Premium paralysis irritates Wyclef
PREMIUM PLACEMENT did not translate into premium display of enjoyment at Shaggy and Friends 2018, and rapper Wyclef Jean let his irritation known in no uncertain terms on Sunday morning on Jamaica House’s lawns.
After doing his 911 and Buju Baton’s Untold Stories, the famed Fugee did a new song, then assessed those in the premium ticket section, placed directly in front of the stage and found them wanting.
“Me no care if you spend $10 million on the ticket. You not going to mess up my YouTube. You going to party,” Wyclef demanded.
He then gave a brief lesson in the folly of materialism, telling the premium party poopers that no matter how much money and assets they possess, it won’t go with them when they die, offering himself as an example. “But you can dance,” Wyclef said.
Jean eventually got a more overtly enthusiastic response from the premium section, especially when he moved to perform from in the crowd. Sections of the gold and certainly the silver section, from which The Gleaner, watched Wyclef Jean perform, had long been recycling Jean’s stage energy in a way he would have most likely appreciated.
The premium section tickets cost $25,000 for early purchases and $30,000 after, gold cost $12,000 early and then $14,000 and silver tickets cost $6,000 early and $7,000 regular price. It is not the first time that Wyclef has been frustrated by an unresponsive higher paying audience section, but he made his feelings known in more explicit terms at Sting in 2013 at Jamworld, Portmore.