For two hours Saturday night, reggae artiste Buju Banton, whose given name is Mark Myrie, belted out hit after hit at his Long Walk to Freedom concert at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica.
If there were questions about his state of mind and his ability to perform in front of a sold out crowd, after almost a decade in isolation, Buju put those to rest, breezing through his extensive catalogue of musical masterpieces.
Dressed in an all-white ensemble, Banton entered the stage with a pensive look on his face, and that was enough to indicate that he meant business.
He opened his set with a worship song asking, “Lamb of God, have mercy on me”. He then smoothly transitioned into Not An Easy Road, a song many thought would have been his track of choice, based on all he has had to overcome. As he sang through the lyrics of the song, the crowd went wild.
Hits like Destiny, Champion, Driver, Untold Stories and Wanna Be Loved had the crowd singing and rocking along.
And he was not alone as he wrote a piece of entertainment history. The Gargamel’s set involved several collaborations as he invited the likes of Beres Hammond, Marcia Griffiths, Wayne Wonder and Gramps Morgan to share the stage.
