Onstage
Performances At The 6th Annual Caribbean Reggae Fest, Miami,
Fl. Nov 16th 2003
Review & Pictures
By Lady Cham
The media worked very hard
at the Reggae Fest and the only flaw for the photographers was
that we did not have access to the front of the stage for
picture taking so shots had to be taken from a side view if
you wanted to stay backstage. Maybe next year this
glitch will be worked out.
The show began at 3pm with a band
that is managed by Danger Zone, (Danger Zone is one of the
main promoters of the event). The band did renditions of Bob Marley's
'Crazy Baldhead' Dennis Brown’s ‘Should I’, Beres’s ‘They
Gonna Talk’, Ain’t No Stopping Us Now, Frankie Paul’s 'I know
the score’, Beres’s 'Rockaway' and many more. They were a nice
little warm up the crowd band who the early patrons seemed to
enjoy. DJ James Bond juggled music next while the crowd
waited for the first major artist.
Cecile
was the first artist on stage and sported a beautiful bustier
top and short, short skirt.
She was the only female
artist and performed to an early crowd but interacted well
with them. She had women going talking about their men.
Cecile performed ‘Can You Do Di Wok’ even without Sean Paul
and the crowd really responded to her. It’s been a while
since I saw Cecile perform live and she has matured as a
performer and showed that she is taking the business very
seriously.
Next
on stage was Jr. Cat who looks more like Super Cat every day.
The crowd gave him mild, lukewarm reception, he was passing
through Caribbean reggae fest. The performance at best was
‘alright’.
Next
up was Jr. Demus and of course he was his usual comedic self
and the crowd showed him nuff love. His first track ‘Rough
Neck Chicken’ brought big response from the crowd and ‘Susie
Wong’ had the crowd tearing down the place.
Mr.
Easy was up next, the crowd sang along with Mr. Easy, they
were receptive and went wild for ‘she’s having my baby,
driving me crazy’.
Red
Rat entered the stage and announcing that he was at Caribbean
reggae fest last year and had a problem with Bin Laden and
this year he has not one, not two but three problems! His
first problem is with R. Kelly, he went into a rendition of R.
Kelly’s ‘Thoia Thoing’ but replaced it with ‘Di Bwoy A Freak!’
His 2nd issue "mi nuh
business how much police in yah! My second issue is: mi nuh
like when police lock up nuhbady fi weed (huge roar from the
crowd). Red Rat asked all who wanted weed legalized to make
some noise and they did! They screamed, roared, and horns
blared! "You know how we make weed legalize? Just walk
around with a pound a weed like I do everyday!" and Red Rat
brought out a bag of (substance that looked very much like
herb!) and the crowd went wild! He then said "you si because
mi love all ah yuh, mi bring blunts fi everybody! " and he
opened his jacket and there was a round of blunts which he
proceeded to toss into the crowd! He then sang legalize it as
he tossed them into the crowd, he had the crowd singing
legalize it! A man came onto the stage playing the part of a
police officer warning Red Rat that he cannot issue out
illegal substances from the stage and they went into a
brilliant performance about the weed "officer you cant charge
me cause mi already charged, mi nah diss you boss cause mi
know sey you large, but if you charge mi you haffi charge di
whole enterage, everyman get a spliff!"
Red Rat’s third issue was
with men who leave their women at home and go out in search of
other women, he asked all the rudebwoys to make some noise and
then asked them "who at home wid you woman when you dey a
street?" Red Rat gave a wonderful performance and was truly
entertaining, he left them with "hey you girl inna you tight
up skirt" his biggest tune to date.
An
MC came on stage and introduced the next act by saying "I want
to introduce a young man to the stage, just made his debut in
a movie and he asked me to do it quietly, ladies this one is
specially for you, will you please welcome on stage Mr.
Spragga Benz!"
The screams were deafening!
Spragga rushed on stage and he had the crowd hyped he moved
from front stage to back of the stage, he was well and truly
energetic, the crowd showed him nuff love and the girls
screamed throughout the entire performance. He did many
of his hits and the crowd sang along to all. His deep sexy
voice resonated for miles, he sure knew what the girls wanted
and he then went into tunes for the Rasta and began with
‘Rasta Run The World’ and 'Love Rasta' and he introduced onto
stage Assassin (part of the Red Square Crew) and also Kevin
Little who performed the remake of his hit 'Turn Me On' with
Spragga!
Buju
was the next artist and entered the stage jumping "I would
like to be the one…."The horns and whistles blew continually
while the patrons jumped high in the air! Buju spoke to the
patrons "Long time I don’t come to Miami and dash it down!
