Remember when the name, or at least the "type" of music festival, was synonymous with the genre of music one could expect to hear?! You know….a Jazz Festival was pretty much all Jazz a Reggae show was all reggae…etc etc…yes I know those days are long gone, reflective of a time when taste and attention are both fickle and demanding cousins.
The Reggae Sumfest 2008 edition may not have been a pure "reggae experience" but kudos to the promoters (who celebrated 16 years with this iteration) as it sure was a perfect mix of music for the estimated 35,000 who attended over the three nights.
We know drama in the Caribbean and some may remember that this year marked quite a bit of that regular sunshine staple with the announcement that the 'Red Stripe' Reggae Sumfest was no more as the title and naming sponsor, it was rumoured per the dictates of international parent DIAGEO, was not to invest in the event with its continued promotion of dancehall artistets and their continued, if somewhat tired, bashing of gays. I say tired because notwithstanding the unfortunate and (very) oft-repeated references to guns, gangstas, etc etc some of the other lyrics really seem to tell an engaging story about the tough times for the Jamaican “have nots” of society…….anyway sans the beer company…..the show started on time and despite the 33 (yes THIRTY THREE) acts on the line up for the opening night - the evening ran like clockwork. The promoters know their people and despite the headliners due for the other nights of the festival the largest crowd by far was for this night when dancehall was front and centre….the 15000+ crowd enjoyed a night highlighted by strong performances from Voicemail, Anthony B, Busy Signal, Ninja Man who turned in a classic performance and was accompanied by his “umbrella men” (what could ONLY be described as a bad idea) and Macka Diamond who turned in an extravagant performance taking the crowd to a frenzy when she performed along with Trinidad’s own Soca powerhouse, Patrice Roberts (take note Sumfest organizers….where’s Machel?...bring the Soca in ‘09) the tempo and vibe of the night was only getting better when Vybz Cartel then Elephant Man, who suffered with a wardrobe malfunction that put him flat on his face (note: Ele….with all those kids - who they say you provide very well for btw - at least get one of them to launder the WHITE pants before you perform in them…….NOT COOL!)…anyway as I was saying the night was terrific…and when he arrived on stage and started his set Bounty “ANGRIEST MAN IN DANCEHALL” Killer was very well received…that is until he started referring to Ninja Man’s son as a “fish” and Bennie Man as a “fish” (oh…”fish” refer back to the reason DIAGEO made Red Stripe withdraw) and then a slew of obsenities, threats and other incomprehensible diatribe which seemed only to reinforce the fact that he has some serious anger management issues (seek a referral from Sean Penn…these things can be cured…YES THEY CAN!) which threw a real damper on the evening….the crowd doled out some robust boos however to the point where even “Killa” seemed shocked……Mavado and Assassin followed neither put in a particularly commanding performance and at that point the anticipation was for Beenie Man who was closing the show…..to his great credit Beenie stayed faaar from the stench that had been laid down for him and delivered a memorable performance which was only diminished by the kids he had on stage singing….Note: Beenie what’s cute from a 2/3 and 5/6 yo respectively between 11am – 8pm is not cute beyond 5 minutes at 530am when we want to hear YOU perform……anyway he stayed far from Bounty’s trap his only response being if he’s a fish….then he’s a SNAPPER! (yeah I didn’t get it either)
After closing down the Dancehall night at 7am anticipation was high for the first of the two ‘international’ nights headlined by (young MJB?) Keyshia Cole and Akon. A celebrated night of punctuality and overall production execution meant, invariably, that some slippage was to be expected the following night and while it really wasn’t anything to write home (or report) about….the excellence of the preceding night, shows the capability and is therefore the standard we hope will prevail for the future shows……ie don’t run laaaate! The 30-45 minutes behind was quickly forgiven with a vocal performance of excellence first by Queen Ifrica (who is not only talented it must be said but also quite beautiful) before Keyshia Cole appeared on set….her performance was good and I think she was even a bit surprised by how well the audience knew her work…..her set may have been on point but her exit was another thing altogether….she just sang her last chord and jetted…..the lights went to black and the next thing the audience was following the silhouettes of her backup dancers retrieving their handbags from behing the drums (that was a first) and exiting……the stage was then left to one of the coolest entertainers I’ve come across in a long time Akon and his KONVICT movement…which he explained (he met silence when asked if anyone knew what the konvict movement stood for…an anxious silence….this being Jamaica and memories of Bounty were still fresh from the night before) was about helping to rehab prisoners – certainly a noble and commendable objective…from the outset Akon seemed genuinely happy to be on stage and performing for this audience in Jamaica…..he connected with the crowd quickly and delivered an outstanding musical performance only accentuated by a premeditated decision to make his way from the front of the stage all the way out to the control tower in the middle of the “general” area where he said “all my ghetto people were” in a move that was reminiscent of that made popular by the now deceased Kurt Kobain the Senagalese (how often will I get to write THAT) star was seen repeatedly standing on shoulders amongst the 10,000+ fans and diving into the arms of the fans below…now we know this is not SOP for those in the “melatonin-enriched community” but I am happy to report that he was not dropped either on his way to the tower or back…..that diversion aside (and he did sing a couple of songs in transit) Akon’s performance was solid, true and very well received I would be surprised not to see him a fixture of future shows…..after the audience regrouped from the excitement of Akon then it was on to the dimuitive Jah Cure who could probably offer some serious, first person insight for Akon’s movement……this champion of conscious music delivered a powerful performance that left the crowd rocking…..
