The One Caribbean Music Festival which was touted to be one of the biggest events in Trinidad, turned into an unforgettable night for all the wrong reasons.  The scheduled headliner for this Festival was Vybz Kartel, alongside a star-studded line-up that included other Jamaican dancehall artistes like Malie Donn, Shawn Storm, Chronic Law, and Sizzla Kalonji. Ghanian-American singer-songwriter Moliy.

Chaos erupted as it was announced mere hours before the 9 p.m. showtime start that Vybz Kartel would not be performing as advertised. As showtime approached, Moliy also withdrew despite arriving in the country. It would later be revealed that Sizzla, too, who had arrived with his full band in tow, also withdrew from performing. So, what to expect?

​Upon arriving at the well-decorated Queen’s Park Savannah venue, one felt a sense of disorganization and uncertainty in the air. Fire service and police personnel were scattered about with no real formation. Sponsors, vendors, and the media alike were unsure of the night’s proceedings. Patrons looked gloomy as they waited in line to enter, almost as if attending the event was now a chore.

With tickets starting at $670TTD and going up to $5000TTD, most people came out to salvage what they could from the night. In terms of overall attendance, it was a poor turnout, with the crowd looking sparse. Even general admission was barely halfway filled, and the VIP, VVIP, and Cabana sections were almost deserted. But despite this, backstage was filled with an assortment of exotic meals, desserts, and finger foods like oxtail, spring rolls, to name a few, and there were mixologists there too, alongside the basic bar. Patrons dazzled in their outfits for the evening, and most maximized the availability of the food and drinks offered until an artist graced the stage.

After hours of waiting, the show was finally ready to begin. The time was now 12:30 a.m., and the first artist on stage was the Pan-Man, Joshua Regrello. He did his best trying to lift the mood of patrons with his pan covers of various dancehall hits, but to little avail. You can still feel the tension in the air. The next artists on were Anil B, then Verse, both from Ravi B’s band Karma. They too tried in vain to lift the mood of the venue. Some relief would come when Ravi B came to the stage to perform, finally being able to crack the stoicism of the crowd. Ravi B has a song for every genre, and he surely did not disappoint.

At this time, the crowd was warming up, hoping the night could be saved. Staying local, the next act on was KMC with his electrifying hits like Bashment to Carnival and First Experience. He’d then make way for the Big Boss himself, Iwer George. You can see the excitement in the crowd. If the night continued like this, the event would be saved for Iwer had the place in a mild frenzy before leaving.

The lone international act to perform, Chronic Law, took the energy levels to the roof. Performing hit after hit, the crowd knew every word. The place finally felt like what the promoters promised, which was a true dancehall event. His set continued to raise the bar of the proceedings, and up next. Lady Lava was up to the task of raising it further. Coming out with her recent hit, ‘Bob the Builder’, the crowd was finally warmed up. Performing in her usual acapella style, she had the crowd moving and singing along, and as she was leaving the stage, the crowd was begging her for an encore.

It was only 3:15 a.m. when the M.C. announced that they’d be playing the last song for the night. That’s when patrons, who’d been patient and accommodating, had to let their feelings be known. They started jeering towards the stage, and projectiles soon followed. Water bottles, full cans, garbage, they threw what they could. One patron turned a bin upside down and climbed onto the stage in protest, miming the act of kicking down the speakers and lights on stage. As the sound engineers rushed to unplug the equipment, fearing that others might climb onto the stage, projectiles were thrown in their direction. That’s when riot police had to be mobilized throughout the crowd to quell this aggression. More police had to be called backstage and to the exits of the venue as patrons poured out, cursing and hurling insults as they expressed their disapproval and disgust with the show. With no headline act(s) and barely enough stardom to satisfy the fans who did attend, this will go down as one of the worst shows in Trinidad