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Toronto International Reggae Festival - Lamport Stadium - June 27, 2004

Well, how can I quickly summarize this?

Arrived at Lamport Stadium at around 1:30 p.m. for a show advertised to start at 1 p.m. Promised to be a family fun filled day to allow patrons to attend the after-party at Jade. The promoters/engineers etc. were experiencing "mic problems" from start to finish of the show. It was apparent however, that whenever the soundsystems played there was no problem with the mics.

Anyways, line up was no problem and got inside in a reasonable time especially for moi, who expects a certain degree of professionality when you decide to undertake such a large venture. But, I really did not worry since this "Festival" had the backing of such big named businesses as American Airlines, Sandals/Beaches, Flow 93.5 FM & big name promoters Moonlight Entertainment. This "show" promised the likes of Wayne Marshall, Baby Cham, Spragga Benz, Wayne Wonder, Morgan Heritage, Bounty Killer and Shaggy.

King Turbo, DJ Wiz and Black Melody, the soundsystems for the evening, obviously did not expect to play for most of the day, evident by their constant replaying of tunes for the entire evening. I think it is fair to say we heard the entire Ele album, Beenie Man's "Dude" about 20 times, and numerous Sizzlas numerous times. I am sick of "Thank You Mama", wheter it is 45 style or dubplate! The soundsystems, to their credit, tried their best knowing the strenuous situation backstage.

The bar at 1:45 p.m. (just 15 mins from entering) had NO ICE, and none of the drinks were chilled. Imagine drinking a warm Guinness in the middle of the sun. Trust me, temptation was there to launch it back! They restricted all alcohol drinkers into two tiny sections at the far back of the field, as if bar patrons somehow paid less for tickets? You had to finish your drink before you could leave the bar area. It has become the norm to ID at the door, and if you are underage/over age you will get an armband clearly showing that. But I guess the promoters knew from before that this show may end in a hail of bottles. Please note, that once the ice situation was sorted out, the bar then ran out of the few drinks offered! The bar menu was as follows, Guinness, Labatt Ice/Blue, Budweiser, Smirnoff Ice (only RED), Becks & water. Notice not a hard liquored drink (e.g. Rum, Scotch) around or a drink for the ladies. The bar was run by Club Paradise. I give them a (-5) out of 10! Worst bar I have ever seen! No rum, scotch, breezers, etc. NOTHING. The choice was weak for an "International Festival". This seemed more like a backyard BBQ bar.

Moving onto showtime which tipped off at around 6-ish. What can I say about the Canadian talent? There were multiple acts that took up about 2 hours in total, and there wasn't anyone who stood out. I can give a bligh for the guy who sounded like Buju and Blessed who had a couple recognisable tunes. They were all subpar and not well received. No wonder, noboby supports the talent. There isn't anything much to work with. Enough about that.

The MC came out after to announce the "big name" artists time and proceeded to introduce Brick & Lace who I did not even know was on the bill. They flopped hard because people were already beginning to feel cheated of their money. Then there was another official 15 min. intermission that was actually over 30 min. long. Tell Brick & Lace to leave Christina Aguilera's tune "Beautiful" alone if they cannot manage the notes, because all 3 of them straight up butchered the former Number One hit!

After the extended wait came Baby Cham to open the headliners. He performed mediocre at best, but had to "cut it short" due to the time. People were already uneasy and response to Cham was tame. People were in the sun for the entire day...they were mesirable and sub-par performances was not going to excite them. Cham was good with patrons though, even taking time to sign a jacket of a lucky fan! Mild applause.

Cham made way for Red Square and Spragga Benz who also gave an ok perfomance. There was nothing to call home about. He went through new hits like "Rasta run the world" and old hits like "Jack It Up". Spragga made funny references similar to Cham about the Pride Prarade happening on the same day and received loud ovations! Can you beleive when it was time for his set to end, the MC was nowhere to be found, so Spragga came back on and performed for longer! Where was the professionalism? All throughout Spragga's performance the mic was chipping in and out much to his annoyance, much less the patrons! Once again he had to "cut it short" due to time constraints!

