Concerts in St Lucia, particularly dancehall events likely won’t be looked at with as much anticipation much due to recent developments in the island’s entertainment industry. With much hesitation some die hard fans of Jamaican dancehall artiste Mavado went out to buy tickets to IG Entertainment’s ‘Mavado and Friends’ show while others decided to wait it out amidst rumours that the artiste would not show up.
Set for Saturday, February 11 at the Beausejour Cricket Grounds the event was also expected to feature Gyptian, Peter Ram, Laza Morgan, T-ON and a showcase of St Lucia’s best Reggae talent. Lo’ and Behold on Saturday, not for the first time Mavado fans were left holding tickets to a show that would not take place.
Mavado has in the past failed to perform at two highly promoted concerts in St Lucia and the third time certainly wasn’t the charm for IG Entertainment. As a move to reassure fans of his performance a short video was posted to Youtube on January 31 less than two weeks before the event featuring the artiste expressing: “Me Mavado aka the Gully God, the first time ever in St Lucia and this one is real okay, at the cricket ground, you done know . . . Gully God will be there live.” After speaking to his fans in St Lucia the artiste whose real name is David Constantine Brooks dropped a few lines from his mega hits “Delilah” and “Destiny” for good measure.
Despite the effort some still weren’t convinced and rightly so. Fans wanted to hear the artiste in a live radio interview—anything so they could be sure the show would run smoothly and they would finally get to see Mavado’s long overdue performance in St Lucia. Tickets were still being sold on Saturday by some vendors even after rumours surfaced that the show would not go on. At least one vendor, LIME stopped selling show tickets from early in the day.
By Saturday afternoon BlackBerry Messenger
held a mixture of news, some people saying that the artiste was on island but had not received a down payment, rumours the promoter would later deny.
On Sunday Alliance Jamaica retweeted comments from users via Twitter including: “There’s something fishy about this promoter” and “Everybody is saying Mavado didn’t show up, did the promoters and his agent really come to an agreement?”
Earlier tweets from Alliance Jamaica posted on the day of the show read: “All Mavado fans in St Lucia who bought tickets for tonight please be aware the show is being rescheduled. Unfortunately the promoter did not fulfill her obligations to either artiste. She is trying to get her act together for February 22 now. This is no fault of Mavado or Gyptian who is also on the show. As soon as things are ironed out with promoters a new date will be announced.”
On Saturday the STAR posed the question: “So once again a Mavado show has been cancelled in St Lucia due to unspecified reasons. Is anyone sensing a pattern here? Is the problem the promoters or Mavado himself? Are Jamaican artistes unreliable?”
Immediately the comments started rolling in.
“We need to put things in place so the audience will not be the ones who pay for these mistakes,” Longly Francois wrote. “Thank God I didn’t buy a ticket because how will I get my money back? What is in place for such situations and who is to blame is it the promoters or the artiste? I am tired of hearing about missed flights and such nonsense. These things need to be addressed as it affects my pocket and others who actually want to go to these shows.”
Another online reader added: “The show never took place now I’m hearing it has been rescheduled. If the show goes on without Mavado to me it’s false advertising. These people are just taking your hard earned money for a joke. My friends and I brought tickets on the basis that he was going to be here and I don’t agree with replacing him with artistes we did not pay to see. We should get the opportunity to get our money back and if we want to go see these other acts it’s our decision. I want my money back. That’s not the way to do business. I’m not interested in the show any more and I’m sure many people share the same sentiments.”
Shane Theodore one of the promoters first graced with a Mavado no show in St Lucia declined giving an update on whether his situation with the artiste had been resolved but told this reporter: “I can’t say
nothing much about that, I’m not even studying it. Nobody likes a no-show. When
you take someone’s deposit and don’t show up that’s [word deleted]. People are paying you to do a job. It’s a sad situation when there’s a no-show. He was due to perform three times and never performed. The second time was no fault of his—the promoter at the time had no money to pay for the venue so they cancelled. This time he did not come. It’s not good for his reputation.”
The STAR spoke with Radio Caribbean International’s (RCI) MacNaughton McLean who said he’d been apprised of the situation when the promoter made an appearance at the studio over the weekend.
“It’s clear the promoter made every effort to get him down; she even sent additional money for airline tickets after he missed the first flight because she thought it wasn’t intentional,” McLean said. “He missed the second flight so she has to assume he never had any intention to come. I don’t think you can blame the promoter in this instance. There have been several instances where promoters have not met all obligations so the artistes don’t show up but in this instance all the required deposits, airlines tickets and things required for the artiste to perform were met. It’s left to be seen whether she met all requirements in the event management aspect.”
The promoter reportedly made her way to the radio station with detailed information and correspondence between herself and artiste’s management.
“She was corresponding with them and she has evidence to prove it,” McLean said. “I think the artiste never intended to come to St Lucia and that may be linked to the first event where he did the same thing.
“It’s a bit hard because they have spent their hard earned money to purchase tickets for the artiste not to turn up so I can sympathize with her. I must say RCI was not a promoter for this event. We are in the business of selling airtime and we sponsored part of airtime for the event and that is our full involvement. At no time has RCI put on a show and had the acts not show up.”
The STAR was able to reach promoter, IG Entertainment’s Nicole Rollins this week and she announced a new date for the show, Tuesday, February 21 (the eve of Independence Day). Rollins said she was working to find a new venue and would be providing updates shortly.
“She’s quite livid at this point,” McLean added.
“I was there in studio and she broke down and started to cry live on the air. She has expended so much money, time and effort to put this thing together only to have the show quashed.”
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