The festival was scheduled to begin at 3pm but when West Indian Times arrived at 3:30pm we found the production team still setting up backstage.  Fortunately for us, we as a sponsor of the show, were granted all access to any area of the show including the stage.  This however was not the case for many other hard working press personnel who arrived early but due to the late set up they had to remain outside until their area was ready.  The late set up also delayed the  start of the show and the first artist ‘Alana De Costa’ did not appear on stage until 5:15pm.  Having said this, credit and nuff props must be given to the production crew managed by Luther because the show ran almost flawlessly through to the last act, band changes were timely, the sound was perfect, the MIC’s good and there was continuous presence on stage which was essential to keep the patron’s minds off the cold weather.   

The first act ‘Alana De Costa’ had a very strong, commanding voice and was well received by the early stragglers.   Up next was Becky Glacier who started out well singing a love song and then going into his second song there were problems with his tracks and he expressed to the engineers that he would not tolerate any bad mindedness with his tracks! 

After Becky Glacier came the New Kingston Band, an excellent band of four brothers headed by their father, Courtney Panton.  Their performance was exciting, energetic, humorous and they exuded sex appeal as they performed.  The crowd loved their renditions of Dennis Brown classics ‘Love & Hate’, ‘Should I’ and ‘Revolution’ as well as their own brand new single which set the girls on fire ‘In The Streets’.  Another crowd pleaser was their track ‘She Likes My Dredlocks’ and when all three of the brothers singing in front shook their hair loose the ladies went wild! 

Up next was Christopher Martin who has certainly matured as an artist and is mastering his craft, he no longer appears shy and in fact was in quite a giving mood taking off layers of clothing as the ladies shouted to him to bare his chest.  After performing ‘Jamaican Girl’ he had to take off his shirt for an extremely persistent patron who would not rest until he took off his clothes!  He sang a new track titled ‘Driver’ then a rendition of the  R&B hit ‘Loving You’ and also ‘Let’s Get It On’ and by this time he was pulling at his vest and teasing the ladies.  He exited the stage but was called back for an encore where Chris gave them what they wanted and he stripped to his bare chest in the freezing cold wind blowing off the ocean and sang a love song for the ladies.  He definitely left them feeling irie! 

Next was an intermission where the DJ played crowd pleasing oldies and the MC recognized all sponsors and then welcomed artist Etana to the stage.  Etana began her set with Dennis Brown’s Love & Hate which went down well with the crowd, she is an artist with strong lyrical content that speaks about the social injustices in Jamaica and around the world.  Everyone raved and sang along to tracks such as ‘Roots’, ‘Wrong Address’ ‘Warrior Love’ ‘I Am Not Afraid’ and even her rendition of Jimmy Cliff’s ‘Harder They Come’.  Her soft demeanor, smile and style was pure Etana and she certainly pleased the crowd. 

Daville was up next and hit the stage with ‘You’re All I Need’ and then went into a crowd favorite ‘Can’t Get Over You’ but it was when he sang ‘All  My Life’ and veteran artist Marcia Griffith joined him on stage to sing the duet that the crowd heated up and was in a frenzy.  Marcia was beautiful as usual and certainly smartly dressed from head to toe in winter attire.  Daville then sang on the Shanty Town riddim and the crowd loved it as he demonstrated a slow wine for the girls and he too bared his chest for the ladies and braved the frigid temperature.   He then sang ‘Always On My Mind’ and ended his set with ‘Missing You’ his latest single which was a hit with the crowd. 

Papa San was the next performer and hit the stage with a vengeance.  He had the crowd from his first note; they were suddenly a crowd that sounded like they were in a Holy Ghost Revival service!  Papa San had them calling out for Jesus and shouting Hallelujah as he and they danced and praised God.  Papa San sang Old Time Religious songs and Reggae Gospel on dancehall riddims and he called on the people to stop the war and violence and turn their lives over to God as only God can save them and help them.  It was a wonderful, uplifting performance and he was loved by the crowd. 

After Papa San there was an intermission with DJ 1-800-Bunji and DJ Pro.  They called on dancers who did the ‘Nuh Linga’ as the DJ’s announced that things would soon get hotter as Beenie Man, Movado and Bounty were ready and would be performing soon.  Chris Dubmaster from Irie Jam radio in NY sporting his ICM/Obamafest hat introduced Queen Ifrica to the stage. 

