Reggae Sumfest Beach Party – Arrive Late

The Reggae Sumfest Beach Party kicked off the 2013 festival in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

The Beach Party started badly. It did get better and better though – ending with a smile.

Reggae Sumfest Beach Party 2013 - Montego Bay - Jamaica - Beaver on the Beats

Most of the things I could have done without came in the first half of the night:

*The first couple of DJ’s playing North American pop songs that I don’t really want to hear anywhere in the world I am, and especially not in Jamaica.  Celine Dion is popular in Jamaica I’m told.

DJ Shem

DJ Shem

*Some interesting singers in between DJ sets.

*Bikini clad dancing girls on show. Sexy sure, but believe me that the sexier ones were definitely in the crowd just naturally doin their thing).

Reggae Sumfest Beach Party 2013 - Montego Bay - Jamaica - Beaver on the Beats*The foam pit.

Reggae Sumfest Beach Party 2013 - Montego Bay - Jamaica - Beaver on the Beats

*The tourists bought on stage to generally put on an embarrassing show for everyone.

Reggae Sumfest Beach Party 2013 - Montego Bay - Jamaica - Beaver on the Beats

Those sorts of things I just wasn’t into, at all.  Maybe they think that’s what tourists want?  Not me.

I wanted great music in a more natural and tasteful environment.

A musical event in an outdoor setting can make up for so much though can’t it? It can make the whole experience so much more pleasurable- no matter what deficiencies an event might or might not have.

The Beach Party was on a patch of Caribbean sands and grass -with a cool night breeze blowing under a nearly full moon. Those things got me through the wait for the good stuff of the night.  They also made the whole night’s experience a much more delightful one overall.

Things did get better, and better. I eventually got most of what I wanted from the Reggae Sumfest Beach Party.

The mechanical bull and foaming pit came down, the tourist games stopped and the DJ’s changed.  Then came some music and dance delights in a more natural environment.

Reggae Sumfest Beach Party 2013 - Montego Bay - Jamaica - Beaver on the Beats

*Great music. Great DJ’s.  Tasty reggae and dancehall, with occasional touches of hip hop and soul, skillfully mixed up by DJ Baby Thug, DJ Smoke and DJ Crazy Neil.

*Awesome dancers – Jamaicans in the crowd just naturally doing the amazing and hot thing they do. I love watching people move their bodies however they move them, and I now love love love watching Jamaicans move the way they do.  Stylin. Hot. Stylin. Hot. Stylin. Hot. The Jamaican men, women and even the beautiful, smiling 10 year old girl with more moves now than I would ever have if I trained for the rest of my life.

In the end it was some tasty music and tasty dancing that made me stay at the Beach Party til the end…shaking my booty worse than every Jamaican in the crowd! 

If I get to the Reggae Sumfest Beach Party again, I will arrive later in the night – when the games are finished and the really good stuff has kicked in. “Jamaicans party late” I have now heard countless times from Jamaicans, and must remember.