The stage show era part 1 by Howard McGowan

The stage show era part 1, By Howard McGowan

There was a time in the 80s when the floodgates of stage show promotion opened widely across the island.
These shows came at patrons fast and furious. Holiday periods being peak times with a ridiculous amount of shows taking place days apart, while, in some cases on the same day.

Naturally, this led to double and triple booking of acts and bands which resulted in chaos when no shows became the order of the day.
The weeks between the ending of November and new years day were dubbed by me as the silly season.
It was not unusual to have up to 18 shows packed into this six week time frame.
Naturally, many promoters lost their shirts, others broke even while a few turned a profit.
On the singers and players of instruments side, many were injured when bottles rained on stage this after advertised acts failed to show.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment were also damaged.
What kept most promoters going was the fact that these events were funded out of pocket by “investors” so there was no need to face a bank manager or loan officer prior to or after the event.
More anon.

Author Profile

Howard McGowan

- qualified & experienced as an Editor in the arts, entertainment and sports, doing reviews and critiques as an active journalist. I worked as the first Entertainment Editor of the Jamaica Gleaner, and also served the Jamaica Observer for over 30 years combined. ... contact me by email here Read more About Howard McGowan