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Photos By Salih A.R & Ayana M.

Reggae At The Ritz ... Buju Banton & Mavado Live
Date: Sunday 26th October 2008
Location: Ritz Theatre, 1148 East Jersey Street. Elizabeth, NJ
Promotions: Race Entertainment & Road Block Radio
Click on thumbnails to see the big picture/entire gallery

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Hey y’all! Hear nah! Pressha to get to this show. Yours truly was not driving unfortunately, so I had to rely on the good ole LIRR and NJT. For you non New Yorkers, I had to take the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station, then catch the New Jersey Transit train. Lawd, bess ah drove! It just took way too long and I was in fear of getting lost!!

Anywho, I arrived to meet the rest of the TJJ team already setting up. The show was scheduled to start at 8pm but the opening act set it off at 9pm. *sigh* Hey I‘m not bashing, but quite literally the audience responded with a thunderous BOOOOOOOOO!!" Even the MC for the night egged them on. Actually he said we should pretend like “Bush” pon de stage! My jaw was on the floor! Apparently this set the stage for what was to come.

Next up there was a dude singing yet another Obama song. He was lucky that almost every black person loves and supports B.O. for president or else he would have suffered the same fate as the first performer. BTW did I mention the sound system? Good grief, pressha pon mih earbell! One minute it was too loud and the next it was just off. Tsk tsk tsk.

Meanwhile, Mix Juice kept me up to speed with backstage coverage via txt. "I'm in a 15x15 room with three chairs, two strange men and a sink, but no toilet." Mmm kind of makes me glad that me and Text-a-holic Juice couldn't get in. Next text: "Cyant get close to the artists, still surrounded by strange rastas and one sink." LOL!!!! That whole backstage story was drama! Apparently one of the artists (I will not say who) showed up with an entourage of about 50 deep! The fire marshall said hell to the naw and shut it down! I literally saw people being thrown out complete with doors slammed!

At 9:32pm, Mavado‘s band entered stage right and stared warming up. First on was Erupt. He did an awesome job of delivering his hits like "Gal A Run Dem Head" and "Click Mi Finga". The crowd was ready! I could not quite understand the random on-stage delivering messages while he was performing ... huh? The joke was all the while he was performing, 'randoms' still trying to get backstage, side stage, frontstage ... stage stage!!! Lol!!!! I hear some folks paid $99 bucks to get front row access and could not even get there because of all the drama!

Well rhell bacchanal start when the MC introduced Mavado! Girls were outta control!!!! One had her dress almost past her neck ... no lie! The man himself buss on-stage at 9:44pm. Gaaaaansta for life! Wowie ... nuff bling!! Like we needed some darkers boy! Can you say blinged out Mickey Mouse pendant! His performance was awesome! The hits kept coming and the crowd got wilder! Whooo ... Money doh change we ... we a money changer ... next ting, I duckin' because it was raining promo CD’s! Lol!!!

I well perched on the edge of my seat now waiting for de bess chune ... you know de man only sang the first two lines and gone he gone!!! No eh!!! BTW ... was that really Mr. Slaughter I saw side stage?

At 10:48pm, the New Kingston Band set up for Buju Banton’s set. Now self the sound system gone clear ... mad feedback and several mic switches amongst the MC’s then it was Buju time! Lawd don’t you know the mic gone out!!! Tsk tsk tsk ... geez. Anyway, Buju patiently waited for the problem to be rectified and continued to mash down the Ritz! He mentioned that it was his first time there, so I think that he put a lil extra umph. Did I mention his fabulous Prada loafers? smile

There was a definite crowd change in the front. This time it was the grown and sexy acting wild. Buju poured so much energy into his performance that I think I got hit by some Buju sweat! After the first few bars of "Lover‘s Choice", I thought people were going to riot! Lol! He was really amazing!! It was my favorite performance of his to date.

Around 11:40pm, time up was up apparently and Buju pretty much said, “time yuh mumah!” and proceeded to further mash up de place with "Bogle"!!! He also spoke about the longevity of his controversial hit "Boom Bye Bye" and was very outspoken about his position. He graciously thanked the fans for their support over the years. "Driver"! "Murderer"! ... more classics! Hey the disorganization we all could have done without, but at least the artists delivered!

Petite out!
Getting a ride home and munching on Micky Dees!!!