Spragga and Cham perfomed for about 30-45 mins each. Next came Wayne Wonder. Wayne was actually a refreshing performance. He got some of the crowd in it but not as much to see he mashed up the place. Cham came back out to complete some of their combos such as "Strange Things" & "Joyride". The fans lapped it up with delight. He did the usual Buju combos and a couple old hits and left us with "No Letting Go". I could not see from my vantage point if Babyface was onstage at all.

At this stage I felt really bad for these three big names because none of them received any kind of sustained applause. I give Cham credit for still working well and even coming back out and supporting Wayne Wonder. Spragga was decent enough with regards to mic trouble etc.

We had another lengthy band change next, presumably for Hard Drive (Cham's band) to clean up and let Morgan Heritage or Killer's or Shaggy's band to setup. We did not realise but it was actually Shaggy's band. The MC came on stage to announce at around 9:50 p.m. to announce that Shaggy refuses to perform if anyone is video taping his set. People immediately started to boo and throw bottles at the stage. Another example of promoter mis-management becasue video cameras should not have been allowed into the event if an artist's agreement states that. Anyways, it was Shaggy who paid the ultimate price for this blunder.

Shaggy came on just before 10 p.m., presumably because the organizers knew if Bounty & Marshall performed before, then nobody would stay and Shaggy would have an empty field to worl for. The MC even promised Killer fans to "hold tight"! Shaggy entered into a chorus of boos, and anytime he asked for crowd participation he was greeted with more boos. He even started to cuss on stage and explained he had gone through the same frustrations as the crowd, since he was at the venue since 3 p.m. and just waiting. The patrons did not seems to care and booed more. Much Music was about to start taping a short piece during his performance and decided against it when everyone passing the camera were shouting "Get Shaggy off the stage", "It's Killer me want see, move idiot Shaggy off!"! People were quite angry and mesirable by now.

Shaggy left in a sea of boos, and then at around 10:30 p.m., the MC announced Morgan Heritage on stage except they were not allowed to use/setup their band. But to their credit they ripped up the stadium with their hits. This was the first time for the day/night that the crowd was actually moving, with flags waving, lighers blazing and people singing! Excellent performance taking into account the situation. Big up The Heritage, true professionals!

Around 11:05 p.m. the MC (Ron Nelson), came on stage to announce that the area encompassed the "Noise Abatement Act" and police will lock off the soundsystem now, therefore NO Bounty Killer or Wayne Marshall. Before he could complete his statement bottles, chairs and tables were being launched on stage. He also stated that ALL patrons, I guess including the minors who paid $30 - $100 for their tickets, would get a DISCOUNT at the after party.

Now let's break this down. In the hot sun for the entire day, one would need to go home have a shower and then come back out to attend a club where promises were made, but we know promises were made when advertising the show which no one bothered to keep. Then we must beleive them again and head down to Jade close to midnite to line up? That is unacceptable.

Now for the villains:

1. MOONLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT: I solemly promise to never attend a show/dance put on by Moonlight, until some sore of compensation is provided for their BREACH OF CONTRACT. Be it a free Bounty Killer show, or a flat refund for ALL paying tickets patrons. Their outfit is shady, seedy and highly disorganised. The lack professionalism and the common courtesy to deal with people straight. I will try to post all their events here to advise people to not be duped.

2. FLOW 93.5: Yes they are going to take flak, because they advertised the show day and night, and Jaywise from Flow was there on stage. From before they shoudl let patrons know that ending time is 11 pm promptly. Nevertheless they lost a lot of credibility with me.

In closing, it was evident that the people at Lamport Stadium at 11 pm, were there to see Bounty Killer. Even the MCs who asked got the crowd's response. When asked about Shaggy, they booed and shouted "Go Home!". Could you not get the message, and get Bounty onstage instead of Shaggy?

Also, IF YOUR SHOW IS RUNNING LATE, PLEASE AXE THE EARLY ACTS TO ENSURE HEADLINERS HAVE THEIR FULL TIME ON STAGE SO PATRONS CAN GET TO SEE WHO THEY PAID THEIR MONEY FOR! IF THEY DID THIS PATRONS WOULD PROBALY NOT BE AS UPSET AS THEY ARE NOW!

This show left many many fans disappointed and disheartened. Glad I only paid $45 but I still think I was short changed about $15!