1 month ago
5
The crowd at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex in Montego Bay stood in anticipation in the early hours of Sunday morning as they waited for international headline act, R&B star Toni Braxton, to take the Reggae Sumfest stage. Before she appeared, Braxton’s dance team held their positions in preparation of her opening hit, He Wasn’t Man Enough.
To the audience’s pleasant surprise, the popular track started off as a mix of Braxton’s original song and African artiste Burna Boy’s smash hit Last Last, which samples the singer. The unexpected mix drew loud cheers, a response easy to understand given Burna Boy’s mutual love for Jamaica.
Braxton entered dancing across the stage, moving in sync with her dancers and exchanging smiles with fans who shouted and sang along.
However, early in the performance, it became clear there were sound issues. Her team could be seen signalling to the audio engineers, and several audience members began shouting, “Volume!”
The sound problems continued throughout the first two songs — the second being You’re Making Me High — which were the only portion of the set the media were permitted to witness directly from the press pit. After that, all media were required to leave the area until the end of Braxton's performance.
LIVESTREAM CUT
There was no live streaming of Braxton’s performance from the stage. Instead, the livestream was cut away, and YouTube viewers were shown clips from the festival’s archives and highlights of performances from Night One.
Fans in the live chat expressed their disappointment.
“It [has] been unfair to not see Toni Braxton on the stage,” one viewer commented.
“Why they couldn’t put Toni Braxton to perform last? Since we the livestream can’t see her performance,” another wrote.
As Braxton’s set unfolded in Montego Bay, the stream continued showing performances from Friday night, including Govana, Masicka, and Shaniel Muir.
“One Govana!!,” a viewer wrote, followed by fire emojis. Others were confused, asking, “Are these performances from last night? What’s happening?”
Despite the technical difficulties, Braxton continued her performance, occasionally pausing to check if the audience could hear her.
Although her set was scheduled for an hour, she closed a few minutes early with the smash hit Un-break My Heart, whose instrumental sent the crowd into a frenzy.
The multi-Grammy Award winner thanked her fans before exiting the stage, but the audience was left wanting more.
Braxton's Sumfest performance officially ended her more than 10-year hiatus from performing in Jamaica, which began after the Jazz and Blues Festival at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium.
The festival’s Night Two continued with reggae crooner Tarrus Riley and a tribute to reggae legend, Dennis Brown.
English (US) ·