i personally don't think much of it since they are not international reggae stars!

international reggae stars would include the likes of Steel Pulse, Maxi Priest, Aswad, Apache Indian, UB40, Shaggy, Big Mountain, Lucky Dube (rest his soul)

That wouldn't bother me in the least, since it's a Reggae sumfest, and none of them are reggae!

They lost the sponsorship of Red Stripe this year - I am sure that affected their budget.

I personally think its a shame and probably indeed related to the loss of sponsorship (sad that another big name isn't willing to step in too)... althought there are plenty of people that come from foriegn to these events, the primary audience is Jamaicans and without those big headliners, they are def going to see a decline in sales, which could be potentially huge if they don't pull something out of their hats (haven't seen the lineup, do they have a headliner for international night?, late confirmations are very common with this show...)

I think it was, in part, those big names that kept sumfest up while sunsplash went into the toilet... Jamaicans love their dancehall, but can typically catch the dancehall artists (all the big names) at an event they pay 1200-1500J (or less) for, not 30-50 bucks a pop spread out over 3 or 4 nights... if they're dropping big bucks, they want to see something different, not the same old, same old...

Chelle

i should say dancehall and reggae... and yes, they do call it a reggae festival, but the most popular nights are the international nights... and the big rnb/hip hop make the shows on these nights (in the eyes of the Jamaicans at least)... for the future of the show, I hope they are still able to retain the big names... may not make a difference to those travelling to see a reggae show, but it will make a big difference to the "masses"

Chelle

Chelle, their "headliners" for Friday night are Ne-Yo and Keyshia Cole. I had read something also about Chris Brown, but he's not on their website yet, and they made some additions yesterday. I agree, this is a weak international lineup. Why not combine the money they are paying those 3 and get one bigger star? And Saturday night looks really sparse - it includes Beres Hammond and Tarrus Riley - love them both - and Brick & Lace, John Holt, and Etana - that's it - 5 acts, with less than a month to go.

okay... yea... no disrespect to those artists, in comparission to previous years, it is weak, on both nights... they could def do better.. hopefully they have a rabbit in their hat

sad...

as an aside...

red stripes marketing choices over the past couple years have really baffled me... i'm wondering if there is a method behind their madness? some things (last year's campaigns) have been close to genius, while others (sponsoring ATI (party in Negril VERY popular with a young, non-beer drinking crowd), in the first place and then removing sponsorship of the sumfest) are well, unexplainable to me... I wonder if they've all oversampled their products???

Chelle

I am glad to see that Chell and others understand my posting.

The lack of the big names may well see a decline in local attendance, but unless they do something quick for the International Nights, it may also have an affect on the younger generation of people thinking of traveling to Jamaica for this festival. My 23 year old son is coming with me this year for his first time. It was actually in talking with him and hearing his disappointment with the line up so far, that I came to realize the affect the lack of "name" international artists may have on younger audiences throughout the world.

P.s. It would be nice to see Steel Pulse or UB40, etc, on the line-up...but strangely they are absent also.

Where are the Marley boys?? None of them performing!

Ditch AKON, bring Kanye West--he's touring nonstop, is big right now, and is it's not even debatable that he's better than AKON...Puts on a GREAT live show...

Steel Pulse and Damian would be nice as well--what would SUMFEST be w/o AT LEAST ONE of the Marley's?

Wondering why Sean Kingston isn't making an appearance. He was raised in Jamaica, is HUGE right now, and has sold 7 million albums--seems like a perfect fit, even though I'm not a big fan...

...All that being said, I'm most excited for Thursday night, when a get a chance to see all the reggae bands I've never heard before--I'd imagine that's the true essence of the festival, but MAKE YOURSELVES SOME MONEY--post the lineup EARLY to give people time to react and make it to Jamaica to spend some $$$!

I'm still hopeful that this week will bring some pleasant surprises

DP

oh yeah--most importantly...

with red stripe no longer sponsoring, will red stripe still be available at the concert?

DP

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but Neyo seems to have been removed from the list.