Germaine Smith, Staff Reporter
FILE PHOTOS -
DJ Sizzla during a recent performance.
ISLAND EXPLOSION in May Pen was a stage show of drama, suspense and entertainment.
Nothing could prepare May Pen for the thrills and semi-spills they got for their $1,000. The promoters got their thrill from the massive numbers which paid to get into their Christmas Eve show. It seemed that every inch of the complex adjoining the Leiba's Esso Tigermart was taken up.
Surprisingly, this massive gang behaved fairly well. They only got restless and made booing sounds when they were standing for nearly eight hours and their stars were not yet on stage, and when Beenie Man took the microphone, they charged for the stage after tearing down a section of the fence which separated the backstage from the general area.
That aside, the entertainment and drama were gripping.
ESTABLISHED ACTS
In the established acts category, the show's main stealer was Capleton. The huge numbers remained inside and never moved until 7:45 a.m. when Capleton was finished. Despite jumping around and dancing wildly from previous acts like Elephant Man, Beenie Man, Captain Barky and Wickerman, Vybz Kartel and others, they waited to jump some more with the Prophet.
Vybz Kartel did some jumping himself, as midway during his appearance alongside Beenie Man, he fell off the stage as he toed the edge.
Some lusting females quickly threw themselves on him, causing him to break his glasses and lose his cellphone for a while. He was returned unharmed to the stage, however ,after the ladies had a few touches, and he and Beenie Man continued the show.
SPLASHES OF DRAMA
Splashes of drama came from Bounty Killer as well.
As time ticked away and other acts were waiting to work, Sizzla during his set was about to introduce an upcoming act to the pulsating crowd. Killer then walked on to the stage with his microphone in hand and immediately got into his act. Ruff Kut started backing Killer instead of the upcoming act, after which both he and Sizzla quietly left the stage.
The hyped up crowd never noticed though, because as soon as Bounty started his set they began jumping. Each time he seemed to get angrier at a topic, they shouted more for him.
Queen Paula created her own brand of excitement, when she lyrically attacked female deejay Ruffi-Ann who has been mouthing her in tunes recently.
Paula called her "Tuffian", and lashed her enough to make a sinner blush. She compared Ruffi-Ann to a dinosaur, and did a tune to complement her speech, giving the May Pen crowd wild bouts of laughter.
Ironically, this was the same crowd which listened to and lapped up positive messages from cultural acts Chuck Fender and Richie Spice, Fantan Mojah, I-Wayne Lutan Fyah, Ghandi. Everything worked for them.
The other female deejay Macka Diamond did not choose Queen Paula's route. She steered clear of any bashing and gave an entertaining and energetic set.
In the end, for their $1,000 ticket price, May Pen got close to 13 straight hours of mixed music, performances and entertainment.
(See report on the individual performances later this week). <
