The Mad Bull's Blog

January 15, 2006

Welcome to Jamrock - the concert.

Greetings in the name of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie the first... you know, I think that I have waited too long to write a review of the Damien Marley concert of Friday night... its like the vibe from the concert is not hot in my blood anymore, its gone stale. Any discussion of the concert will therefore lack the passion that the event really engendered in I-an-I.

As such, I won't go "In Too Deep" with the details of the concert. I will just give you some general impressions that remain with I-an-I.

They got a nice little crowd at the venue. The bar was well stocked and they did have sufficient people serving so that you didn't have to wait too long to slake your thirst.
I only saw three of the acts they had up before Mr. Marley. The first, I have no idea who they were or what they were doing... its like they were just providing background music at a cocktail party or something...
the next act was a rap trio & a couple of their friends. The trio call themselves CBR. They were decent, and at least one of the songs they belted out should be recorded, it should do well... One of the rappers actually used to work at the same company I used to work at (Big up, Jason, you Large!), and it was not a surprise to me to see him up on stage, because he always seemed to have such a livewire character, you know... the center of attention, literally!
The act which immediately preceeded Damien's stage entry was the Impulse band, which is a local band and they were quite good. They had the audience nicely warmed up for Damien too. The only bad thing I can say against them is that they didn't have the sound worked out quite right, IMHO.
Damien's band entered the stage and it was obvious they had done their work re sound checks and ting! They sounded excellent. Damien's backup singers were also excellent. Those ladies can really sing. His bassist seemed to be "Cat" Coore's son. He was excellent. The lead guitarist was awesome! The entire band was tight.
Damien was also excellent. He has a very good stage presence, unlike Sean Paul. He performed many of the songs from the "Welcome to Jamrock" album and he had the audience in the palm of his hand! He also belted out a few songs from "Half Way Tree" and also his signature song, "A Me Name Jr. Gong". The people lapped it up.
There were many, many people of a non-Caribbean persuasion up front giving him plenty "Forwards", flashing up their lighters or waving their cell phones in the air on command. He does seem to have generated some excitement in the non Caribbean audience, and I am happy for him for that. It was very interesting to watch these same people singing along with the Gong as he belted out the "Jamaica, Jamaica" in the song "Welcome to Jamrock", let me tell you.
He performed for about two hours, it was exciting throughout and he never seemed tired or anything. He seemed like he was loving it. A great performance.

There was this girl standing at the back of the stage throughout his performance... I had the distinct impression that she was his woman, but I might be wrong. If she is his woman, well, Junior Gong has great taste. She looked something like the actress Patricia Velasquez (pictured above) who played Anck Su Namun, the wife of Pharoah Seti I, in the movie "The Mummy". Yes, she sort of looked like Anck Su Namun, but with different hair, more clothes and even prettier!

I don't know if she shampoos his locks and ting, but she certainly looks as though the song "Beautiful" should be dedicated to her!

Something else I found interesting... Damien travelled to Cayman with his own security detail. Guess who he hired to do the job? Nuh Hawkeye Security, rasta! They had to subdue a rambunctious fan after Junior Gong left the stage (I know because I went backstage and saw them at work) and they did so easily and at the same time, in a humane manner, keeping the rough stuff to a minimum.

After the guy was handcuffed, they sat him down and also, talked him down. They even wiped the sweat off his face and ting! Nuff respect to them for the way they handled the situation, after all, the guy was probably just a bit too drunk, you done know. We've all been there, am I right?

Hawkeye also provide the panic button and security patrol for my Mamacita, back in Jamaica! I think they are doing a great job and so I am giving them this unsolicited advertisement. Big up, Hawkeye!

Updated 01:16pm : Actually I just checked, there is a local Hawkeye Security company and the security guards may well have been from there, though they were certainly all Yardies! I wonder if there is any connection between the Jamaican company and the Caymanian one? Hmmm... a matter for future research, I suppose... My bigup to the Jamaican Hawkeye still stands, and let me extend a big up to the Caymanian Hawkeye, since the security guards were most likely from there...

Posted by Mad Bull at January 15, 2006 12:09 PM

Comments

Sean Paul really sucks in live performances.Was such a let down when I saw him.I hope Damian makes it to SVG sometime soon-pity they couldn't bring him in for the election fetes eh

Posted by: kami on January 15, 2006 07:36 PM

NIce review of the show. You could send it to the news paper in Cayman. It seem Jr. Gong is quite an entertainer, I've seen the shows on TV and they seem quiet entertaining. I didn't see you mention anything about the energetic Flag Bearers"! I didn't know Jr. Gong was a Santa fan, in him red and white!

Posted by: stunner on January 16, 2006 01:10 AM

Actually, Stunner, that was not what Jr. Gong wore on Friday. Thats a picture I got off the internet. My camera is too big and clunky to carry to a concert, rasta. I am planning to get one of those little pocket ones you can carry anywhere, but until then.... I will link to pictures of the concert as and when they become available on the Partysurfers website.
Thanks also for reminding me about the flag bearer. I had meant to comment about him. About the only member of the performing crew/band who didn't seem to be having such a wonderful time was the flag bearer, who had his movement restricted because the stage was way too small for him to really get on with his usual antics... to keep the flag moving, he had to be moving his hand from side to side, rather that running and jumping around as he usually does, and he had to be especially careful not to get in the way of Junior Gong. He really worked hard though, his arm muscles must've been tired at the end of the concert...

Posted by: Mad Bull on January 16, 2006 06:28 AM

Good review. Yuh can soon start some media work...show critic. Wonder if it pays as well as the IT business.

Posted by: scratchie on January 16, 2006 08:08 AM

Sounds like you had a good time.

I like the Welcomne to Jamrock song....but still overall not o fan of the Gong....

Sean Paul must stick to CDs.

Posted by: Dr. D. on January 16, 2006 08:13 AM

Hi Mad Bull-thanks for the review. I will certainly try and make Damien concert in the future. Love him.

Posted by: sunshine on January 16, 2006 01:38 PM

Ditto on the Sean Paul performance. He has such nice songs and just flops them whenever he performs, e.g., BET New Year's Eve party.

The crazed fan was a guy ... dat nuh look right at all.

Posted by: CoolDestiny on January 16, 2006 06:37 PM

Great review. Thanks

Posted by: Rose on January 16, 2006 11:26 PM

ok concensus is that sean paul live sucks, got to remember that.

Posted by: jdid on January 17, 2006 12:08 AM

Hey MadBull,

Happy New Year! Thanks for weighing in on the homosexuality debate. Anyway, I saw Jr. Gong in New York in December and haven't gotten around to reviewing him yet. Too late now, probably. As you describe, great professionalism on his part except for the group of what seemes to be his friends who were onstage the whole time, as well as someone who is probably the same woman that you mention and who is, I believe, his girlfriend. I have to say it was quite distracting because I was really close to the stage and she was literally on it. I think it's great that she is so supportive of him but sooner or later they are going to have to make a decision as to whether she is going to be part of the show or not. (She was certainly dressed like she should have been!) Otherwise, she really should stay backstage or join the audience. One thing though, she didn't look like the picture you showed. She was much curvier and looked a litle more mid-eastern, IMHO.

Posted by: alice on January 17, 2006 10:40 PM