London’s Nigerian community is set for an evening of music, memory, and nostalgia when the Rewind UK Tour arrives in the capital on Saturday, 17 October 2026, bringing together some of the names that helped define different eras of Nigerian popular music.
The concert, scheduled for the Grand Empire in Catford, will feature veteran Juju musician Sir Shina Peters, celebrated disc jockey DJ Jimmy Jatt, singer 9ice, socially conscious music star African China, and broadcaster and entertainment producer Steve Onu, popularly known as Yaw. The event is billed to run from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m.
More than another stop on London’s busy African entertainment calendar, Rewind is being positioned as a journey through the sounds and personalities that accompanied several generations of Nigerian music lovers. Its emphasis is deliberately nostalgic, bringing established performers together around songs and memories that pre-date the current global Afrobeats boom.
For Nigerians in the diaspora, that formula carries particular resonance. Music that once provided the soundtrack to school years, university days, parties, family celebrations, and nights out in Lagos, Abuja, and other Nigerian cities is being recreated thousands of miles away for an audience whose relationship with home is often sustained through culture.
Behind the project is Yaw, whose real name is Steve Onu, a broadcaster, actor, producer, and long-standing on-air personality known to Nigerian radio audiences through Wazobia FM. Beyond broadcasting, Onu has built a parallel career in live entertainment and event production through Yaw Naija Productions.
Rewind itself has been developing as a nostalgia-focused entertainment platform rather than a one-off show. Its 2024 edition in Lagos brought together DJ Jimmy Jatt and a line-up of established Nigerian performers, while the concept returned in 2025 with shows in Abuja and Lagos, further strengthening its identity as a celebration of artists and music from earlier periods of Nigeria’s popular culture.
The London edition therefore represents a significant next step for the Rewind brand, taking a concept established in Nigeria into one of the country’s largest diaspora communities. It also reflects the growing sophistication of Nigerian-led event production abroad, where promoters, broadcasters, hospitality operators, and entertainment brands are increasingly collaborating to create large-scale cultural experiences for African audiences.
The choice of performers reflects that intergenerational approach. Sir Shina Peters brings the sound and spectacle associated with Afro-Juju, while DJ Jimmy Jatt represents several decades of Nigerian club, hip-hop, and popular music culture. 9ice became one of the distinctive voices of the 2000s, particularly through his fusion of Yoruba expression with contemporary Nigerian pop, while African China emerged in the same broad period with songs that frequently addressed social and political realities.
Together, their appearance creates a program stretching across different periods of Nigeria’s modern entertainment history rather than concentrating solely on contemporary chart music.
For the London audience, however, the attraction may ultimately be simpler: the opportunity to hear familiar music in the company of people who remember it. That is increasingly significant as Nigerian entertainment expands internationally. While contemporary Afrobeats stars routinely headline arenas and festivals around the world, there is also a substantial diaspora audience for the musicians, DJs, and entertainers who preceded the current generation and helped build the industry from which today’s global movement emerged.
Events such as Rewind occupy that space between concert and cultural memory. The organisers are presenting the London show under the theme “The Legends Are Back”, with classic hits, live performances, dancing and nostalgia at the center of the experience.
Event details
Event: Rewind UK Tour
Date: Saturday, 17 October 2026
Venue: Grand Empire, 108–110 Rushey Green, Catford, London SE6 4HW
Time: 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Featuring: Sir Shina Peters, DJ Jimmy Jatt, 9ice, African China, and Yaw
Tickets: From £50
For a Nigerian diaspora audience accustomed to looking forward to the newest sound, Rewind is making a different proposition: for one night, look back and remember where some of the music began.
Are you attending the Rewind UK Tour, or does this line-up bring back a particular memory for you? Join the conversation in the comments and tell Podium News which songs or artists defined your own era.
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