Spotify hosted two nights of its Surround Sound live series in Lagos, Nigeria, on 25 and 26 September, inviting selected Premium listeners to see Tems and Runtown perform in an intimate, in-the-round setting.
The events took place at Livespot in Lagos. Surround Sound is Spotify’s live performance format, launched from Sub-Saharan Africa, which brings artists and fans together at close range and captures those performances as full-length music films for Spotify.
Tems revisited For Broken Ears, while Runtown placed Mad Over You at the centre of a career-spanning set.
Tems revisits For Broken Ears#
Tems performed tracks from For Broken Ears and other points in her catalogue:
- Ice T
- Damages
- Mr Rebel
- Try Me
- Love Me JeJe
- What You Need
The set traced different chapters of her catalogue.
Ahead of the performance, she reflected on the beginnings of that journey:
“I remember making Free Mind on my bed, on my laptop, experimenting with chords and seeing what stuck. The first two chords sounded so good, and it ignited melodies in me. Those melodies I made on my bed are what is in the song right now.”
Spotify’s relationship with Tems also reaches back to that period. In September 2020, shortly after the release of For Broken Ears, she became the third artist to join Spotify’s RADAR Africa programme, following South African singer Elaine and rapper Willy Cardiac. Six years later, Surround Sound revisited that early chapter of her catalogue in Lagos.
During the performance, Tems turned towards the audience and invited them to sing along, making the fans’ voices part of the experience. For attendee @tmdmrv, Burning was a standout moment.
“Tems’ performance of Burning at Surround Sound is forever imprinted in my heart,” the attendee wrote on X. “That touched me.”
Runtown closes with Mad Over You#
The following night, Runtown opened with Lagos to Kampala and Gallardo, then moved through other catalogue entries:
- For Life
- International Badman Killa
- Unleash
- Kini Issue
Mad Over You became a shared moment between artist and audience. Runtown performed the song during the set before returning to it a second time to close the show, with fans singing along.
Speaking ahead of the performance, Runtown said:
“This is the first time in 10 years I am performing with my band, and I am looking forward to seeing my fans.”
For attendee @wysdavidd, that closing performance of Mad Over You was the moment that stayed with them.
“When Runtown came back and performed it for the second time to close out the show, it meant something to me,” the attendee wrote on X.
Listening data and invitation model#
A September 2026 analysis from Spotify offers context for the continuing relationship with this music. Of the listeners who played For Broken Ears in January 2022, 21.6% also listened in August 2026. Meanwhile, Mad Over You appeared in more than three million user-created playlists at the time of the analysis.
Surround Sound connected that existing relationship with an opportunity to experience the artists live. There was no public ticket sale; Spotify invited selected Premium listeners directly through the platform, using listening behaviour to identify fans for the experience.
“The live room is intentionally intimate and has a fixed capacity,” said Rifumo Mdaka of Spotify. “We use listening signals to reach selected Spotify Premium listeners in Lagos directly rather than running a public ticket sale. The aim is to create a close artist-fan experience while keeping the room suitable for the performance and film capture.”
Across both nights, selected listeners heard familiar music performed up close, and audience responses became part of the experience.
Filmed for release#
Both performances were filmed for Spotify. Surround Sound presents Tems and Surround Sound presents Runtown will extend those Lagos moments beyond the room, giving audiences elsewhere another way to experience the music. Release dates will be announced closer to launch.
