On November 8, 2025, Asake brought a new sound to Brooklyn’s King Theatre. Backed by a full orchestra under the baton of Glenn Alexander II, he translated club-ready grooves into sweeping string lines, brass accents and layered percussion.
The night folded Fuji cadence, Afropop swing and Amapiano pulse into arrangements that pushed his vocal lines into unexpected places. The crowd moved as a single organism; moments that started as quiet, intimate refrains swelled into cinematic choruses, and the audience rewarded every shift with a roar that proved popular music and orchestral discipline can share one stage without losing either’s force.
The concert reframed familiar songs. Tracks from Mr. Money With The Vibe, Work of Art and Lungu Boy took on fresh meaning when reharmonised for woodwind and horn sections. Lonely at the Top, the record that carried him to extended chart success, gained an elegiac quality when doubled by cello and bass. Glenn Alexander II’s arrangements emphasised call-and-response textures, letting Yoruba inflections breathe inside orchestral color.
Asake’s stagecraft remained direct and charismatic; he nodded to his Lagos roots while allowing the orchestra to colour the narrative in ways that made even long-time fans hear the music anew.
Lagos produced the artist and supplied the atmosphere that made his rise possible, and South Africa’s orchestral Amapiano nights and other curated international productions showed that local audiences will turn out for elevated live experiences when organisers match craft with technical rigour.
