New York - What was expected to be the most talked about reggae show outside of Jamaica petered out into a major disappointment for the thousands of fans who shelled out US$90 a piece for nothing more than cameo appearances by reggae's biggest names at New York's Radio City Hall last Saturday night.

The occasion was VP Records' 25th year anniversary celebration as one of the leading distributors of reggae music in the US especially over the last decade. Fans' lament for the most part was that artistes' on-stage appearances were just too short.

"I went to the bathroom and by the time I came back them tell me say mi jus miss Tanya Stephens," said one lady who was disappointed she missed VP's artiste of the moment.

Indeed, artistes' performances lasted little over a moment with Elephant Man staying the longest on stage -- a whole 18 minutes. Lady Saw, Tanto Metro & Devonte, TOK, Lady Saw, Stephens, Dean Fraser, Sasha, Ric Roc and Shaggy all lasted less than 10 minutes on stage.

Beenie Man and Beres Hammond were afforded more time with the concert coming to an end with Hammond in the midst of a song as the time sensitive concert ended exactly at 10:30 pm. This after the event's advertised 7:30 pm start got off a few minutes late.

The ending, due mostly to strict adherence to Radio City's lack of flexibility with time, meant Sizzla didn't get to make it on stage.

"Mi want mi money back," vented one irate fan as patrons hastily filed out at the show's conclusion.

"Mi come fi see Sizzla perform. Mi vex how everything just rush rush and still all now mi can't see Sizzla. Fire bon fi VP and Radio City."

But to fit at least a dozen acts in a three-hour timeframe was always going to be a challenge to leave the crowd satiated. Several didn't seem to do the math before hand.

"To tell the truth I didn't even realise there would be a time limit. I just figured it was an all-night thing," said Ricardo, a Queens resident.

Patrons had been looking forward to the biggest multi-act reggae show at Radio City Music Hall since the early 1990s when the likes of John Holt, Black Uhuru and Lucky Dube performed there.

"This is royal robbery," said one disgruntled patron whose ire went up a notch when asked for her name.

Radio City is one of America's most venerated musical venues having hosted events like the Grammys and the American Music Awards.

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