Stage performance is not all

Dennie Quill, Columnist

I no longer have to guess why Celine Dion made Caesars Palace in Las Vegas the top-grossing venue on the Billboard charts for five consecutive years, because the Canadian siren demonstrated at last Friday's edition of the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival that she knows how to capture and hold an audience.

She rocked the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, where the audience sang along word for word. Old and young were on their feet singing at the top of their lungs. I was in awe, and I rank Celine's performance right up there with the great artistes I have seen over the years, including Tina Turner, Luther Vandross, Shirley Bassey, Beyoncé and Gladys Knight.

Not to diminish the performance of the other artistes who also delighted, but for Celine, the lights, the projections and her band did enough to get me into a frenzy even before she made her dramatic entrance on stage.

From her pitch-perfect voice to her fabulous outfits, the audience loved it all. The international superstar was beamed via big-screen televisions to the thousands who could not get near the stage. Among the special effects was a hologram of Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, beamed on stage to perform their award-winning duet the Prayer. Moments that will be remembered for a very long time.

Transportation problems

But the jazz experience for many did not begin in Trelawny. While the stage performance was breathtaking, there were aspects of the show which left fans seething. Scores of persons opted to get on the Knutsford Express bus to be transported from Kingston to the jazz venue because this transport company had built up a reputation for efficiency and reliability.

It's remarkable how in one incident that reputation can be shredded. Last Saturday, there were buses and people, but the organisers did not know how to put the two together. The result was a chaotic scene, with patrons standing in the sun, uncertain which bus to take or even when to board. The push and rush which resulted is almost understandable.

When the promoter, Walter Elmore, looked out on to the stadium, he must have been very pleased that he could have made so many people happy. However, Mr Elmore must understand that when people pay US$200 for a VIP ticket, they do not expect other patrons to stand in front of them. They also expect that whatever is promised in that package is delivered to them. It is not acceptable to short-change people.

Poor people management

Another thing, Mr Elmore cannot simply pat himself on the back and say, "Look what I have done for Jamaica." His organisation is not a charity, and patrons pay good money to attend a concert and expect that experience to be an enjoyable one.

The long lines to get food and drinks were very disappointing, and many people gave up after an hour of trying. This is unacceptable, and in a post-mortem of the festival, this aspect should be evaluated and steps put in place to improve it.

The greatest disappointment, however, was in the lack of crowd management and the traffic congestion. More than three hours passed before some patrons were able to drive through the gate. The police presence was minimal.

This is inexplicable given the fact that the Jamaica Constabulary Force should have policies that dictate how to handle crowds. So why did the police not act more decisively to minimise the chaos at the venue and in the immediate vicinity? The police have a critical role to play to make mass events safer, and they fell down on that job on Friday night.

Dennie Quill is a veteran journalist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.