KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Local entertainment radio station Hot97 has distanced itself from the “Irresistible Temptations” concert at which Jamaican artiste Jah Cure, who was advertised to headline the event, failed to perform Saturday night.
“… we take this opportunity to inform you, our valued listener, that the Jah Cure concert held last night was a production of Matrix Entertainment and not Hot97,” the station said in a statement Sunday afternoon.
Thousands of Vincentians, having paid as much as EC$50 to see Jah Cure, whose real name is, Siccature Alcock, left the Victoria Park disappointed and irate early Sunday morning as the artiste failed to perform although he was in St. Vincent.
“Promoter failed to meet his contractual obligations so I could not perform. Sorry St. Vincent, I shall return ☹ I’m super disappointed,” the artiste wrote in a tweet around 5:40 a.m. Sunday.
Hot97, in its statement, said that the station was “booked to provide the radio advertising for the event.
“As is our procedure with major events we undertake a number [of] checks to verify that the headline artists have been booked prior to commencing radio promotion. This was done and it was verified that Jah Cure and his
band were booked by Matrix Entertainment and would be in St. Vincent for the 10th March event,” the station said.
According to the statement, everything seemed on track with Jah Cure calling into the station a number of times in the week leading up to the show and even making a live appearance in their studios for approximately 45 minutes on Saturday morning.
“While there was an unexplained delay in the setup of Victoria Park, by 2 p.m. on the day of the show everything had been resolved and seemed to be on schedule for the event later that evening,” the statement continued.
“Like everybody else at the event we at Hot97 were surprised by the none appearance of Jah Cure and his band in Victoria Park which was
later explained by police sources as being due to the failure of Matrix Entertainment to meet his financial obligations to Jah Cure.”
Hot97 said that like all patrons, it was “disappointed with the turn of events” and up to the time of this press release shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday was “unable to ascertain how the promoter intends to compensate patrons of the event,” adding that it would keep listeners up-to-“with any new developments pertaining to this event”.
Jah Cure, in second tweet Sunday morning, said: “St. Vincent I’m sorry for every thing that happened tonight due to the lack of organization on the part of the promoters who have been giving nothing but excuses! I look forward to returning to deliver great music in a show by a legitimate promoter some time soon. Jah live!”