After two impressive nights of music and performances I have to say I awoke on Saturday night eager to see what the night of Rootz Underground, (hot) Brick & Lace, Tarrus Riley, T-Pain, Beres Hammond and Lil Wayne had in store….mother nature had a slightly different plan as the skies opened up and poured forth the water so desperately being sought to fight the wildfires in California…...it rained and rained and rained and rained……all day……of course little did we know that the LW side show (more on that later) was providing plenty of warmth for promoters at other locales…..the rain slowed then subsided in the early evening and then seemed to have subsided by 1030pm. The crowd in attendance was clearly affected by the rain but their ranks quickly swelled between 11p – 1230am….serious kudos to the promoters as tractors were bringing in sand and stones to go in the muddied areas while the show proceeded…this made walkways much safer and kept the mud quotient down on the kicks…..Saturday night was another success as T-Pain brought the house down – one patron was overheard saying “wow these are all his songs” – the night rounded out by Etana and Tarrus Riley. You really have to say that no show can go wrong with Beres Hammond. The man knows how to rock a crowd and wears a real passion for his music on his sleeve; you get the feeling that he would (we know he could) go on for hours performing without tiring…his is a rare passion that burns well beyond the “minimum time as per the contract” standard that seems to be the norm in our iPod-driven world…once Beres had finished it was time for Lil Wayne who turned in a solid enough performance....his grill shining brightly every time it was hit by the spotlight….if starting off a little subdued he got the crowd moving as he rapped/sang from his bank of hits…..so from Thursday night’s bountiful action things seemed to have settled nicely…that is until we got the OS inside scoop……which was rich enough that we are now giving Lil Wayne the title of Divo (that’s our name for a male diva)……yes…..
....speaking of d-r-a-m-a.....based on our 'on the ground, round the corner' reports rapper Lil Wayne was quite a handful….We are reliably informed by our private jet sources that on the afternoon he was due to perform at the time they were expecting the jet, that had been secured to ferry the platinum-selling star, to land from Los Angeles checks revealed that it was a) STILL in LA and b) STILL awaiting the arrival of "the man"!
Upon arrival in the land of wood, water and gan** he apparently REFUSED to show his passport at the immigration point (to his credit he could have been confused with Jamaica, Queens and thought he was still in the US?!) essentially stating that ‘they knew who he was and he doesn't have to show his passport’…upon exiting he balked at the luxury vehicles sent to collect him as being inadequate and announced to all and sundry that if he didn’t get the transport he wanted he was offering $100,000 to fly him back to LA immediately (if only I had learned to fly!) and so the story goes.......but that seems to be small potatoes…we were informed that later the said day the proverbial sh*t hit the fan when promoters were explaining that there are strict rules against obscene language and that non-compliance (that would be non-compliance with..ah..universally accepted standards of acceptable vocabulary) were likely to result in a fine (no problem man) or (perish the thought) a night in the Jamaican slammer....PRAM PRAM! The response was along the lines of "Who the f*** did these people think they were talking to...? (Apparently the Ja Parliament hadn’t yet enacted the law that dealt with the ‘Wayne clause’ thereby effecting an exception no doubt due to the millions of albums this man has sold.....tsk tsk tsk)…..anyway long and short (no pun intended)…..his tirade almost put him in serious problems before he had the opportunity to hit the stage…….when he did wayne rocked the crowd (sans expletives) and genuinely seemed to enjoy the response he was getting from the crowd in Montego Bay…..perhaps he didn’t realize that the Caribbean peeps are well versed with the goings on in the US of A! Joining him on stage was Baby who performed with Wayne for the latter part of his set and that went over very well…….
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