spraying that gas in people’s faces, without the people knowing,” he said.
By the end of the festival, Ade said he did not plan to return.
Ejay attended with friends and summed up the festival in one word: “Chop.”
The food was one of the stronger parts of the experience, but the rest of the festival did not leave the same impression.
“The second day was awful; I think the last day was horrible,” Ejay said.
Her advice to the organizers was straightforward: the food was there, but other parts of the experience needed improvement.
Joshua also found the festival exhausting. Asked whether the tenth anniversary felt different from previous editions, his response was blunt.
“That wasn’t very evident; it just felt like another year,” he said.
His main suggestion was affordability.
“Definitely try to make things more affordable,” he said.
Ifeanyi described the festival as “cool,” but also said the tenth anniversary did not particularly stand out to him.
“Not really,” he said when asked if the event felt like a milestone edition.
His concern was access and organization. “Make better systems for vendors and people coming so they are not stranded,” he said.
Michael had a more positive experience, describing the festival as “good vibes,” although he acknowledged that he did not have enough context to compare it with previous editions.
His concerns were practical.
“Vendor regulation, in terms of price, and then provision of toilets. Regular because only VIP and VVIP had toilets,” he said.
For an event accommodating tens of thousands of people, facilities became an important part of the experience.
Stephanie started the festival positively but found the final day difficult.
“People everywhere, slow network, it wasn’t for me,” she said.
She also complained about the timing of performances and said she did not get to see some of the main artistes she had expected to see.
“Bring out their artists on time; I didn’t even get to see any main artist perform,” she said.
Ade raised a similar concern about the scheduling of major acts.
“This thing about posting major acts till 3 a.m. or 5 a.m. or 2 a.m. doesn’t really make any sense,” he said.
The network was another recurring complaint. Both Ade and Stephanie mentioned connectivity problems, with the crowded stadium making it difficult for attendees to use their phones reliably.
For a festival where attendees are also documenting and sharing their experiences in real time, poor connectivity became another point of frustration.
Pizzle Houdini, who has worked with Bole Festival for ten years as its stage manager, described the anniversary as “great, fulfilling.”
He said he was not surprised by anything during the event.
“I’ve been doing this for too long to be caught off guard,” he said.
But he also identified several problems.
“No crowd control yet again; the network was so bad, vendors were a lot. They should try to scrutinize and not have two to five vendors selling the same thing; the prices were expensive, bottled water and all,” he said.
His comments echo several of the concerns raised by attendees, particularly crowd management, vendor numbers, pricing, and network connectivity.
Still, not every part of the festival was a disappointment.
Ade said the best part of his experience was spending time with his friends, while a live band performance on the second day stood out to him.
“I’m seeing different POVs. I’m like, people really enjoy this thing, but I won’t say I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the fact that I was hanging out with my friends. I think the only part from the show I enjoyed was that live band on day two,” he said.
That contrast captures the tenth edition fairly well. The festival has the ingredients that attract people in the first place: food, music, friends, a recognizable identity, and a growing roster of performers. But several attendees said the systems supporting those attractions did not keep pace with the size of the event.
For a festival that has grown from about 300 people in 2016 to more than 40,000 attendees in 2025, the complaints are increasingly about logistics rather than the basic idea of Bole Festival.
The tenth anniversary delivered three days of programming and a major lineup. For some attendees, however, the “Power of X” edition still felt like another year of the same problems.