Beenie Man WHOEVER CAME up with the name 'Summer Sizzle' for the event to celebrate Beenie Man's 25 years in the industry was bang on target.
The show produced some red-hot performances. In fact, it was a night when most of the billed artistes delivered good sets in front of an almost jam-packed White River Reggae Park venue, St. Ann, on Saturday night.
However, at the end of the night, the top acts in the minds of most persons were Elephant Man and Tanto Metro and Devonte, supported by good but short sets from Coco Tea and John Holt.
Just when it was thought that Elephant Man could not take his performance to a higher level, he did it at White River Reggae Park. The deejay opened his performance with Good to Go and in the same vein moved into Stop It, as the copious amount of beer being sprayed in the air replaced the fireworks that were seen in the venue earlier.
He instructed the audience to 'signal the plane' as his dancers joined him on-stage and went through his more raunchy efforts with some degree of enthusiasm.
HIGHER LEVEL
His energy went one level higher when he climbed on the speakers. The venue erupted in shouts as he said: "Whe mi deh?" Mi deh pon a higher level, don't?" The first three lines of Higher Level followed as the crowd instantly started moving their hands in support.
A cameo appearance by Harry Toddler preceded his performance of Pon Di River, Pon Di Bank. During this number he instructed dancers to 'Go dung di flank' and 'Gi Dem a Run' and lead the charge as he jumped in the crowd and 'went down the flank', surrounded by eager patrons who sprayed him with water and beer.
Earlier, Tanto Metro and Devonte imitated almost every artiste to grace the Jamaican stage in the last 20 years.
The duo started off with the monster hit Everyone Falls in Love as both gyrated vigorously. Gal Seh Whoa came next before Devonte issued a challenge to Tanto Metro to imitate several artistes. It began with him doing an impersonation of Buju Banton then later Sizzla, Beres Hammond, Capleton, Shaggy, Luciano, Junior Demas, Bounty Killer and a slew of other acts. The only person that Tanto Metro just would not impersonate was Lady Saw.
"Whe mi sey? Man a bad man, a who yu want imitate Lady Saw," he asked as the duo changed gears and started wooing the women a move which caused shrieks from the females all over the venue.
UPROARS
John Holt and Coco Tea used the 10 minutes they were each given to evoke uproars all over the venue. Coco Tea sang with ease while John Holt told the audience at White River Reggae Park about Up Park Camp, the dangers of Tribal War and about his girl called Sweetie.
Richie Stephens had the ladies screaming as he crooned several covers such as Lady, Lady and There is No Me Without You. Admiral Bailey, on the other hand, showed his younger counterparts how to please the crowd with old hits. The portly veteran with his paunch shaking vigorously had the audience singing alongside him all through his set. Watching Mr. Balance was like spending 10 minutes in front of a stand-up comedian. The Fifth Element Crew, which is made up of Anthony Cruz, Chuck Fendah and Richie Spice, did well as did Natural Black.
Birthday boy Beenie Man came dressed like a student at a graduation. The first half of his performance saw him delivering hits such as Fed Up and Book Shelf. He later moved into his 'clash lyrics'.
He eventually invited Timbaland and Anthony B to the stage and the final half of his set saw him instructing his dancers to do the latest dance moves.
Other performances on the night came from Da'Ville, Abijah, Silvercat, Mr. G, Rupee, Kirk Davis and the Shocking Vibes family.
Overall the event was a good one and men and women turned out in their numbers to support some of Jamaica's top acts.