It was Queen Ifrica’s first time on the big stage in Florida and the Queen, who is a magnificent performer wowed the crowd with her lyrics and the delivery of her songs.  She opened with ‘Nuh Rub’ a track denouncing the use of bleaching creams and then she spoke about how certain people have a bag of locks on their head and are not real Rasta.  "There are some people who are given a hard time by Rasta because they don’t have locks but these people need to tell these Ras that they are ‘plain clothes Rasta’" she said, which delighted the crowd!  She then went into ‘Natty Fi Grow’ as the patrons sang along with her, loving her style.  Ifrica then told the audience that she loved her Caribbean people and all other people but she was going to let them know exactly who Queen Ifrica is and what she is all about.   She said she is not about jumping up, dancing, having a merry time and getting a big forward, but said she loved the audience for their appreciation and they made her feel good, but she had to share with the people that Jamaica is deteriorating, she said; “the criminals are sodomizing 11 year olds and chopping them up, they are raping 9 month old babies, so I say to you with no apology, if you know anyone at all who is contributing to the sending of guns to Jamaica tell them to stop it because guess what?  The Government down deh nuh love we, in the space of one week there have been 5 children under the age of 10 killed by gun violence and no state of emergency has been called on the Island!  In America you have Barack Obama who triumphed with the support of his woman, so if you as a woman, have a man who ah suffah, have a man interested in gun violence, you need fi mad him till him sey no to guns, mad him till him sey no to homosexuality, till him sey no to alcohol and all things that are destroying us as black people!”  The crowd went wild and she proceeded to sing ‘Randy’ for all the women in the garrisons who have lost a man to gun violence.  The place got even hotter when she performed ‘Below The Waist’ with the patrons blowing horns and screaming for more so she gave them ‘Daddy’ and ‘Keep It To Yourself’.  Queen Ifrica was most certainly a big hit with the crowd and for the time she was on stage they were certainly heated. 

Tony Rebel was next on stage and kept the fire blazing.  He mashed up the place with all his hits, he was amazing as he worked the stage from side to side, satisfying the patrons with his catalog of music such as ‘Chatty Chatty’, ‘Fresh Vegetable’, ‘Know Jah’ ‘Just Friends’ and when he sang ‘Sweet Jamaica’ he performed it straight and then delighted the crowd when he changed the lyrics to: “Mi done know George Bush ah eediot from him ah spend millions down ah Iraq, likkle after dat mi sey di Wall Street crash an di poor people dem cant find no job, what a lucky ting seh foreigner vote fi Barack!”  Tony’s humorous lyrics about George Bush and what he has done to the US economy had everyone in stitches and he was a hit with the crowd. 

At 10pm Spragga hit the stage and with his usual bad man style was a hit with the men and the ladies in the crowd.  He can sure turn on the charm while keeping the bad man persona and as he promised in the ICM Fest press conference the day before, he performed his entire older catalog which the crowd loved.  Spragga who hyped up the crowd was dressed in all white and wore a red bandana around his neck which he said was in remembrance of his son Carlyle who was recently murdered by police in Jamaica.  While Spragga was performing I took the time out to speak to Bobby Clarke the CEO of Irie Jam Media in New York, I asked him how come Spragga had never been on the Irie Jam Festival which takes place every Labor Day weekend in New York and as Bobby watched Spragga’s performance he replied, “You know what, I have no idea why he hasn’t been on the show but he definitely will be, very soon, what I have seen so far, he’s doing great.”  At 10:15pm Spragga called Mr. Vegas onto the stage and delighted the crowd, he looked very dapper in his grey silk suit as he performed some of his crowd favorites such as ‘Heads High’, ‘Tek Whey Youself’ and ‘Hot Wuk.’   However, Mr. Vegas also spent a great deal of time singing Reggae Gospel also and urging the crowd of patrons to turn to God.  He sang ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ to the delight of the crowd.  Mr. Vegas said some people move like they don’t respect the God that they all learnt about growing up as youths and he went into ‘When the Roll Is Called up Yonder’, and ‘Send Down The Rain.’  Mr. Vegas then performed a few lovers rock oldies which had the patrons singing along and during his time on stage he never once mentioned his very recent public announcement that this would be his last performance on live stage as he was retiring.  Spragga took the time to big up Stephen Marley who was in the audience and all of the Marley family.  He then gave a shout out to all of the Buffalo soldiers, to Obama and everyone and proceeded to sing the Bob Marley tune ‘Buffalo Soldier’ with the crowd singing loud and strong with him.  At 10:30 Mr. Lexx joined them on stage as they sang ‘Turn Your Lights Down Low’ and the audience was very surprised to see him and they delighted in his performance also.   

