EAST FEST has always been marketed as a family event. However, somebody should have reminded Capleton that he was performing at a family occasion while on the stage at East Fest on Sunday morning.
The reminder should have occurred as his expletive laced performance was a total departure from the artistes that performed in the early stages of the night. Artistes such as Beres Hammond, Gregory Isaacs, LUST and Marcia Griffiths all delivered clean performances. However, after Beres Hammond things changed. While Sizzla and Beenie man's performances were clean for the most part it was Capleton that let all hell break loose.
The artiste dubbed King Shango, opened his hyped and energetic performance with Bun Out Di Chi Chi as Good Year Oval welcomed him with the
traditional display of fireworks and flag waving. Several explosions were heard as the artiste encouraged the audience to wave their cell phones.
PROPHETIC
His remark that he would be creating history proved to be prophetic. As, at no time during the staging of East Fest as an artiste sworn so much on stage.
Obviously highly enthused for his performance, he ran off the stage when the crowd was screaming for him shortly after opening his set. His return saw him doing Badmind A Go Kill Dem. Several other hits preceded by expletives followed as he left the stage again with audience shouting for him.
Slew Dem, Tek It Off and several other numbers followed when he returned to the stage. It was in this segment that his foul tongue wagged freely. In all of this, the audience shrieked and cheered him on as he jumped, did knee lifts and screamed with delight while not completing a single song.
He ran off stage a third time and when he returned a police officer obviously annoyed by the artiste's behaviour came on stage behind him. The lawman, however, did not take further action as several persons in the deejay's entourage whispered to him the officer's intention.
After this, Capleton toned down and attempted to justify his use of profanities by saying that B__ C__ originated because of an African King and he was only paying tribute. However, in between all the expletives and homophobic statements he did manage to thrill the crowd.
LECTURES
But, apart from Capleton, East Fest was relatively clean. Sizzla let an expletive or two slip out as he went into one of his lectures about Babylon. However, for the most part his performance was controlled. His set saw hits from the mid 90s to the present.
Well supported by his hype men who waved flags and sang, Sizzla delivered songs such as Just One Of Those Days and got the raunchy segment rolling with Pump It Up, Give It To Them and several of his more bawdy efforts. The latter half of his set was more subdued and he paid tribute to the ladies before leaving.
Beenie Man's performance saw him jigging himself about while berating the fact that he had left his dancers behind. In between, the gibberish and the dancing he somehow managed to please East Fest and got some songs done. Songs such as Dude, Murderer and Red Red Red summed up the many moods of his set.
Earlier, perennial lovers' rock star, Beres Hammond delivered a hit filled 45-minute set. Women danced, men shrieked as Beres Hammond and the Harmony House Singers in tow skipped rocked and danced through songs such as Tempted To Touch, Rock Away, They Gonna Talk and snippets of other hits.
The 'cool ruler' Gregory Isaacs ruled his set that saw the audience wanting more of him while LUST and Marcia Griffiths also gave good performances.
Other artistes who performed included Morgan Heritage, Keteis, Mackie Conscious, Natty King, LMS and others completed the line up of a good event where the only draw back was the traffic snarl to leave the event.
