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2008 Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Fest
January 24–26, 2008
Montego Bay, Jamaica
From the moment I stepped off the plane in beautiful Montego Bay, Jamaica, I immediately felt the rush and excitement of the upcoming performances at the Jazz and Blues. With Grammy Award winners like Anita Baker, Jill Scott and Diana Ross set to perform, the excitement was inevitable.
Thousands of fans packed in to The Aqueduct on Rose Hall over the weekend for the 2008 Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival. And apart from a `diva-fied` reaction from Diana Ross, whom many fans had shelled out at least $80 U.S. to see, the event was a grand success.
Record crowds showed up for the three-day festival that included performances from international as well as local acts. On opening night, it was Anita Baker who turned up the temperature at Rose Hall a lot higher as she thrilled with hit after hit, including `Sweet Love, `Giving You The Best That I Got. ` And the music loving audience responded with a wonderful mix of camaraderie that visibly moved the Grammy-winning songstress as they sang word after word from her songs. Jamaica’s tourism minister, Ed Bartlett, also showed the singer some Jamaican hospitality, by giving her a birthday cake just moments into her 50th birthday Saturday morning.
African opera singer, Hugh Masekala, held the audience captive on Friday night as did Grammy singer and actress, Jill Scott. Prior to the show, Scott, said that her performance would be theatre-ish, and it was just that. Her splendid performance was filled with words and sounds that had the audience swaying to the sweet sultry vocals that included songs from all her albums including `Golden, ` and from her latest CD, `Hate On Me.` The much anticipated performance of Diana Ross on Saturday night, however, proved somewhat disappointing to many patrons who expected a very interactive set. Ross appeared to no introduction and did not acknowledge the audience. But it was her request to have all the monitors turned off for her performance that angered many patrons; some of whom countered with boos. Fans who turned to hear songs, including `I’m Coming Out, ` instead got, only vocals over speaker boxes and no image of their favorite singer.
Many were annoyed, as her performance seemed only for folks in VIP section of the event, as they were the only ones able to see her. The diva did, however, seem focused on wearing four glamorous outfits, but that was as good of her performance got. Minutes into her performance boos could be heard coming from several sections of the audience due to her demand of no magnified image of herself. This was not received well by people who paid top dollars and declared, `We were robbed.’
But despite Ross’ diva drama, the night’s show ended on a high with Trinidad-born singer, Billy Ocean, thrilling fans with an energetic performance that included all of his past favorites. It was up to Ocean to save the night and he did as he brought back mega hits like `Suddenly, ` `Get out of my Dreams, ` and `Lover Boy` among others The dreadlocked artist found favor with the largely Jamaican crowd who begged for an encore after which he brought up three beauties from the audience to close his set with the phenomenal, `Caribbean Queen.’ Christopher Martin, Nikki Yonofsky, Mary Mary, Chalice and Koko Taylor also added their soulful voices to the show.
- Storm
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