Long time I don’t give unna dat hardcore sound! Sounds to
make the girls jump up and down!" And he gave the patrons
tune after tune of hard core reggae.
Buju flashed his locks
giving off magnetic energy, he was charismatic and intense and
most definitely in tune to the crowd. He received many
forwards throughout his performance both from the crowd of
patrons and fellow artistes backstage. Everyone within
earshot of Buju sang along to Untold Stories, Destiny, Hills &
Valleys and many of his great hits. I was reminded of Bob
Marley as I saw Buju skank across the stage, his backup
singers reminiscent of the I-Three’s. It was as if Buju was
on fire both inside and out! Buju Banton gave a wicked
performance and ended by speaking to the patrons, "Thank you,
it’s many years I’ve been doing this music and when I come on
stage I never give half, I give 100%! I’ve been doing this
all the days of my life and while I’m doing it I am happy,
there’s never no sad time."
Lance
O from Kulchashok.com and the entertainment radio show Reggae
Vibes entered the stage and he sent out big ups to all islands
and radio stations.
Intermission
– A segment called everybody sing along and everyone sang
along to Dennis Brown’s ‘Love & Hate’ while horns and whistles
blew.
On
stage next were Tonto Metro & Devonte and they were their
usual comedic selves. Giving the crowd what they wanted with
their hit "Everyone Falls In Love Sometimes" and doing
imitations of other artists which included Baby Cham, Capelton,
Bounty Killa, Shabba, Shaggy, Gregory Issacs Beres Hammond and
Buju which made the girls scream! They ended with ‘Give it To
Her Please’ sending the crowd into a frenzy, Tonto Metro &
Devonte have perfected their art and were totally in tune to
each other and most importantly in tune to the crowd.
Next
up was ‘The Doctor’ himself, Beenie Man and he came bouncing
onto the stage with his hit ‘Row Like A Boat’ the crowd went
wild and Beenie Man really played up to them. As always
Beenie performs his best when the crowd shows him nuff love
and he gave them his all. He was dressed in a full Doctor’s
outfit, complete with stethoscope and joining him on stage
dressed in her little sexy short nurses uniform was his back
up singer ‘Calibe’.
For the ladies, Beenie sang
‘Bookshelf,’ ‘Tell Me What You Want’ and a string of his hits
that they sang along to. Beenie proved he was still the
‘Girls dem Sugar’ but also did bad man tunes for all the
gangsta’s! When Beenie introduced a dancer to the stage
master dancer ‘John Hype’ came up the crowd went wild!! John
Hype is the creator of the dances such as ‘Signal The
Plane’ and ‘Pon Di River’ and he and Beenie Man danced across
the stage doing the moves to many dances including Raindrops,
Shelly Belly, Crazy Heights and Zagga Zow all to the ‘Bad
Company’ riddim! They had the crowd dancing and going crazy.
During his encore Beenie Man sang ‘Dude’ with Calibe taking
over ‘Ms. Thing’s’ part and the crowd loved it! Beenie Man
ended his performance with his rendition of ‘Redemption Song’
and told the crowd that it is important to work together in I-nity.
Next
Radio DJ from Jamaica’s Hot 102FM Richie B spoke to the
patrons asking them what type of music brought 35,000+ people
together and there was a loud cry "reggae music!" He asked
them which is the greatest music in the world and again there
was a loud cry "reggae music!" Richie B then shouted: "They
need to wake up and smell the coffee!"
Next,
a radio DJ introduced Lady Saw onstage, the patrons were
delighted to see Lady Saw on stage but they were disappointed
when they realized that she was only passing through saying
hello to South Florida and letting them know that her album
will be coming out soon. (If the promoters were paying
attention, I’m sure they will have Lady Saw on the line up
next year! And that does not mean that Cecile or other ladies
cannot be on the line up also, we need more than one token
female artist gentlemen!)
Next
up was ‘The War Lord’ Bounty Killa, he was as usual dressed in
all black and was very energetic but although the crowd
responded to him sporadically he never quite had their full
attention. He came on stage looking for war "Beenie Man you
did a good show but one thing I got to tell you, don’t &%@#
with me!" Bounty did not stay on stage for too long and seemed
to become angry for some reason and left the stage. He did
not even stay backstage for the press coverage. He was in and
out.
After Bounty Killa there was
a fashion show by Runway Boutique and although the crowd was
not too crazy about the female models, the women went crazy
over the male models!
