Early performances from Psycho and Maddish (members of Red Rat’s Brat Kamp), Delly Ranks and Mr. Easy warmed the crowd while the sun set. However it was the wassi performance of Trinidadian Soca Diva Denise Belfon that shifted the audience’s gears into overdrive as she gave the largely Jamaican audience a lesson is Trini wining. After an energetic performance of “Hard Wuk”, Belfon rode the Dwali Riddim with a new track titled “Strickly Dickly” wining the approval of the women in audience and wowing the men with her hardcore wining.

Fellow Trini Machel Montano followed Belfon with his largely Ragga-Soca set that leaned a little more towards the Ragga side. Montano performed his “Big Phat Fish” switching from soca to the Black Shadow rhythm (popularized by Sean Paul’s “Gimmie Da Light.”) Machel then brought a Trini woman from the audience for yet another demonstration on Trini wining during his hit “Big Truck.”

Red Rat made an exciting entrance riding unto the stage on a motorcycle and followed with a wicked performance of his dancehall classics including “Tight up Skirt”, and a preview of the tracks from his upcoming CD. Rat was the first of the many entertainers to address the sniper, encouraging the audience to big-up all the Jamaicans who have done and are doing positive works naming Bob Marley, Marcus Garvey, Colin Powell and others. He was then joined onstage by a group on dancers who helped him demonstrate the latest Jamaican dances, before introducing the audience to his hilarious Tourist Dance.

Tanto Metro and Devonte followed dressed in army fatigues and performed from their arsenal of hits including “everyone falls in love sometime.” Reggae’s dynamic duo’s crowd pleasing set included Tanto’s boasting that he had “50 voices” and as Devonte challenged him, he performed dead-on impersonations of Deejays such as Buju, Spragga and even singers such as Gregory Issacs and Beres Hammond.

The hot artist of the moment Sean Paul took the stage by storm and it seemed as if he was bent on proving that he was neither a one-hit wonder or overnight sensation by singing all of his older hits including “Deport Them”, and “Infiltrate” in chronological order, before launching into his mega-crossover hit “Gimmie Da light” which sent lighters and torches in the air. Paul’s current success appeared to provide a boost of confidence into his once tepid stage act.

The Dancehall quartet T.O.K. literally brought the fire to the stage in an explosive set accented with pyrotechnics provided by Advance Sound. The group’s performance of their hits including “Chi-Chi Man” to well-choreographed moves kept the audience in awe, but it was their Dj-ing in harmony and acapella that showed the crowd just how talented this young group really is.

One of the many MC’s, 99 Jamz DJ Poppa Keith introduced special guest Vibes Cartel and Assassin, both protégées of Spragga Benz who was also backstage. The young up and coming entertainers kept the crowd busy during the band change. The veterans Half Pint and Yellowman followed backed by the Sagittarius Band. Half Pint’s dancehall classics including ”Greetings” went over surprisingly well with the young audience. Yellowman’s energetic performance of his classics including “Mr. Chin” and “I’m getting married” reminded us that he is not only the originator of dancehall music but also the father of slackness. For his encore King Yellow performed “Blueberry Hill.”

“I came to perform, I no come fi no argument” and he did just that. The Grammy Kid, Beenie Man came dressed for war, however not as a soldier but as a General. From start to finish Beenie gave 100% of himself with songs from his decade-long career of hits including “Old Dawg” and “Murder” which he sang in reference to the Sniper. Beenie also showed his versatility performing the soca song “Nanny Wine.” He then called Dancehall Queen Stacy onstage, and she climbed all over the stage and Beenie with moves that titillated the audience. In an unexpected move Beenie said “respect to all performers backstage including Bounty Killa…” an apparent offer of peace to end or placate the bitter feud before ending his awesome performance.

Elephant Man, a.k.a. Energy God performed a solid set including his hits “Log-On”, “Bad Man Anthem”, and “Jamaica” however his set was lacking of his usually wild stage antics and unpredictable behavior. Perhaps the energy god’s batteries were running low.

A killer is not a killer without a prey. The crowd clearly anticipated a clash between Beenie Man and Bounty Killa; both have recorded songs dissing each other and questioning the others sexual preference. However Beenie’s surprise move shocked no one more than the Killa himself who came prepared for war. 90% of his set was focused on attacking Beenie Man and the insults and lyrics were personal yet comical. “Me don’t want sell platinum, me want to sell coppa” Bounty explained before going on to offer the fact that he was closing the show as evidence of a victory in a battle in which one side had offered peace. However with peace there can be no Bounty Killa as his entire stage persona is based on war, and without a war the biggest Reggae show in Miami to-date came to its end.

Respect to the promoters; Anchor Minott, Nu Wave Entertainment, Rockers Island Entertainment and Jammins.com for an excellent show with no incidents on or off-stage. In a time of war and only 1 month after the first anniversary of 9-11 the show was peace, a piece of dancehall history.

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