THOUSANDS of Jamaicans turned up to witness Sean Kingston’s first ever performance in Kingston last Saturday — a crowd that maybe not even the promoters had foreseen.

Then again, in the spirit of the recession friendly admission, one should have probably imagined such support when Coca-Cola afforded the patrons an incredible deal of three Coke Zero labels and a $100 to attend. A deal that was juiced to its advantage, evident in the unfathomable lines to enter the venue, to the displeasure of many who impatiently stood queued for what seemed like too long!

As one could imagine then, the scheduled show time was delayed to accommodate the thousands who still remained outside after 9:00 pm. Patrons inside were entertained by selectors like Supa Hype and DJ Narity, who tried to set the mood for the night so as to prevent restlessness from waiting on performers.

Patrons especially enjoyed when Shaggy joined Tessanne Chin on stage to perform their song Never Let Me Go. Like Tessanne, Etana soothed the crowd with positive lyrics and spiritual vibe. The strong one definitely delivered in her performance last Saturday with songs like Blessings and Wrong Address.

One of Jamaica’s most celebrated groups, Voice Mail kept the crowd alive with their many dance anthems, and hyped up even more so by Ova Mars and Abova Dem dancers. They also called on Nicky B to perform his new song Every Gal, a favourite among the ladies.

Similar to their performance, was Ding-Dong’s accompanied by his Ravers Clavers family. Every member of the crowd could be seen dancing up a storm as he performed the summer anthem Holiday, which made even Ms Kitty join in on the action on stage. Mystic did her thing but was most applauded when she went head-to-head with a ‘fluffy’ lady to Spice and Pamputtae’s song Slim vs Fluffy.

Perhaps some of the most entertaining performers of the night were Shady Squad dancers. They demanded the attention of their audience who cheered them on especially during their enactment of Bolts victory race parody.

Sexy divas of the dancehall D’Angel, Alaine and Tifa were also present. D’Angel, dressed in a sexy leotard outfit took the stage, representing for her hot independent ladies as usual.

Performing songs like Blaze, she showed her fans why hotness is truly a gift. Alaine too, was rather ravishing in her red and black glamour. The crowd could feel her energy as she worked the stage and showed that blondes have the most fun, especially single ones while performing Dancing You Out Of My Life. The self-proclaimed B-A-D-D-E-S-T, Tifa gave a hardcore performance as she Spell It Out to her Kingston audience why she was just that — bad.

Coke Zero-endorsed artiste Chino wooed the ladies just by his stage presence. His performance was indeed commendable as he represented for the Big Ship family. He was given the most cheers when he brought his dad on stage, the veteran Freddie McGregor. Laden, also affiliated with Big Ship, was another crowd-pleaser starting his set with Inna Life. Demarco was among the last to perform, however, it was well worth the wait. He revived the crowd with his new single Show It, particularly his female fans.

The man of the night Sean Kingston finally touched the stage early Sunday morning. He was well-received by the crowd who came specifically for this moment. As the headline act, however, his delivery wasn’t as great as all the hype that surrounded the show. He did do well in entertaining the crowd (even compensating for the anticipated performance of his artiste Iyaz, who missed his flight), by introducing the ‘guest artiste’ of the night Beenie Man.

Elephant Man closed the show. His performance reinforced for patrons why he holds the title, The Energy God. Although it was minutes after 2:00 am, the crowd was in his command as he crossed the stage in dance and gave to them way more than $100 worth of entertainment.

All the proceeds from the concert were in aid of the Haitian Relief Fund. Coca-Cola has put a great deal of effort into the concert, even setting up pledge tents for patrons to further aid the Haitian victims. It was a commendable production, which was evident in its execution.

Overall, the concert could be considered a success for more reasons than one and like the Shaggy and Friends concert, shows the spirit of Jamaicans in our noble contributions to those in need.