Photo: American R&B artiste Mario

R&B stars Mario, Bobby Valentino here in May
Early Bird Borders Festival tickets on sale


American R&B artistes, Mario and Bobby Valentino have been added to the international cast for the May 26-28 Borders Festival, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.

Mario will perform on Electric Saturday. The 30-year-old singer/songwriter is best known for his single “Let Me Love You”. The popular song earned Mario two Billboard Music Awards, as well as a Grammy Award nomination for “Best Male R&B Vocal Performance”.

Mario has also performed “How Do I Breathe” and “Just A Friend”. His latest single, “Let Me Help You” was released last December. Mario is also an actor, record producer and model.

Bobby Valentino is set to give Borders Festival patrons a treat on Super Sunday. The man known as Bobby V made a major breakthrough in 2005 with the hit single “Slow Down”, which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s US Top R&B Chart and No. 8 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Another Bobby V hit, “Anonymous” featured multiple Grammy Award-winning artiste Timbaland.


Photo: American R&B artiste Bobby Valentino

More international acts for the 2017 Borders Festival will be announced at a later date.

American singer Jhené Aiko was originally listed to perform on Electric Saturday. Regrettably, she has been pulled from the cast due to logistic difficulties. Aiko has a show one day later in her hometown of Los Angeles, and returning to the west coast of the United States in time to perform on May 28 proved too challenging.

The inaugural Borders Festival will kick off on May 26 with “Legends Friday”, a full-length tribute concert featuring local legends of calypso and soca, including David Rudder and Shadow.

Giving a glowing endorsement of the festival at December’s launch, Sports Company (SporTT) chairman Michael Phillips said the Crawford Stadium/Borders combination is ideal for the three-day event, explaining that the venue “lends to the success and the brand of hosting something of this magnitude”.

Early Bird VIP tickets go on sale on Tuesday, March 28 at selected locations: Woodford Café (Chaguanas), Richard’s (West Mall) and Salad Café (Ariapita Avenue). Early Bird General tickets will be on sale at the same locations from Wednesday, March 29.

General and VIP prices increase after limited Early Bird tickets are sold out.

Borders Festival chairman/founder Sheldon Monderoy said that Luxury All-Inclusive & Backstage All-Inclusive passes are only available by email request to kim@bordersfestival.com and sheldon@bordersfestival.com.

The Backstage Ultra Premium All-Inclusive passes will include backstage access to all four stages, a bungee jump, a “Backstage VIP” lanyard and wristband, and access to two all-inclusive areas. These tickets will be hand-delivered to patrons.

TICKET PRICES
Early Bird General Pass: Day 1 - $200; Day 2 - $200; Day 3 - $300
Early Bird VIP Pass: Day 1 - $400; Day 2 - $400; Day 3 - $500
Luxury All-Inclusive (Premium Drinks & Buffet): Day 2 - $800; Day 3 - $900
Backstage Ultra Premium All-Inclusive: Day 2 - $2000; Day 3 - $2000