Beres Hammond/Buju Show at Newark Symphony Hall

On Saturday March 9, Beres Hammond along with special invited guests Buju Banton, Jimmy Cozier and a full orchestra performed to a sellout crowd at The Newark Symphony Hall in Newark New Jersey. The show started at 8pm with opening acts by the Harmony House band, Harmony House singers and local act Ginger. Leon the actor was also in the house.   At the introduction of Jimmy Cozier, the audience knew it was startime/showtime. Jimmy came out and bigged up the audience in patois (if you didn’t know Jimmy is of Jamaican ancestry. It took a while for the crowd to warm up to him but after a few songs he had the females screaming his full name. He sang his chart-topping hit, “She’s All I Got” and left the stage singing a few verses acappella from a new song that sounds like it’s going to be another big hit. Davded Levy and the Spice Man from WLIB radio had the honor of introducing Beres, from the minute he hit the stage (decked in full purple) he had the crowd on their feet. Beres delivered chart topping hits one after another- One Dance, Tempted to Touch, Double Trouble, Love from a Distance, Rockaway and They Gonna Talk. From the band starting playing the rhythm to Who sey big man don’t cry. The crowd knew that Buju was near and once Beres started singing his part it was only a matter of time before the Gargamel made his entrance.  He made his entrance to a host of people screaming and waving hands in the air. Buju came out decked in white pants, black silk shirt and a white cardigan sweater, Buju and Beres went tune for tune and they even switched it up a bit where Buju would sing and Beres would DJ, the crowd loved it and wanted more of Buju. It was then that Beres told Buju that he should sing a few songs for his fans. Buju performed for about 20 minutes and even after he left the stage the crowd was still not satisfied. Beres came back and closed out the show with a few more songs one being his latest “Give Thanks” which is steadily moving up the charts both here and Jamaica. He thanked the people for coming out and went as far as to thank the NY and NJ venues for giving him a full orchestra because he could not afford to add that to his show. The show was a total success and a good time was had by all.

Photo: Ajamu
Text: Glama T