Coco Tea thrilled the audience with his local hits and several vintage R&B songs. (Photos: Garfield Robinson)

Despite a good start, Dance All Rock 2005, promoted by veteran reggae artiste Barrington Levy, came to an abrupt end last Sunday morning, with daybreak only moments away, after angry patrons began hurling bottles at the stage when they failed to see some of the more popular dancehall and reggae artists advertised for the event appear, following a prolonged intermission.

The Alpart Sports Complex in Nain, St Elizabeth, which accommodates about 800 people, was emptied in seconds as patrons stormed the exits, trying to get to safety. Some more agile patrons even resorted to scaling the venue's approximately 13-foot high metal fences to get out.

While some were dazed, there were no reports of serious injury or accidents. Among the artistes advertised who were no-shows were: Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Assassin, Richie Spice, Turbulence, Sasha and I-Wayne.

Several patrons, as they walked out, expressed their dissatisfaction over the absence of the artistes.

"Jah know, star, I am an I-Wayne fan you know. I-Wayne is my artiste and is him I come to see. Right now I vex that I spend my money and I don't see my artiste," a patron told the Observer.

"You know how much things I sacrifice to come see Bounty Killer, and I never see him. No man, me vex man," another patron dressed in a white T-shirt and dark blue jeans told the Observer.

"Barrington Levy can't come back to Sainty [St. Elizabeth]. You think a 1000 dollars is easy to find, and none of my artistes performed," another patron said.

Following the show it was reported that Bounty Killer was overseas and unaware that he was being used to advertise Dance All Rock. It was also reported that Beenie Man got lost on his way to Levy's event, coming from another show in St Ann.

Barrington Levy however is reported to have said "Dem [the artistes who didn't turn up] embarrass me, dem dis me... the people have every right to react they way they did."
The volatility of the crowd was hinted at earlier in the show when during the performance of Macka Diamond, accompanied by Black-er and Lady G, the gate separating the VIP section from the general audience was trampled down. This too caused no injuries and did not affect the trio's performance.

Up until its abrupt end, however, the show did manage to have the audience engaged, with several top-notch performances from those artistes who did show up.

The night's most crowd-pleasing performances belonged to Coco Tea, later accompanied by Richie Stephens, and Shaggy, performing alongside Barrington Levy.
After rocking the audience with some of his local hits including She Loves Me Now and I Know Jah Never Let Us Down, Coco Tea, dressed in dark blue jeans, a yellow mesh merino and white shirt, launched into his recent hit Tek Weh Yuh Gal. To the delight of the audience Richie Stephens came on stage and began to perform You Can't Take My Girl - his answer to Coco Tea's song. In the lyrical back-and-forth that ensued Richie Stephens sang several Luther Vandross classics and Coco Tea, several vintage R&B hits.

After heating up the audience with several of his classic hits including Murderer, Living Dangerously and Too Experienced, Levy called Shaggy onto stage and they performed a remix of Levy's old hit Broader Than Broadway.
each song he did, Shaggy received cheers and screams, particularly from the female section of the audience. His set included Angel, It Wasn't Me and Ride Tonight.

Following closely behind Shaggy and Coco Tea were the performances of Rising Star finalists Christopher Martin and Noddy Virtue. Virtue, a St Elizabeth native, was dubbed the unofficial mayor of the parish by MC Ron Muschett and the audience, who applauded all through his performance of Jimmy Cliff's Rebel In Me gladly seconded. Martin, performing his rendition of Jah Cure's True Reflection had the crowd singing and rocking along with him.

Though the opening acts, consisting of Raquel Sellars, Angie Angel, DJ Doc, KYAN and Pat Kelly did well to warm the crowd up, the show got kicking only after the appearances of Fanton Mojah and TOK.

Mojah opened his act with his latest radio hit Fire Child, followed by a rendition of Jah Cure's Divide and Rule, which instantly had mock gunshots being fired by the audience. He wrapped up his set with Hail The King and Hungry.

TOK having had the benefit of many overseas gigs kept their performance tight and compact using their many hits to keep the vibes flowing.

Warrior King's performance virtually rescued the audience from boredom when after TOK's performance there was a lengthy stage intermission. With a flag-waving Rastafarian behind him, Warrior King thrilled the audience with his energetic performances of Never Go Where Pagans Go and Can't Get Me Down among others.

Capleton, the consummate performer, came on stage with all his antics. His charismatic performance spread quickly to the audience, and had them holding up lighters in unison.

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