Come along take a ride on the Fantastic Voyage
Welcome to our April 2001 REGGAEMANIA EVENTS — We present to you a look through the lens of past April 2001 Reggae-Dancehall Events that took place the Toronto and surrounding areas.
APRIL 2001 REGGAEMANIA EVENT LISTINGS
Sunday April 29th @ Epiphany
Metromedia
11 Arrow Rd.
Saturday April 28th @ 5 Star Banquet Hall
Black Reaction, King Turbo, Reddy Fox.
Puppet, Finch Crew & Richie Lou,
1811 Albion Rd
info: (416)889-CLUB
Friday April 27th @ ICC’s
Black Reaction, Military, Fire Kid Steenie,
Lindo P., Ron Bus Da Dance Nelson
163 Carlingview @ Dixon
Tuesday April 24th @ The Opera House
The Wailers
735-a Queen @ Broadview
Saturday April 21st @ The Abyss
Bus Da Dance, Fully Loaded, Team Bravo
3535 Hawkstone Rd.
info: 416-410-3939
Friday April 20th @ ICC’s (inside Base Nightclub)
Reggaemania Live To Air Broadcast
Military, Black Reaction, Prophet,
Bus Da Dance, Body Rock, Kardinal Offishall
163 Carlingview
Monday April 16th @ Club Epiphany
Stonelove, Rebel T.
11 Arrow Rd.
416-740-9329
Monday April 16th @ HHMS
Bodyguard
1468 Victoria Park Ave.
Sunday April 15th @ Base Niteclub
Stonelove, Bodyguard
Soul-To-Soul
163 Carlingview
info: 416-589-7071 or 416-873-7672
Sunday April 15th @ Club Epiphany
Rebel T.
11 Arrow Rd.
416-740-9329
Saturday April 14, 2001@ Howard Johnson’s Hotel
Bob Andy, Alton Ellis, Horrace Andy,
Derrik Morgan, Nana McLean,Jakki James, Leroy Brown, Wire
2737 Keele St @ 401
info: 416-600-5976
Saturday April 14th @ HHMS
Stonelove
1468 Victoria Park Ave.
Saturday April 14th @ Abyss
Gal Farm Grand Opening
Military, Black Mellody, DJ Frisco
3535 Hawkstone Rd.
info: 416-410-3939
Friday April 13th @ ICC’s (inside Base Nightclub)
Reggaemania Live To Air Broadcast
Military, Black Mellody, Fire Kid Steenie,
Bus Da Dance
163 Carlingview
Thursday April 12th @ Stages Nightclub
Stonelove, Starting From Scratch
312 Kings St. West (Kitchener)
info: 519-897-8688
Sunday April 8th @ Club Epiphany
Sound Of The Year Juggling Competition
Black Mellody vs Body Rock
winner & champion: Body Rock
11 Arrow Rd.
Friday April 6th @ Mirage Niteclub
REGGAEMANIA LIVE TO AIR
Ron Bus Da Dance Nelson
Firestone, Frisco
55 Nugget Ave.
Sunday April 1st @ The Opera House
Jones & Jones presents Night 2:
Luciano, Junior Kelly, Mike General
Dean Frazer, Firehouse Crew, Iley Dread,
Messenjah, Sensation Band
735 Queen E. @ Broadview
info: 416-452-1911
Sunday April 1st @ Club Epiphany
Sound Of The Year Juggling Competition Semi Finals
Black Mellody vs XL
11 Arrow Rd.
APRIL 2001 OVERVIEW
LUCIANO + JR. KELLY @ THE OPERA HOUSE
April was another busy month, though not quite as bad as March. The Opera House Luciano concert (Luciano, Jr. Kelly, Mike General, Dean Frazer, Firehouse Crew) actually helped April look good as the two night showcase spanned the final day of March (31st) and the first day of April.
The Opera House Jones and Jones/Kings Of Kings presentation attracted close to 700 people after being sold out the previous night. All performances were up to par, including Luciano singing while kneeling from the upper floor Opera House balcony.
