Well I am somewhat BACK! I won’t be able to post as frequently as I had done last year because of personal commitments. I also vow to focus more on life in general in Jamaica, rather that the rather boring political landscape which is now in vogue. Anyway, Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival 2008 left many patrons feeling as if they had been cheated. Let me just back up a bit though and speak of my personal experience and why I would NEVER return to such an event!
In 2006 I flew down to Montego Bay on the spur of the moment, as my friends coaxed me to come down even for the final night to see Patti Labelle. I gave in, jumped on the plane, landed in Montego Bay, enjoyed the day with friends and the show that night. The venue was superb and you got the feeling that everyone was having a damn good time! I thought to myself that for once Jamaicans are capable of staging an event of this magnitude, in an orderly fashion. Boy was I in for a surprise. I convinced my entire family to attend the 2007 event. Never one to settle for mediocrity, the entire family checked into one of the upscale hotels (not the Rose Hall Resort) on the Rose Hall strip on the Friday afternoon ready and geared for the weekend. We bought VIP tickets and were quickly ushered to the front of the stage to a small enclosed area. After watching a few acts we agreed that there was no other way to do this but to sit right under the stage. What a pleasant event we thought! To our horror, each time a major act got on stage, people from the sky boxes descended up on the VIP area, blocking patrons who were already installed in the area as well as trampled on them. We complained but it fell on deaf ears! On top of it, the crowd was loud and boisterous and I can clearly proclaim that Jamaicans do not know how to behave themselves at these types of events. To make it worst, the Friday night billed many dance hall acts who, in my opinion, had no business at such an event, for they are neither jazz nor blues. We left the venue pissed as hell as we felt cheated of our VIP access. The next day we compared stories and incidents with friends who were sitting in the general area. One man plopped himself in front of a friend’s father, took out his ganja spliff and when asked to remove himself as he was blocking and choking those who were there already, he backed out his knife and was ready for a tumble. The goodly parents just backed off and accepted it for the rest of the night.
We were locked in as we had bought the weekend pass and even though 50% of our party had said that the organisers could stuff the money for Saturday’s ticket, we convinced them and again, we trekked back to the so called VIP section to be entertained. We were met at the entrance by security guards who told us that we couldn’t bring in our fold up chairs as VIP was only standing space. Where the hell were we to put the chairs we had on our backs? After several people came in, everyone eventually opened their chairs and dared the security to do something about it. When we looked around us, people were jumping the fence to come over to the section they had not paid for and nobody said anything to them. Again the sky box people invaded us and it was worst on the final night as more people seemed to have wanted only to attend on Saturday. As Earth Wind and Fire appeared, I took 2 pictures of them on stage and we left. What a fiasco! Never again!!
So, this time around, when I heard all my friends saying “Yeah man….wi haffi reach!!” I didn’t say a word….I was adamant that these people weren’t getting my money. I almost went down just for Saturday night but decided against it as memories from the previous year rushed in my head….hell no! I opened the papers this morning to see that Miss Diana Ross flopped the show and patrons were breathing fire. I am happy because I still have my US$80.00 in my pocket and a full tank of gas in my car. Based on the write up in the papers today, I would NEVER venture to Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues for the rest of my born days, especially when I can buy a ticket for the same cost and watch these same people in the comfort of an organised arena or stadium, where people know how to behave themselves. Everyone I spoke to on Friday stated that the main reason why they were not going was because of the bad behaviour and disorganisation from the pervious festival. My main pet peeve was that I felt ripped off with the VIP tickets! All that it is, is plain ole greed and trying to cram everyone into the place like tuna! Well to hell with that Festival…I will never ever ever ever ever return! As for Miss Diana Ross now dubbed “Miss Rass” (clawt), what you did was not nice…..the woman even lip-synched and the record scratched on her….ha ha ha! Any views?
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