DESPITE the teething pains usually experienced by first-year shows, One Love at The Border will return to the Niagara Falls region in 2015.

Andrew Stephens, a senior director of Toronto-based promoters Real Music Group, told Splash that there was enthusiastic response to the July 4-6 event which fielded a mix of reggae and Rhythm and Blues acts.

“I’m pleased with the performances, they were incredible. The only problem, there was a lot of ‘politrics’ at play,” he said.

Stephens did not elaborate on that comment, but added that there were “underlying forces that didn’t want us to succeed”.

One Love at The Border was held at The Grove, a new venue in the tourist-popular Niagara Falls which borders upstate New York and Toronto.

There were performances from Freddie McGregor, Jah Bouks, Errol Dunkley, Faith Evans, the Whispers, the Dazz Band, Con Funk Shun and emerging Canadian singer Show Stephens.

Andrew Stephens estimates an average 2,500 fans (many from the Greater Toronto Area) attended each night of One Love at The Border.

“If we didn’t have the roadblocks, we would have had a full house every night,” he said.

— Howard Campbell