Live review: Smile Jamaica/Africa Unite @ James Bond Beach, Jamaica

Last week’s Smile Jamaica/Africa Unite concert had all of the ingredients to make it one of the best events of 2008.

The line up was strong, the venue was on James Bond beach in Oracabessa St. Mary, and with Jamaica celebrating Reggae Month and what would have been Bob Marley’s 63rd birthday, it seemed set to be a big show.

But something was missing… organization.

Tedious band changes after each performance punctured the momentum, to which the host Mutabaruka had a hard job keeping the less than substantial crowd entertained.

Artists including as 2Face Idibia, Bunny Wailer, John Legend and Rihanna wet appetites with energetic performances before Jamaica’s ‘royalty’ took charge…

From Ziggy down to Damian, the Marley brothers commanded the stage and paid tribute to their iconic father. After showcasing a catalogue of songs from Exodus to Welcome to Jamrock, Stephen and Damian Marley, tore up the stage with The Mission. The crowd was a sea of flames from the lighters and red, gold and green flags that swayed in the air, while everyone sang in unison.

But high off their performance, the audience was left deflated as they were subjected to yet another tedious band change, which caused many people to call it a day and go home.

The lack of hosts didn’t help and Elephant Man did a guest spot to pre-recorded ‘old’ tracks before inviting special guest Chris Brown on stage. (This further fueled speculation that Brown and Rihanna are a couple.)

Short and sweet is all that can be said for the guest appearances that came after. Tarrus Riley showed his face, as did Etana, Spragga Benz, Lutan Fyah and Richie Spice, before Sizzla extended his set with Capleton, to close a night that had so much potential.

http://www.voice-online.co.uk/

5 Responses

2. Rae Says:
   Posted on March 6th, 2008 at 10:50 pm

   rihanna did not give a good performance,her voice was so off,she had so much help wid her tracks.y y’all nuh report dat,ye organisation could be better but tell d people dem everything n stop gwaan like rihanna’s performance was top a di line.I was so pissed wid her performance

3. elena laskoska Says:
   Posted on March 7th, 2008 at 5:40 am

   i wasnt there im from macedonia i would like to see her inlife im dreaming about this but when im asking my self

4. samiam Says:
   Posted on March 7th, 2008 at 6:02 am

   It looks pretty here!

5. emmanuel Says:
   Posted on March 7th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

   vi a tu bei james bond chow bei rolle velle prete medewerk jamiaca dore groeppy zangen , beste acteurs hoe moedytè coed andacte vore rollè spelen vele moedtè :):)
   nogge stedde I ich love haet baby in arme

6. Carib Says:
   Posted on March 8th, 2008 at 3:46 am

   Hmmm… finally another peson who realizes that this chick is just an enhanced voiced on some DVD, but when it comes tocrunch time on most occasions she fails miserably. Thanks for giving a more balanced and unbiased view Rae.

Leave a Reply