Next
Turbulence was introduced to the stage, he was very energetic
and blazed up the stage, setting the mood for Sizzla who was
introduced to the stage as "an artist who really deserves the
maximum Raspect from everyone" and Sizzla came out Praising
Emperor Selassi I, Rastafari. The crowd shifted forward in
anticipation of his electric performance, and by now the
nearly 40,000 crowd was blazing off Sizzla’s energy and
spirit. He took the crowd captive knowing how to keep them
with him throughout his entire set.
Sizzla performed many of his
tracks off his latest album ‘Da Real Thing album’ Driving the
patrons crazy with such tracks as ‘Why Should I, ‘Simplicity’,
‘Woman I Need You’, ‘Got It Right Here’, ‘Solid As A Rock’
and he received the biggest forwards for ‘Just one of those
days’ and ‘Thank you Mama’ This Sizzla was the ‘Black Woman &
Child’ Sizzla, the Sizzla who defends the poor, down trodden
and the young. The Sizzla who preaches righteousness and
teaches knowledge. This was Sizzla at his best!
Around
10:35pm Elephant Man was introduced onto the stage and the’
Energy God’ came out in army fatigues to Hip-Hop riddims
chanting ‘Shizzle’ and ‘Good To Go’ He was like lightening,
Elephant Man (who acts more like a Monkey Man) ran, jumped and
climbed anything within reach, he did all the latest moves
with many dancers behind him. On stage with him were Kip
Rich, his entourage of dancers and dancer Bogle. The stage
was an elaborate show reminiscent of MC Hammer days only this
time with the ‘Mad, Sick, Head Nuh Good’ Elephant Man! Some
said all the flash and glitz bag of bodies on stage was
overkill but it was new, exciting and totally different to any
of the performances so far for the night. Elephant Man and
Bogle did the dance to ‘Mad Sick Head Nuh Good’ and while they
were doing the moves to ‘Pon Di River’ Kip Rich (who was
really moving energetically) fell off the stage!!! He fell
into the river of people!!! The crowd helped Kip Rich back up
onto the stage and Elephant Man went into ‘Dancehall Nice
Again" as the lights on stage dimmed and light savers flashed
across the stage in all colors. The patrons were going wild
and following Bogle as he demonstrated the dances ‘Signal The
Plane’, ‘Parachute’, ‘Chaplin’ ‘Gi Dem A Box’, Gi Dem A Whip’
‘Fan Dem Off!’ So far Elephant Man’s performance has been the
most exciting!!
Elephant Man was now joined
on stage by a dancer who was wearing a long blond wig (who by
the way, I caught doing some risqué moves at Club Hibiscus the
night before!) and they did the ‘Get Low’ dance with the
entire stage setting the place on fire. The dancers and
extras at this point left the stage and it was only Elephant
Man and Kip Rich left on stage. The entire crowd almost
40,000 strong sang along as tunes like ‘Bad Man Ah Bad Man,’ ‘J.A.M.A.I.C.A.’
‘Me and My Crew Got the Whole City Lock,’ and ‘Wine Like A
Gypsy,’ rang out from Elephant Man! Kip Rich and Elephant
Man at this point had the audience locked and when Kip Rich
changed up the pace and began to sing ‘When A Man Loves A
Woman’ I thought for sure everything around would crumble!
The fans went wild, the screams could be heard for miles, it
was the biggest forward for the night! Elephant Man then sang
‘Stand By Me’ which the patrons sang along to, this was
extremely entertaining and once again as Kip Rich danced on
stage he danced right off and back into the crowd! I thought
for sure he had broken something this time but the patrons
hoisted him back up and he was fine. Elephant Man ended his
set with ‘We Are The World’ and everyone up front and
backstage sang along, it was a wonderful performance!
After
Elephant Man performed an MC paid respect to the sponsors
‘Anchor/Minott Promotions’ and announced the after party. A
Rasta went on stage screaming "Israel! Israel! Israel!" He
called for righteousness and preached to the people between
his calls of "Israel! Israel! Israel!" He was quite
entertaining!
The
final act for the night was Capelton and as usual he came to
‘Bun Down The Place!’ He began with ‘Always Keep The Fire
Burning’ and had the patrons waving banners and blowing
whistles and horns. Of course he had the lighters flashing
throughout his performance and at one point Capelton had a
rapper join him on stage (in red and white). Unfortunately
for Capelton, after Elephant Man’s spectacular performance,
many of the patrons left and did not get to see Capelton bun
down the place.
Once again, it was an excellent
Reggae Festival and if you missed it, the plans are already
underway for the 7th Annual Caribbean Reggae Fest which will
take place on Sunday, November 14th, 2004 and if what the
promoters are saying is true, it promises to be even more
incredible than this year! Mark your calendars from now!
