ALTHOUGH LATE START, NO SHOWS BY HEADLINERS, GEORGIA REGGAE SHOW EXTREMELY ENTERTAINING

BY Jason Walker

            The concert named “Di Real Hype” was one of the most talked about concerts in recent Georgia memory, besides being headlined by Georgia favourites, Bounty Killer and Mavado, it also had a line up that included, the Queen of the Dancehall Lady Saw, Cobra, Elephant Man and Wayne Marshall. The concert was being held in one of the larger venues that Reggae concerts occur at in Georgia.
In the weeks coming up to the event there had been the news that charges against Mavado had been dropped and as such his management had begun the process of getting the artist’s travel papers together. There had been no news that there might have been problems with Bounty’s papers.
In the couple weeks before the event, rumours had started circulating that Mavado would not show. On the day before the show (the Friday), The Caribbean Runnings radio show that runs 2pm to 4pm on WRFG radio 89.3FM, got many phone calls from listeners asking the question if Mavado would be performing or not. It did not help that none of the artists appeared on the program for interviews.
By Saturday the rumours and speculation were at a fever pitch so people were questioning whether to go, however the line up was too good, and Mavado, currently, too popular. So Saturday night into Sunday morning, people started streaming into the large venue.
Patrons did not really start arriving in large numbers until after 2 am and the first of the opening acts did not enter the stage until after 3 am. The MC at this point let the crowd know that Bounty Killer and Mavado would not be performing. This brought a chorus of boos and a litany of colourful language from the crowd. So the opening acts had to perform to an impatient and upset crowd at this point. The acts that started the show were not able to break through the negative wall of a disappointed crowd. That wall would hold until Plucky Ranks came to the stage.
Plucky Ranks came to the stage in a flurry of energy. He jumped, danced, and DJed some of the most entertaining songs on stage. He hit all the right notes. He was witty, charismatic and full of vibes. The boos suddenly turned to cheers and hands shot into the air to pay tribute to such a great performance. He got his biggest forward though when took off his jacket revealing a shirt with a picture of Senator Barack Obama stating “We had a Dream, it is now Reality!” and then went into the lyrics “We nuh like Bush, we nuh truss McCain, Bush come out a de resident, Caw a black man bout to become President!”
The venue was in total pandemonium from that point onward! After this every artist seemed to have made the decision they were going to put forth one of their best performances. Wayne Marshall, Lady Saw, Cobra, Elephant Man all made Atrium (the venue) a building full of energy and powerful entertainment! Patrons forgot that there were artists that were missing and were giving the aforementioned artists the loudest responses one could have ever heard from a Georgia Caribbean crowd. Special mention must be made of Lady Saw showing great professionalism and veteran showmanship.. Many of the persons in attendance young, old, Jamaican and non-Jamaica were thoroughly impressed by her performance.
The no-shows, raunchy language and late start are definitely issues that need to be addressed and could have turned the event into a debacle. These artists saved that show though and the patrons that left out as dawn approached were pleased to have witnessed what turned out to be an entertaining event, and that is all they will remember.

Posted on July 2, 2008