3 weeks ago
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Vybz Kartel won the first clash. At least, that’s how Reggae Sumfest boss Joe Bogdanovich finally tells it, after a pause, a laugh, and a little coaxing from Anthony Miller.
“Both of them won it,” Bogdanovich initially offers diplomatically, referring to the now-legendary Sting 2008 showdown between Kartel and Mavado.
“Oh, come on, Joe,” Miller presses.
“Kartel,” he concedes. “Yeah, it’s true. It was powerful.”
That moment, a cultural flashpoint and chaos, still looms large over dancehall history. “It was one of those times in history that people had a hard time to control,” Bogdanovich recalls. “It was the youth… and it was a very dark period also.”
Now, nearly two decades later, he is betting on something very different.
A Clash Reimagined, Without the Clash
Melissa may have forced his hand, tearing Reggae Sumfest from its Catherine Hall stronghold, but Bogdanovich is not retreating. If anything, he’s doubling down.
“Florida has been giving us opportunities to do something there, giving us a deal that you can’t refuse,” he says. “But it says no—we can’t do that. We have to stick with Jamaica.”
Instead, the festival relocates to Plantation Cove St. Ann, an hour away from Kingston, with a new format and renewed ambition.
“It’s good for Ocho Rios, it’s good for Kingston, good for Montego Bay,” he explains. “It’s a bigger venue for sure. They can handle the kind of crowd that we expect this year.”
And the crowd is expected to be massive.
This year’s staging is stripped down to a single explosive night—Saturday, July 18.
“The reason why we’re doing it for one night is to give them the bang for the buck,” Bogdanovich says, “and have a tremendous show that you’ve never seen before in one night.”
Kartel and Mavado, reunited—not as rivals, but as joint headliners.
“It’s a love vibe.” Joe says. “It’s not like it was back in the day. This is about making some money.”
The symbolism matters. No coffins. Just two megastars and their catalogues in a Verzus style matchup.
“You’ve got big, big artists here that’s going to demonstrate that they turn a negative into a positive and living better than ever before,” Joe added.
The Fans Have Already Decided
If there were doubts about the demand this kind of matchup, ticket sales have erased them.
“Tremendous. It’s the biggest we’ve ever had,” Bogdanovich says. “In the first week we sold over 5,000 tickets.”
Even more striking: “Seventy-five percent from the international market—and they’re coming because of the lineup that we have.”
Kartel, in particular, remains a gravitational force after heading Sumfest last year.
“Boy, is it,” Bogdanovich says when asked about demand. “He has a fan base that’s relentless. They just can’t get enough of Vybz Kartel. He can talk to the people in the way that they understand.”
And Mavado?
“A great opportunity to reconnect with his fans,” Joe says. “He’s got some charisma about him… he is poised and ready.”
Old Guard, New Questions
For all the excitement, Bogdanovich is clear-eyed about the industry.
“The entertainment business… still reliant on the big guns of older-school dancehall to drive ticket sales,” Miller suggests.
Miller points to streaming dominance from younger acts, but Bogdanovich questions their pull on the ground.
“How many tickets do they (young acts) sell? What kind of attraction do they get, Anthony?” Bogdanovich asks.
“People want to see these two together,” he says of Kartel and Mavado. “They respect them—and it’s going to be crazy out there.”
As for how newer names could become Sumfest headliners?
“They have to earn their way up, number one,” Bogdanovich says.
And what does that mean?
“It means to behave properly… to think about others besides yourself, how to be there on time, how to make it easier for everybody that’s working there on your behalf.”
He contrasts that with the staying power of veterans.
“The reason why a Bounty and a Beenie lasted for so long—they just made better records than anybody else. They related to the environment better than anybody else.”
Turning the Page
Last year October, the future of Sumfest looked uncertain following the passage of hurricane Melissa across Montego Bay.
“We can’t afford that to happen,” Bogdanovich says of skipping a year. “We don’t want to just disappear and say, ‘well, we’ll just take the year off.’ We’re not going to do that.”
If Sting 2008 belonged to Kartel, then July 18 at Plantation Cove may belong to both of them—and to a Sumfest determined not just to survive, but to evolve.
Watch interview below:
English (US) ·