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Plymouth Jazz Festival 2006 feat. Diddy and Doug E Fresh - Plymouth - Tobago

A small fire caused by pyrotechnics briefly disrupted the flow of last night?s Plymouth Jazz Festival, causing reigning Soca Monarch Shurwayne Winchester to be quickly pulled off the stage.

Winchester, the fourth performer for the night, opened his performance with the 2004 Road March hit, De Band Coming. However, the pyrotechnic display, which was a part of his performance malfunctioned almost immediately, igniting the stage. Fire officers rushed to the scene.

The small crowd quietly looked on as the lighting rig was lowered for the fire officers to put out the blaze with a fire extinguisher.

Minutes later, the lighting rig was replaced onto the rooftop and Winchester continued his performance.

The show, the first of the three-night weekend, kicked off around 7.45 pm with a rendition of the National Anthem by Eastlyn Orr.

Sean ?Diddy? Combs, who was advertised to host the show, was not even in Tobago at the time and radio personalities Adrian Don Mora and Jus Jase acted in that role.

Roy Cape All Stars started off the night?s entertainment for a crowd of just over 100. They were joined by Calypso Rose, followed by Maximus Dan.

Doug E Fresh, who was the first international act for the night, introduced Diddy, who had by that time, arrived on the island.

Diddy, who appeared to be jet-lagged, started his performance with a tribute to Notorious BIG, singing Mo Money, Mo Problems. He then sang his 1996 hit, All About The Benjamins, followed by another BIG song, Juicy. He ended his performance with Missing You, which he sang with Faith Evans in tribute to BIG after he was fatally shot.

?It?s an honour for me to be here in paradise,? he said after his performance, which lasted less than half an hour.

Meanwhile, Orville London, chief secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, said he was pleased with the first night of the event.

?We have ironed out some of the problems, the setting is much more conducive, traffic flow in and out of the venue is better organised and the ticketing system is more effective,? he said in a brief interview. London said the THA has set five years as a test period for the event.

?We hope that every year, we build on the experience and learn from our mistakes,? he said describing the event as a positive one, which would help market Tobago.

?People look at the function but not the effect it has on the Tobago economy,? he said. ?If you have every person spending US$1,000 a day, then that is tens of millions that is coming into the Tobago economy. We are now trying to market Tobago aggressively in the US and something like this would do Tobago really good.?