SOLID AS A ROCK
DURING his sold-out concert at the NYCB Theater in Westbury, Long Island, New York, Beres Hammond described the days when he made hit ballads like One Step Ahead and I’m in Love as fulfilling, but “nuh money neva mek”. The full house appreciated his candour as well as the flurry of hit songs that followed in an epic performance.
Hammond’s Solid Love Tour of the United States was the most successful by a Jamaican act in 2022. The 67-year-old singer also packed the halls in major cities like Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale and Newark, New Jersey.
The Long Island show — with guests Dean Fraser, Monty Alexander, and Cat Coore — in October drew over 3,000 fans and was monitored by Live Nation Entertainment, arguably the largest concert promoter/ticket agency in the US. NYCB Theater is usually reserved for veteran rock bands like the Blue Oyster Club and Little River Band, who performed there in November.
Nowhere was Hammond’s drawing power more evident than at Au-Rene Theater at Broward Center For The Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. He did two shows there on September 1 and 2, and packed the 2,700-seat venue both nights.
Hammond, who also performed at Reggae Sumfest in July, closed a busy year with a show in Nassau, The Bahamas. He spoke to the Jamaica Observer about the success of Solid Love Tour following the Westbury gig.
“To be honest with yuh, mi buck up some fans wha’ sey, ‘Beres, yuh nuh even haffi sing one more song’. ‘Cause mi cyaan even sing off mi hit songs dem in a concert based on di time they give mi,” he noted. “Two hour cyaan tek care a my song dem. Impossible.”
The St Mary-born Hammond started his vocal career in the early 1970s, recording a spattering of solo songs and with reggae band Zap Pow. Working with producer Willie Lindo later that decade, he released the critically-acclaimed Soul Reggae album that had songs like One Step Ahead and Oh I Miss You.
It was not until the mid-1980s that he found a dancehall audience with What One Dance Can Do, another Lindo production. The 1990s saw Hammond soaring on the strength of countless hits like Step Aside, Putting up Resistance, Double Trouble, I Wish, and Who Say (with Buju Banton).
Those songs are still part of the Hammond hit parade which rivals that of his contemporaries Dennis Brown, Barrington Levy and Freddie McGregor. Contextually, those acts have a superior pull in Europe whereas Hammond dominates the Diaspora market.
The Beres Hammond juggernaut has marched into 2023. Crowd-wise, Intimate, his January 1 show with Buju Banton, was a huge success.
In April, Hammond hits the seas for his Love And Harmony Cruise.
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