A section of the audience at Reggae Sumfest's Dancehall Night Thursday. (Photos: Joseph Wellington)

Beenie Man proved that he is really the king of the dancehall when he took the stage on Dancehall Night at Reggae Sumfest, held at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex in Montego Bay on Thursday.

Dapperly dressed in white, he came on stage amidst loud screams of appreciation from the estimated 250,000 patrons in the venue.

The DJ, who was earlier the subject of disparaging comments about his sexuality by Bounty Killer, took the high road and told the audience, "Bounty Killer a my DJ, so nuh watch nutten!"

Respect from the wiry DJ went up some more notches when he said, "Bounty Killer sey dat mi a fish, well... Beenie Man a girls dem snapper!"

The comment resulted in pandemonium among his fans as the DJ spewed his lyrics, unable to do no wrong as he launched into his vast repertoire of hits.

Beenie Man dancing with a lady during his performance at Reggae Sumfest Thursday night.

Sumfest Dancehall Night kicked off with early performances from Nature, Chumps, Chuckleberry and I-Octane who gave good account of themselves.

Little Hero 'blessed the place' with The Prayer, making way for D'Angel who came out dressed in an attractive white shorts set and really made a connection with the audience.

Following a good stint from Harry Toddler, aka 'De Blond Ras', Spice came on stage in an outfit that raised some eyebrows. However, there was no question about her very energetic performance during which she teased, tantalised and had the audience totally caught up.

After Voice Mail's lacklustre performance, Munga Honourable struck all the right notes with his popular numbers such as Bad From Mi Born and Wine Pon Mi.

Erup made way for the money goddess, Macka Diamond whose stage entrance was marked by the throwing of bags full of fake US dollars into the audience and on the stage. Her act got even more intense when she involved one of her male dancers.

Anthony B gave a good performance but he certainly took his time about it. He had to leave the stage all of three times to get the job done!

Demarco made way for Busy Signal, who was in fine form. The minute he hit the stage he was in total control with his arsenal of hits which included Rising To The Top, Pon Di Edge, Unknown Number and Nah Guh A Jail Again.
It took an artiste like Ninja Man to follow the blistering pace set by Busy.

Ninja came on stage with two sidekicks holding umbrellas over his head, effectively getting home the point about his One Umbrella Movement.

After ranting about the disrespect tolerated by some DJs and addressing the hotel ban issue, Ninja Man did one number, exited the stage and was recalled by emcee Richie B.

This time he told the audience that with the right support, through his One Umbrella Movement, he could cut Jamaica's high crime rate by 60 per cent.

Ninja Man then deejayed up a storm, holding his audience enthralled.

Elephant Man showed exactly why he is dubbed the energy god as he hit the stage like a tornado. By the time he was through it felt like a workout session.

Vybz Kartel made way for Bounty Killer who was in a 'cross, angry, and miserable' mood, and he showed it too! He started hitting out at Red Stripe for withdrawing their sponsorship, claiming their problem wasn't about violence but more particularly violence against homosexual men.
He continued his cussing spree by disparaging Ninja Man and Beenie Man, but that was as far as the audience allowed him to go.

Coming after Bounty's performance, with Beenie Man scheduled to close the show, the best that could be said of Assassin's performance is that the audience 'endured' it, impatient by this time to see 'The Doctor', Beenie Man.

Tonight the curtains come down on the 16th staging of Reggae Sumfest with International Night II. Artistes scheduled to perform are John Holt, Beres Hammond, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Rootz Underground, Etana and Tarrus Riley.

Shaggy & Friends take a bow

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Patrons rang in the New Year with gusto at 11:59