REGGAEMANIA LIVE TO AIR @ MIRAGE 04.06.01
The Mirage Reggaemania Live-to-Air (April 6th) attracted close to 150 people at Mirage, which at the time, was their largest Friday night crowd since being hampered by negative publicity associated with a previous shooting near by their nightclub.
Before this point, Mirage had a lock on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the East, seeing crowds of 500 people and more. Since the shooting and bad media coverage associating the nightclub, patrons literally vacated the venue, and it has taken until now (late May) for Mirage to get their crowd back.
PROBLEMS AT THE ABYSS
April saw the Epiphany Juggling Contest sporting victories by Body Rock and Black Mellody, while the Gal Farm at the Abyss finally closed after an all ages Sunday night knifing incident that resulted in the death of a young teen inside the nightclub.
The club also suffered more bad publicity when guns were found in several cars during a random police search of vehicles entering the nightclub.
Since the murder and temporary closure of the Gal Farm, numbers at the nightclub had dropped from a steady 1,000 people plus, to about 350. During this period, Big City Promotions had also switched their commercial radio vehicle from WBLK to Flow 93.5. Sounds who played the Abyss in April included Black Mellody, Military, Frisco, Bus Da Dance, Fully Loaded, Teen Bravo, Tyronne, and Super 7.
SHORT LIFE FOR OVERLOADED FRIDAYS @ ICC’s
Overloaded Fridays started up inside Base Nightclub’s small room called ICC’s (International Chinese Cuisine). The dancehall night had a short yet exciting run before closing due the ICC’s getting their Green Sticker from the Department Of Health and in the process, being declared a no-smoking venue (effective June 1st).
Sounds who played ICC’s included Military, Black Reaction, Black Mellody, Prophet, Steenie, Body Rock, and Lindo P. The Live-To-Air broadcast for this promotion was constantly plagued with technical problems, also contributing to why the promotion never quite got off the ground.
NO VIBES FOR STONELOVE
Stonelove played Kitchener alongside Starting From Scratch on Easter Thursday (April 12th). On Easter Saturday, Stonelove played HHMS nightclub in Scarborough. They apparently played to wicked for a couple of trigger-happy’s who let of shots inside the nightclub during Ward 21’s Blood Stain (See Dem Run). This led to a conservative vibe on the following Sunday night when Stonelove played Base nightclub alongside Bodyguard and Soul To Soul. Everyone agreed that this was the most boring Stonelove dance yet, and Gee Fus knew it, but he had been instructed to hold back on his music as to not excite what had happened at HHMS to happen again at Base.
STONELOVE + REBEL T + BODYGUARD LINK UP @ EPIPHANY
On Easter Monday, Stonelove played at Club Epiphany alongside Rebel T, who had play Epiphany the night previous, pleasing the 300 people that came out with a variety of good tunes programmed well throughout the night. This dance attracted a relatively small but lively crowd. This same Monday night, Bodyguard played at HHMS nightclub.
OLDIES SHOW PLEASES ALL
Easter Saturday had seen only one big dance, an oldies stage-show at the Howard Johnson’s Hotel featuring Bob Andy, Alton Ellis, Horrace Andy, Derek Morgan, nana McLean, Jakki James, Leroy Brown and Wire. This night had an erie tone to it, as it was one year to the date of last year’s nasty incident at Center Point Lounge where several people were hurt in a western-style nightclub shoot-out. This year, things were relatively calm. Thank God.
WAILERS PLAY OPERA HOUSE
On April 24th, The Wailers played the Opera House.
METROMEDIA GET’S 14 WHEELS
The month ended off nicely with Metromedia coming to Epiphany on Sunday April 29th. This was the night Skyjuice was reported to have gotten 14 wheels for a Buju tune he Skyjuice played. This, in the eyes of some of the fans, was a feat never before seen in Toronto’s dancehall history.
INTERNATIONAL SOUNDS WHO PERFORMED IN TORONTO April 2001
INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS WHO PERFORMED IN TORONTO April 2001
