From the O2 to Accor Arena: How Asake Closed the In God We Trust World Tour

Asake ended his biggest tour yet the way it was always going to end: in front of 20,000 people, with a guest the room had been waiting for and his mother backstage. The In God We Trust World Tour wrapped on Saturday, 24 October at Accor Arena in Paris, nine days after a third sold-out night at London’s O2 Arena. Between the two cities, the singer born Ahmed Ololade played to around 40,000 people, closed both nights with “Gratitude” and left Europe with a strong case that he is now the most reliable arena draw in Afrobeats.

The tour, built to support his album M$NEY, began in Portugal in July and ran through North America before reaching the UK. By the time he arrived in London, BellaNaija noted, the buzz from the American dates had fans primed.

London: a third sold-out O2

The London show on Thursday, 15 October was Asake’s third sell-out at the 20,000-capacity O2, after earlier headline nights in 2023 and 2024. Few African artists have filled the venue once; doing it three times in four years puts him in very small company. South African amapiano duo TxC opened at 7:15 p.m., BNXN followed at 8 p.m., and Asake took the stage at 8:30.

The set followed the shape the tour had used throughout, opening with “Worship,” his DJ Snake collaboration, and working through M$NEY material alongside the older hits: “Terminator,” “Joha,” “Palazzo,” “Why Love,” “Lonely at the Top,” “Jogodo,” “Active” and “Amapiano.” BNXN returned for their July single “Eja Meja.” Ghanaian actress Efia Odo got her own moment when Asake lifted her up during “Skilful,” and Poco Lee, Yhemolee and Sula were among the familiar faces in the crowd, Intel Region reported.

The surprise was Blaqbonez. One fan described the moment on X: he was “vibing to Terminator, Joha, Palazzo, Why Love etc” when Blaqbonez “comes out of the floor, screaming Ikebe wanyo wanyo.” The pair ran through “IKEBE 3000” and their summer hit “Chanel,” a day before Blaqbonez released NOMADINHO: 4TH PRIME. We covered the full night in our Asake O2 Arena review.

The ending got the most attention. As Asake closed with “Gratitude,” one man a few seats away from a fan with a camera simply burst into tears, and the clip spread quickly the next morning, DancehallMag reported. Online, the reaction went further. “Asake is getting to that Michael Jackson level,” wrote @iamjuspat, joking that fans might start fainting at his shows. “People will be born into his glory, and people will die in his glory,” posted @seyedele. “He has transcended normal musician status.”

Paris: Tiakola comes home

Paris had something London did not. The guest list barely changed, with BNXN, TxC and Blaqbonez all back, but Accor Arena got one extra name: Tiakola. The La Courneuve singer walked out to the second microphone for “Badman Gangsta,” the surprise single the two released in July 2025, in which they trade lines in English, Yoruba and French over a sample of Amerie’s “1 Thing.” Asake, in a teal leather jacket and peaked cap with his band in white behind him, shared the stage with the man who sings the song’s French verse, a short ride from the estate where Tiakola grew up, HypeTribe reported.

The timing worked for both men. Tiakola had released his second album, WpointM, a month earlier, and his own two Accor Arena nights in March 2025 sold 40,000 tickets in minutes. Bringing him out turned the tour finale into a meeting of two of the biggest live acts in Afrobeats and French music, and the Paris crowd, many of whom know “Badman Gangsta” as a French hit as much as a Nigerian one, treated it as the night’s peak.

The most shared moment came offstage. Asake’s mother surprised him by showing up to watch the show, and videos captured the singer hugging her backstage and then walking out of the arena hand in hand with her. The moment carried extra weight because Asake took his stage name from his mother’s name. Fans responded warmly, Kemi Filani reported. “Nothing sweet passes this kind of setting,” one wrote. “Forever mummy’s boy,” said another, while a third summed it up: “That’s a proud mum.”

What the two nights prove

Put side by side, London and Paris show how Asake’s live model works. He does not rely on a different superstar every night. He builds a tight show around his own catalogue, brings collaborators who actually appear on his records, and adds a local guest where it means the most. TxC on the support bill also kept a South African thread running through both nights, a nod to the amapiano influence in his sound.

It also shows where the European market for Afrobeats now sits. Five years ago, an African artist selling out the O2 was news. Asake has now done it three times, and followed it with a full arena in Paris, a city with its own powerful Afro-French scene. For Nigerian music, the significance is that these are no longer one-off showcase nights but stops on a routine arena tour.

There is one more date on the calendar. Asake is scheduled to play the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on 30 December, a homecoming that will close out his year. After London’s tears and a Paris finale with his mother in the building, it will be hard to top, but the tour has made clear that Asake’s audience is growing everywhere he goes.