We showed up on time, and for once in Lagos, it actually mattered. When you want to have a night out at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos, make sure you get there at exactly 7 and not a minute after.

They don’t  mess around at the Shrine. The full band launched straight into it to warm us up, there were no intros, no slow build. Imagine, petrol meets matches. It just started full bore. The dancers climbed into the cages on either side of the stage and started working the crowd hard. About thirty minutes in, Femi came out with a flourish. He smashed through a couple of big tunes, then paused to lay into the latecomers. “At the Shrine, we start on time! Stop your Lagos nonsense and get here on time!” No one dares to argue. I’ll admit, I felt a small flicker of pride that we’d actually managed to be on time.

I didn’t know what to expect on that first visit. I was a bit on edge about moving around Lagos at night, especially to a place I only knew from second‑hand mythology. But we ordered a Bolt, it dropped us right at the door, and the security was tight. We paid our ₦1,000 and walked in.

It’s a big space, much bigger than I’d pictured. Kind of like an aircraft hangar that has just kept developing as time went on. There’s a few little shops near the entrance selling Fela shirts. By the end of the night I was the proud owner of one. 

You pass a row of pool tables on the way in. All of them are in use. Then you wander into the seating area, where we were shown to a table that became our home base for the night. It started as a table for 2, then as the night went on, chairs were added and strangers became friends. The waiter who brought us to our table was our guy for the night, and from that point on, the beers just kept coming. I’m not sure how many we had, I’m better off not knowing, but the service never wavered.

Vendors moved through the crowd selling Suya (grilled meat), and boiled peanuts. At the back you can grab a whole fish or some brochettes off the grill. It’s fast service, the quality is good and the price is right.

People start seated, but by the end everyone’s up dancing. Femi stalks the stage and shifts between keys, sax, vocals, and politics like he’s changing channels. The band is tight. The dancers don’t stop. It’s a well oiled performance but they most certainly don’t phone it in. It came across as controlled aggression that in an instant could snap and burn everything down.

The lowdown on a night out with femi kute

Femi only plays Sundays and Thursdays at the Shrine, and only when he’s in the country, otherwise he’s touring. You can call the Shrine’s official number to check whether he’s in town. They post schedule info here and on their social channels.

It starts at seven, it burns bright. And then it’s done. Eleven on the dot, they finish. No encore, no fuss. The lights come up. Then the crowd filters out in a kind of exhausted symmetry. We wandered out, ordered a Bolt, and were home in thirty minutes.

I’ve been four times now and it’s the same vibe each visit. There’s that same energy. Femi is a 63 year old tornado and he demands his band keeps up. You instantly feel that you’re walking into something special. When they built the New Afrika Shrine, they may have tried to recreate Fela’s space. An irreverent mad house that’s not about trying to impress you. A night out at the New Afrika Shrine  will impress you though. I wish I could have seen Fela’s shrine, but I’m so happy I’ve had the chance to see Yeni and Femi’s version. You show up, the music smacks you in the face, the beer flows, someone will be smoking and that means you will be too, and somewhere in between the dancers, the sax solos, and Femi giving Lagos hell, you’ll have one of the best nights of your life. 

a world record set in lagos

Femi Kute actually holds the world record for the longest sustained note played on a saxophone. On May 15, 2017, using a circular breathing technique, he sustained a single note for 51 minutes and 35 seconds. His son Made has come on stage each time I’ve been there and bashed out a lazy 3 or 4 minutes just to show us how it’s done, what a way to finish the night.