There was a short intermission with Richie B’s from Florida spinning music while Papa Keith hyped up the crowd and then Richie B from Hot 102fm in Jamaica introduced Sean Kingston.  This was the only time that there was a flaw in the production as Sean did not immediately enter the stage and the sound system was turned off.  By this time the crowd was freezing and this was not a good thing to do to them at this point.  At 11:30pm DJ Richie B from Jamaica once again introduced Sean Kingston and out came DJ Denero, Sean Kingston’s DJ, singing Hip-Hop and soon after Sean Kingston came out singing ‘Me Love’ and the crowd showed him love as he began his set.  After 12 minutes on stage Sean talked about his upcoming album and the collaborations he had done with artists such as Alicia Keyes and T Pain and he also spoke about doing an MTV reality show and then went into ‘Shorty Can I Take You There’ which the crowd loved.  Then Sean brought on stage one of the young artists on his record label who is called ‘Mighty’.  The young artist first mistake was to walk on stage with a Heineken bottle in his hands and he also sounded horrid!  Well, the freezing crowd began to boo him and instead of just letting him go off stage, Sean stopped the music and asked the crowd “what are you really saying my people?” and they booed even louder!  Sean looked so hurt and began to tell them that everywhere he goes he big up Jamaica and Jamaica people and he is Jamaican and loves Jamaica, this made it worse and they booed more!  Then his mother hit the stage and made motions with her hands as if to say ‘get whey’ and they booed more, then Sean began singing ‘Beautiful Girl’ and this calmed the crowd as he smiled and sang and won them over again.  After that track Sean Kingston left the stage and the tough audience.   

Next there was a quick band change to the Ruff Cutt band in readiness for the main headline artists.  While they set up Renaissance Sound System played music and Richie B from Jamaica advised the crowd that at Sting this year in Jamaica, Movado and Vybez Kartel promised to settle the argument and this brought a huge roar from the crowd who seemed to be ready for that particular battle.  

Then MC Nuffy and DJ Richie Poo introduced Beenie Man to the stage at 12:20am.  Beenie looked like Prince Charming in his long flowing gold princely jacket and white pants, and he touched the stage with pure smiles for his audience.  The people went wild for Beenie and he went into his catalog of music as they sang along.  He could do no wrong and when he stopped and said that although he never got all his money from the promoter, money is not what makes him and he would never disappoint his fans as it is all about them who support him and love him.  He also said that Bounty is his artist and he has respect for Movado and he has no problem working before them, he was there for the audience.  He kept asking them who they came to see and they shouted ‘Beenie’ over and over and over.  He danced, sang, joked with them and literally warmed up the now freezing crowd who were enjoying themselves immensely.  At around 12:45am, I was advised by the stage manager to leave as this would be the last act and he did not want me around in case the patrons got angry that the other acts were not coming on stage.  So Mr. Cham and I left the venue with Laura from Big Up Radio just as Beenie was finishing up.  We were frozen and it was a relief to be able to get to the warm car.  But how awful for the loyal Bounty and Movado fans who had braved the freezing temperatures to wait until the end to see them and they did not show.   We heard from patrons who stayed until the end that after Beenie exited the stage an MC told them where to go for the after party and that was it.  “Like it was no big deal, I felt so stupid again, it was a repeat of Best of the Best when Movado did not show in Florida, I was hoodwinked again by Movado and his cronies” said one Alliance fan.   

Now to set the record straight, we were told by the promoter that Movado and Bounty were in Miami at the promoter's expense, at the hotel which the promoter provided, and when asked to take a pay cut because the cold had kept away thousands of paying fans the Alliance refused and said they would not perform at the show.    However, according to the promoter, Bounty and Movado did attend and perform at an after party, not the official after party at the Bayside Hut, but one that the Alliance had put together apparently with the promoter's deposit.  So, unlike the very professional, thoughtful Beenie Man, the Alliance did not care about the patrons or the music it was all about them and so once again they did not care about letting down their fans. 

The bad thing is that promoters will keep on promising to pay the ridiculous fees that these artists demand and if the promotion does not go as expected it will always be the patrons who suffer.  It is amazing to me how some artists can really demand for 45 minutes work what some people make in the US for a whole year.  What kind of mindset do they have when they can walk away with thousands of dollars in deposit money and still not touch the stage for even 10 minutes?   

Nuff respect to Anchor/Minott promotions for keeping the show, Delroy Escoffery, one of the promoters of the ICM Fest said "I don't know why the Father allowed the weather to change like that, but we hope that everyone continues to support ICM Fest in the future." 

Props also have to be given to all the artists who performed and gave their best, there were no halfway performances, everyone performed to the fullest and big up to all the patrons and media personnel who love reggae music and braved the frigid temperatures out there on Virginia Key Beach in Miami.  

We now know who the real men and women of Reggae are and who are the little boys.