July 29, 2001 – Jamins Beach Fest broke new ground at the just opened Keyspan Stadium in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The stadium, home of professional baseball team theCyclones was the site of the inaugural Beach Fest concert, dedicated to the late Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Spacious, yet homely overlooking the beach, this was a perfect site on cool summer’s day to enjoy the likes of Beenie Man, Wyclef Jean, Luciano, Buju Banton, Mr. Vegas, Tanto Metro and Devonte and Maxi  Priest.

The New York Police Department received the brunt of lyrics delivered by the performing artists, as many patrons were video taped and arrested for drawing on their ‘tree’. VC dedicated a song to the men in blue saying that after the police’s hard day’s work, they should go home and ‘roll it…’ Luciano also lashed out, through his rendition of Peter Tosh’s ‘Legalize It’, and his ceremonial burning, which was passed through the massive.

Maxi Priest made a surprisingly early entrance and ran through his catalog endearing himself to the women as usual. Red Foxx joined him on stage and replicated Shaggy’s and Shabba’s DJ duets with Maxi. Foxx encouraged the audience to ‘go back a yard’ and that everything was settled from the riots … ‘Jamaica nice, Jamaica Sweet ‘– Naturale then joined him in ‘Down In Jamaica’ which turned everything over.

VC making his first concert appearance in New York was warmly welcomed and he did the fore mentioned tune for the NYPD plus his chart busting ‘By His Deeds’.

Luciano made the most of star time literally and figuratively as he did an hour plus set admonishing the officials for trying to stop the ganja bunning. Another message that was being delivered was that of the saving the world through our children. Luci could be seen giving away several large bills to a child and he later gave a young boy his Bible. But, the most memorable part of his performance was when he suddenly started climbing the stage structure and went almost 50 feet up to the top of the stage, where he prayed and sang. Many were left holding their hearts as Luci did his daredevil act with reckless abandon.

Buju passed through but I missed most of his early performance because security temporarily cleared the area. I caught the last piece of his segment and he did his usual professionally choreographed performance, which included “Love Sponge”, “Batty Rider”, “Boom Bye-Bye”, and “Browning”.

Tanto Metro and Devonte were next and did a few of their tunes from their last album like “Everybody Falls in Love” before going into their latest hit “Double Jeopardy”. They called out Mr. Vegas who joined them in a medley of tunes. With the time approaching 10 PM everyone was short on time and trying to make way for Beenie Man and Wyclef.

During Jamin’s last show – Reggae Carifest on July 1, Bounty Killer warred on other entertainers including Beenie Man. As expected Beenie returned serve, lashing back at Bounty ... 'it's only just begun, the war is not over, I'm gonna murda dem bumbo ...' Finishing up with the warology segment, Beenie called Wyclef on stage to ‘steal time ‘ before the curtain call. They went with free style lyrics, each showing their versatility and creativity before The Doctor exited the stage.

Clef sensing NYPD was about to close the show before he finished performing - climbed on speakers then hopped the fenced into the crowd to avoid being shut down. He said he felt the vibes better in the crowd and invited other artists out to join him. Jimmy Cozier sang ‘She’s all I Got’, before a bum rush of artists closed out the show.

Video: Beenie Man's Warology Segment (56K) ,  (DSL)