The Phoenix in a Gas House: July 2010

It’s July and Reggae Sumfest is fast upon us. Well it’s this week to be exact. The line up this year features the likes of Usher, Chris Brown, Assassin, Tarrus Riley etc. Personally the line up for me is not that special. Yes… it will be a good show but I can’t say I am super excited about anyone really, except Konshens. Constantly you are inundated with information about the show. That is probably thanks to the fact that Lead Sponsor Red Stripe has come crawling back to Dancehall/Reggae like a shameless dog thanks to plummeting sales.

For me it is very hard to top performances from Jr. Gong and Nas in 2009. However Usher may be the one to give a memorable performance. More and more I have come to expect less and less from the so-called international acts. Last year’s international acts were very lack luster. Jazmine Sullivan looked very sloppy and to be honest most persons ended up ignoring her performance.

Keri Hilson complained of throat problems and lip-synced her performance here. Where I stood the consensuses was:

“Might as well the Sumfest people played her videos on a big screen and saved the money they paid her because what’s the point of doing a live show if you cannot deliver”. Ne-Yo had technical troubles and acted like a diva but he eventually had all the ladies singing by the end of his performance.

After you go to as many stage shows as I do, you very get tired of seeing the same performance from the supposed hot dancehall acts. Let’s hope some of them went to the gym and did some voice training in the time leading up to the show… you know instead of just smoking weed and sitting around at the studio. I think if I have to watch another out of breath, off key dancehall artist shouting through a performance I’m going to throw a shoe on stage. Maybe the Sumfest people could explore the option of putting a few more veteran Dancehall/Reggae acts on upcoming shows, part for balance and part to act as some form of motivation to the younger artists.

Finally I hope that the so-called VIP area is better than last year. My mother always told me if you have nothing good to say you should say nothing at all. So that is all I will say about Sumfest’s so-called VIP. Overall I do hope that all goes well and there are more happy memories than annoyances and long band changes this year. Keep your fingers crossed and good luck Sumfest 2010.