Changes to the line-up may be coming for Digicel Reggae On The Beach.
Promoter Al Gilkes of FAS Entertainment said on Sunday that acts which would appeal to a “more mature audience” might be considered, following the negative backlash the show received since its staging last Monday.
Through social media, many Barbadians expressed the view that the Easter Monday event, held at Brandons Beach, was raunchy and degrading to women.
In response, Gilkes said: “Reggae On The Beach has always been, and was intended to be, what is known in Jamaican parlance as dancehall. What happens there is not unusual in that genre . . . . To revisit it would mean to shut it down altogether and the dancehall addicts in Barbados expect and enjoyed what they saw, [but] it is probably not what the rest of Barbados would go for.
“I think what needs to be done is to temper it with a little more maturity. So instead of just bringing today’s dancehall . . . [and] rather than looking to try and attract a 15 to 25-year-old demographic, look to also pull in an older crowd to make it more meaningful.” (LW)
