Did anyone check out Ottawa Reggae fest last weekend?

[Velvet]

I wanted to check it out but couldn't. I heard they only got about 100 people. Anyone here go?

[Freak By Night]

I was out of town but I wouldn't have gone anyway. But here's what a friend of mine e-mailed me about it:

"We went to the Reggaefest on Saturday. Ohhhh man did it ever suck.

Turnout was really low. I think the Volunteers outnumbered the Audience.

Musically, it sure wasn't Reggae. They had a DJ booth & then a whole bunch of different rappers.

I didn't see a musical instrument on stage the entire day.

We left around 8pm. Apparently one the headliners didn't show & the other one left after 20 minutes.

Not good.

I rode by on Sunday: they had real bands, but crowds were still ultra-sparse. The event headliner, Shaggy played for 40 minutes.

(day pass was $65).

Not sure what happened - the festival was geared for big things, but folks never came.

Apparently last year was a big success. Wondering if it was same format, everyone came. Hated it.

Gave it a big miss this year."

[ollie]

How was security? Sounds like it'd be hard to be stealth in that crowd.

[Freak By Night]

Here's a further e-mail from my buddy:

"What were the Reggae-fest guys were thinking? .... they were definitely thinking really big, with no consideration for the "what if's".

As a white guy from the suburbs, if someone holds an event called reggae-fest, with a stylized Bob Marley as a logo, I got certain expectations. Let's say a Black Guy rapping with a Jamaican accent ain't it.

Anyway it looked mighty lonely in the Heineken VIP Section ($200 Weekend pass!)."

[Northern Wish]

No one went last year either..... I worked the stage and there were more of us in Production shirts than in the crowd. Totally disorganized and poorly managed (I didn't get my paycheck!), to the point that Snow left the site as he was concerned he wasn't going to get paid. It took a money order to get him to come back and play his headlining set, which was 40 minutes played to about 100 people (of whom at least 60 were wearing comp bracelets).

S

[Velvet]

That's too bad. It certainly wasn't advertised very well.

[M.O.B.E]

Musically, it sure wasn't Reggae. They had a DJ booth & then a whole bunch of different rappers.

I didn't see a musical instrument on stage the entire day.

Those 'black' rappers are actually called DeeJay's and the people who play the music are the Selectah, so yeah it probably was REAL reggae. From what I saw of the line-up it would have been a great afternoon [color:blue]for me.

As a white guy from the suburbs, if someone holds an event called reggae-fest, with a stylized Bob Marley as a logo, I got certain expectations. Let's say a Black Guy rapping with a Jamaican accent ain't it.

Bob was just one man, and one thats 28+ years dead. I know people expect certain things when they see his face but a little more open mindedness would go a long way. Besides that and last time I checked...Bob was a "Black Guy rapping with a Jamaican accent"

Reggae is a tricky sell and for the most part close-minded, stereotyping, white people should stay away from it because they dont understand the music or the culture. Promoters should start trying to sell it to the appropriate crowds. I would love to see this guy's response if an artist like Movado or Bounty Killer were there singing all gunman tunes.

[Jay Funk Dawg]

I thought Collie Buddz played to a huge crowd last year... am I mistaken?

House of David was asked to play last year, but then they never got back to us - however our bass player did go up and back up some name guy.

[Northern Wish]

You must be mistaken.... They played to a huge field for sure.

[Jay Funk Dawg]

They posted a picture of Collie Buds playing last year to at least 1,000 people on their facebook page last year - that must have been a photo of him playing somewhere else... !!

[Blurry]

close-minded, stereotyping, white people should stay away from it

sounds like they did ;^)

[Freak By Night]

Hey, my buddy bought tickets for himself and his wife and attended - that's pretty open minded!

At least Bob Marley had guitar, bass, and drums accompanying his "rapping".

[Velvet]

Reggae is a tricky sell and for the most part close-minded, stereotyping, white people should stay away from it because they dont understand the music or the culture. Promoters should start trying to sell it to the appropriate crowds.

boo

hiss

boo

“These songs, people understand them or they can’t understand them, but you have to sing them just the same.â€

-Bob Marley

I think that 28-years dead guy would agree that reggae is not strictly for preaching to the converted.