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Organisers might chop Sumfest line-up

What could have been perhaps the best executed Reggae Sumfest in recent times was flawed by long band changes on night two of the festival held at Catherine Hall in Montego Bay on Saturday. Many patrons were upset about the length of time they had to wait in between band changes for the next act to grace the stage. They also expressed annoyance at the awkward silence that took over the venue during these changes.

Aware of the grievances expressed by some patrons, Sumfest’s Robert Russell told THE STAR that come next year, organisers will be doing their best to ensure the experience is not repeated.

He told THE STAR that a big part of the time issue was that there were too many acts booked on the night, and each of the 16 acts wanted to work with their own band. “To be honest, we had too many bands. Everybody had their own band and that was the problem. We didn’t have that problem on a Friday night because several artistes performed with the same band,” he said, explaining that booking fewer artistes for the Saturday night may also help to solve the time issue that plagued the show this year. Russell also pointed out that while there were complaints, there were persons who were happy for the band changes as it gave them the opportunity to get themselves refreshed. He also said that had the audience been entertained during these breaks, persons might not have paid attention to the wait time.

He revealed that organisers are already talking about improving in that area as well.