Beenie Man stuck to his words when he did not appear at ‘Sting’ on Boxing Day but this was only to the delight of some persons.
‘Sting’ promoter Isaiah Laing cites the absence of Beenie Man from his 25-year-old show as one of the reasons why it did not have its usual hype.
“People always want to see Beenie on Sting. Once Bounty (Killer) is on it, they always want to see the other half. Beenie and Bounty together pull a large crowd. If it is only one of them, they will pull two-thirds the normal crowd. They have been at odds for years so people want to hear what one is going to say about the other,” said Laing.
He said he did not have a record of the total number of persons that were at the show but the crowd was notably smaller. However, the audience may have been smaller due to an increase in the ticket prices. The tickets were sold for $2,000 at the gate and $1,500 presold, which is at least $300 more than the cost for 2006.
Some fans support the idea that Beenie was missed. Dwight, a fan of Beenie Man for many years, believes Beenie Man was missed at the show, which he has closed on several occasions.
“Of course he (Beenie Man) was missed. Sting was boring an’ mi know seh if him neva perform, it woulda boring. Apart from Busy, nobody else neva really perform. Alliance jus’ run some tune an’ everybody else jus’ follow da pattern deh. The anticipated acts like Spice an’ Ninja Man sets were too short,” he added.
However, not everyone missed Beenie. “Him fans dem miss him but he was not missed overall. Dem (promoters) build the show ‘roun him so dat yuh don’t miss him ’cause yuh have Vbyz Kartel an’ di empire a do dem ting, Spice and Alliance gwaan good,” says Mikey, who has been a patron at the show for more than five years.
Laing questions why people thought the show was weak as the performances were good, especially those from Jah Cure, Vybz Kartel, Aidonia, Bounty Killer and Spice.
“Some people say the performances were weak but some patrons have called to say that this was one of the best ones (Sting). There were no incidents so I don’t know if that is the reason they thought Sting did not sting,” said the promoter who says ‘Sting’ is still one of the greatest one-night shows on earth.
Source: JamaicaStar
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