Climax to Fun at the 9th Annual Six Flags Great Adventure Caribbean Summer Concert!
Climax to Fun at the 9th Annual Six Flags Great Adventure Caribbean Summer Concert!
Story by Grace Vanriel – Founder and CEO of Live Reggae NYC
Photography & Feature by Empress K – Founder & Editor www.ReggaeReflection.com
Photography & Feature by Empress K – Founder & Editor www.ReggaeReflection.com
The 9th Annual Six Flags Great Adventure Caribbean Summer Concert in New Jersey hosted by Trinifly Promotions was in full swing on Sunday, August 10, 2014 and once again the day’s events and stage show with its star-studded lineup were absolutely terrific! Absolutely perfect weather added to making the day thoroughly enjoyable.
Go BIG with Six Flags and TriniFly Promotions
Year-in, year-out fans from all over the NY tri state area flock to the Caribbean Summer event at Six Flags that’s billed as “12 hours of fun” suitable for the entire family. In the years that the ReggaeReflection.com team has covered this event we can honestly report that it’s always an exciting and rewarding experience for all in attendance; fans truly get their monies worth and then some. If you’ve never been to Six Flags Amusement Park in NJ don’t delay because it’s well worth the trip. As the largest operator of regional theme parks in the world Six Flags produces entertainment in fourteen major markets; once on the NJ site you’ll find a beautiful, highly manicured and well managed theme park nestled on 3.436 square miles in Jackson, New Jersey. The Park features a multitude of exciting and colorful rides suitable for young children, families and adults right up to seniors ranging from the Bugs Bunny Camp Carousel and Fender Bender to stomach dropping gut wrenching thrill rides like the 21 story drop of Nitro. Several specialty attractions suitable for all ages like the Wild Safari as well as excellent shopping and dinning facilities are also part of the adventure. In a brilliant move nearly a decade ago, Trinifly Promotions, Executive Producers of the Caribbean Summer had the foresight to partner with Six Flags giving their large and loyal following a star studded outdoor concert featuring top Reggae and Soca acts backed by live bands, with intermissions sprinkled with top DJ’s & MC’s, all included in the modest price of admission
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Reggae & Soca Top Acts Alongside Up-and-Coming Artists in NJ
Jemere Morgan
The 2014 stage production featured several up and coming acts and we arrived in time to catch Dancehall-Reggae singer Kranium on stage. His debut single “Nobody Has To Know” of this well staged artist who we might add is truly easy on the eyes certainly had all the ladies going ga-ga. His set was short but captivating leaving us saying…remember the name, Kranium. Next up was the smooth and easy sounds of Jemere Morgan, the now nineteen year old son of Gramps Morgan and grandson to Denroy Morgan making him a third generation singer from the famed Morgan Heritage lineage. What we liked most about him was his excellent command of the stage including the familiar way in which he interacted with the audience sharing his great blend of Reggae & Soul. Jemere whose name means “dream come true” was the opening act for the next up Morgan Heritage performance and in his own right, definitely another talented artist to watch for over the next few years. Another praiseworthy opening act hailing from Trinidad and Tobago was definitely Lyrikal. This hard hitting artists bowled us over with his new song “Conquer Meh” followed by “25/8” and later in his set running a mini on- stage dance competition between three women to the song “Part of Your Nature” of which the hands down winner was Ms. Sharita Robinson. Other memorable performances were by Ramajay who easily breaches the borders of Soca, Reggae and Hip-Hop and, tough to ignore high-energy Soca artist 5 Star Akil who sings the great song “To Meh Heart” and others that make you just want to forget about everything else and party!
Lyrikal
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5star Akil
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FEATURED ARTISTS WICKED ON STAGE
When Morgan Heritage took the stage the theme for their presentation and emphasis on their selections was “it’s cool to be conscious.” In retrospect, the conscious theme was brilliant because somewhere along the way the perception that conscious Reggae music although continuing with its powerful messages but non-the less relegated to the sideline in place of Dancehall as the “fun” music people want to hear when attending dances or parties. Nothing could be further from the truth as evidenced by thousands in attendance at the Six Flag stadium who came out to hear conscious music artists and sing out loud at the top of their lungs! And, by emphasizing just how wonderful it is to be a conscious music lover Morgan Heritage drove home the point with songs like “The Return of Roots & Culture, “You Don’t Have To Dread To Be Rasta” and a particular crowd pleaser “Down by the River.” We were unprepared for the outstanding response to their latest new song “Put It On Me” so if you’ve not yet listened to it you’re in for a treat. As to be expected the highly synchronized harmonies of the Morgan Heritage clan made for a rich experience.
Peetah and Gramps Morgan
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MoJo Morgan
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Peetah Morgan
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Maxi Priest
His first time ever performing at Six Flags, Maxi Priest hit the stage running with his ever so popular song “It’s A Wild World” and naturally the crowd went wild, which was most appropriate in a location noted for wild rides and attractions! However what we enjoyed most about his performance was that he gave us a heavy dose of his standard repertoire of hits mixed in with a taste of his new music from his recently released album “Easy To Love” (VP Records June 2014) that included the highly rated title song by the same name “Holiday” another great new song that’s part of Maxis first studio album in five years. With eleven songs on the new album, he left us ready to hear more although by the time he got to “I Just Want to Get Close To You, his mega hit from the 90’s everyone was thoroughly satisfied.
After a brief and highly charged intermission orchestrated by DJ Storm out of Queens NY who artfully revved up the crowd in preparation for Reggae great Barrington Levy who last graced the Six Flags stage in 2012 was as exciting as ever. The audiences favorite song and ours for his set appeared to be “Too Experienced” because the audience enthusiastically sang along, the sign of true respect and love.
After a brief and highly charged intermission orchestrated by DJ Storm out of Queens NY who artfully revved up the crowd in preparation for Reggae great Barrington Levy who last graced the Six Flags stage in 2012 was as exciting as ever. The audiences favorite song and ours for his set appeared to be “Too Experienced” because the audience enthusiastically sang along, the sign of true respect and love.
Maxi Priest
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Maxi Priest
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Barrington Levy
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Barrington Levy
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Barrington Levy
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The Energy God
Elephant Man a.k.a The Energy God was on stage in a rare NY area performance and his red hot performance closed out the the show. In addition to performing his hit songs “All Out” and “Let’s Get Physical” to name a few, his on-stage antics are legendary including allowing a beautiful full-figured female fan to jump up on him as he held her up on his side for dear life. It’s stunts like that count as true entertainment and Elephant Man added even more fun and excitement to the days festivities and closed out the event with everyone in smiles.
Elephant Man
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Elephant Man
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Elephant Man
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Whenever we cover a great concert like Six Flags Great Adventure Caribbean Summer the crew can’t help wondering how the producers will top it the following year. So far Trinifly Promotions has maintained an excellent track record for delivering everything that they promise so as they say in Reggae, “no worries!” We’ve already learned that in 2015 Six Flags has plans to add several new rides with names like “SkyScreamer”, Battle of Metropolis” and “Looping Dragon” to give you an idea of what to expect. And as far as the 2015th annual concert goes, TrniFly will be celebrating ten-years of production and we are sure that it will be a no holds barred event! As soon as the lineup is announced you can count on ReggaeReflection.com and our network of friends to be among the first to let you know. Stay locked!
View the slide show below for all pictures from the 9th Annual Six Flags Caribbean Summer Concert
