Jamaica Rave Scene?

This post is kind of odd for a Jamaica post but since the blog is Jamaica MY way, this is something I checked out!

Earlier this year I started to plan a trip with my son who is 18.  It was more difficult to plan than the trip we did when he was eleven.  Now he has his own style, his own scene and his own preferences.  He’s not really big on Jamaican music but he’s a DJ in the underground rave scene here in Canada, and he’s passionate about playing.  So as I was planning the trip something kinda strange happened simultaneously – I found an alternative music scene that exists in Kingston and my son found the contact for this alternative scene.  The day I went to tell him about it he announced he already found it and made contact and had booked himself a show in Kingston!

The alternative nights were called “Altered Fridays” and every Friday night it was put on at the Jonkanoo Lounge in the Wyndam Hotel (formerly the Hilton) in New Kingston. Okay so his music scene is DEFINITELY not mine but I was excited enough that he was playing in Kingston that I was totally looking forward to it. We arrived at the club pretty early so he could set up his audio gear and do a sound check. While he did that I sat in the courtyard restaurant of the hotel and ate cheese cake.

I’m telling you Facebook is a wonderful thing. My connection to this scene is a Jamaican college student I met on Twitter who then became my friend on Facebook and it was on his page I saw the Altered Friday link. So naturally he was coming to my son’s show to party! It was cool for Curtis to meet someone his own age in Jamaica who was interested in the alternative scene and they had a great time all night.

Curtis was to play two sets this night, one at eleven and one at 2AM. I hung out for his first set and a bunch of my friends who were traveling with me and some who live in Kingston showed up to support him. During his break between sets my group wanted to run up the street and check out Kingston’s Quad nightclub while he stayed and partied before his next set.

Quad (in my opinion) was pretty lame compared to everything I’ve heard about it. But we stayed for a while and then headed back to Curtis’s last set. His bar had gotten busier as the night got later and his second set was great!

The night finished around 3AM, Curtis got paid and we packed up his gear. Before we headed back to our hotel we went back out on the street near Quad and had some jerk chicken from a street vendor.

So there you have it, there IS a crowd and scene for everyone in Kingston! Even a rave scene attended by lots of college kids. It was interesting.

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