Beres Hammond, Beenie Man bring ‘Reggae in Action’ to Hartford and Newark
Key Points(5)
- There's a photograph reggae fans carry in their memory even if they never took the picture — Beres Hammond, mid-note, eyes closed, the crowd leaning toward him like plants toward light.
- Twenty years ago, that memory was made at Roy Wilkins Park in Queens, New York, when Hurricane Ernesto threatened to wash out the fourth annual Irie Jamboree and 25,000 people showed up anyway.
- This weekend, that same gravitational pull returns to the tri-state area, only this time the man sharing Beres's stage is the King of Dancehall himself, Beenie Man.
- The echoes between the two nights are hard to ignore.
- Back in 2006, with the Harmony House Band in tow, Beres moved through hits "Rockaway," "In Love With You," "What Can Love Do," "She Loves Me Not" and "Step Aside" with the unhurried confidence of a man who knew the crowd would follow wherever he led.
There's a photograph reggae fans carry in their memory even if they never took the picture — Beres Hammond, mid-note, eyes closed, the crowd leaning toward him like plants toward light. Twenty years ago, that memory was made at Roy Wilkins Park in Queens, New York, when Hurricane Ernesto threatened to wash out the fourth annual Irie Jamboree and 25,000 people showed up anyway. This weekend, that same gravitational pull returns to the tri-state area, only this time the man sharing Beres's stage is the King of Dancehall himself, Beenie Man. The echoes between the two nights are hard to ignore.
Back in 2006, with the Harmony House Band in tow, Beres moved through hits "Rockaway," "In Love With You," "What Can Love Do," "She Loves Me Not" and "Step Aside" with the unhurried confidence of a man who knew the crowd would follow wherever he led. When he slid into "Double Trouble" and "Putting Up Resistance," the room felt it — that unmistakable Beres pull, part ballad, part seduction.
Then came the moment nobody saw coming. Buju Banton, who had already torn through his own set, bounded back onstage for a surprise cameo with Beres. The two hadn't shared a stage in some time, and the crowd knew it. Trading DJ and singing roles on "Falling In Love" and "Stay Longer," they built something neither could have built alone before exiting together to "Cool Down The Vibes." It was, in hindsight, a preview of something Beres has quietly made a career of: standing beside artists who work in an entirely different register than he does and finding the note where their two worlds meet.
This Friday, Aug. 28 — Beres Hammond's birthday — that tradition continues at Hartford's PeoplesBank Arena before the two head to Newark's Prudential Center on Saturday, Aug. 29. The bill: Beres Hammond and Beenie Man, together, as part of the Reggae In Action tour brought to the region by Jammins Events.
If the pairing sounds unlikely on paper, it isn't to anyone who's actually watched Jamaican music for the last 30 years. Music historian Howard English, who's spent years covering the genre, put it simply: "August 28 happens to be Beres Hammond's birthday, so the PeoplesBank Arena crowd will be helping one of reggae's most enduring voices celebrate another major milestone."
For Beenie Man, the second night carries its own significance — his first time ever playing Prudential Center, sharing that debut with the man Beenie Man calls his "musical big brother for years."
On the surface, these two couldn't be more different as performers. Beres built his name the patient way — no chart-chasing, no shortcuts, just songs like "Rockaway" and "One Love, One Life" that never needed a chart position to prove themselves. English describes Beres this way: "He is not a performer who can only energize a crowd. He builds it, patiently, until the whole room is right there with him."
Beenie Man is the opposite force entirely. Since he introduced himself to American audiences with "Who Am I" in 1997, the Doctor has made his name on pure, unfiltered dancehall energy. English doesn't mince words about it: "Nobody calls him the King of Dancehall as a courtesy. He has proved his worth in gold over the years."
And yet — just like that surprise moment with Buju 20 years ago — the combination works. "One brings the calm, the other brings the fire," and somehow that isn't a mismatch; it's the full picture of what Jamaican music actually is.
George Crooks, the promoter behind the mini Jammins Events tour, doesn't hesitate when asked about putting the two together.
"You can't get a more entertaining show than Beres Hammond and Beenie Man. They are two legendary artistes with lots of hit songs," he shared.
This isn't a lineup that got thrown together for a poster, either. Beres and Beenie have known each other for decades — the two have performed on some of the same festival lineups, during the same long nights that helped build Jamaican music into what it is today. Beres has his own phrase for what the two of them have spent their careers doing: carrying "Brand Jamaica" out into the world, just through different doors. His door is soul-soaked lovers rock. Beenie's is dancehall at full throttle. Put together on one stage, it's like two chapters of the same story, finally told back to back, in the same room. And that story is pulling people from well beyond Hartford and Newark.
"We are expecting people from all over," Crooks says, "New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Rhode Island and Delaware. People in those areas love both artistes."
For Newark, that regional draw only adds weight to an already historic night — Beenie Man's Prudential Center debut, with Beres standing right beside him. Hartford gets the first chapter, and it's a personal one: a birthday show where the crowd isn't just there for the hits. They're there to celebrate Hugh Beresford Hammond, the man behind the hits.
