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André Paine's rating
Jimmy Cliff-hanger at Rise Festival
By
André Paine
14 Jul 2008
Rise festival had tremendous pulling power. Organisers said attendance at the free music event reached 101,000, making it perhaps the biggest so far.
That achievement was almost ruined by the decision to cut off reggae legend Jimmy Cliff in full flow, leaving fans bewildered. Licensing curfews must be observed, but he should have been allowed to finish his song rather than perform silently to a huge crowd.
Otherwise, this was a well-organised festival blessed with perfect sunshine and a strong line-up. The Mayor's decision to remove the anti-racism message, replacing it with a general "celebration of diversity", prompted trade unions to withdraw their support.
However, the spirit of unity at Rise seemed as strong as ever, with the bonus that Boris ditched the tedious speeches between sets that Ken Livingstone and his campaigning friends used to inflict on the audience. Of course, it would have been entertaining to see Boris attempt to engage with a pop festival, but he was unable to attend due to family commitments.
There was no real backlash to the anti-racism issue: former Specials singer Terry Hall did bemoan the "dumping" of the message, although he aimed his opprobrium at the BNP.
Hall was performing with Dub Pistols and, although a bit crumpled, he brought some star quality when he sang Gangsters, which surely had thousands of fans eager for a Specials reunion. Hall's former band mate Jerry Dammers also got a joyous reception for his DJ set earlier on.
The Aliens' space-rock struggled to get that sort of reaction, although it was certainly sunshine music. On the African Village stage, former Sudanese child soldier Emmanuel Jal was also somehow uplifting: his rapping could ramble, but his sincere delivery of the grim lyrics was ultimately inspiring.
Brazilian electro-rock outfit CSS were the party band, with singer Lovefoxxx wearing a stripy catsuit and more stripes painted on her face.
It was an ebullient performance, which probably comes naturally with songs called Music is My Hot Hot Sex. New tunes Left Behind and the Eighties-sounding Move also got the crowd dancing, while Reggae All Night had Lovefoxxx getting excited about Jimmy Cliff.
"It's a beautiful day, I feel like I'm in Jamaica," said the reggae veteran. He was soundtracking a perfect sunset with classics including Wonderful World, Beautiful People and Vietnam.
But then the plug was pulled after 35 minutes. If Rise does happen again next year, Jimmy Cliff should be invited back to perform his full set.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (11)
The only words I have used to describe the event are disgrace and shambles. How CSS were allowed to perform for so long, thus making the event overrun was disgraceful. They were so bad everyone around me were desperate for them to finish. And for this to cause Jimmy Cliff facing the indignity of having the plug pulled on him. This was so disrespectful.
- Lex, London, UK, 14/07/2008 16:31
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Who can I demonstrate against in protest about the end of that gig? Totally bemusing. One second, great gig; next, it's all over. Not even a "safe journey home".
- Greg, London, 14/07/2008 16:09
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Can't believe they did that to poor Jimmy, the sun was shining and he was absolutely amazing, and when the sound got cut off I thought it was a technical fault. Me and thousands of others were waiting there for absolutely ages as we thought he'd come back, but eventually we realised.
Loved the festival though, just hope it's better handled next year as cutting him off was really disgraceful!
- Billy, London, 14/07/2008 15:45
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It was a disgrace to treat Jimmy Cliff and all the audience that way. Boris Johnson has a lot of explaining to do.
- Robert Canning, London, England, 14/07/2008 14:59
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How could that happen to Jimmy Cliff- we didn't even get to cheer him off! Was a real shame because it was is full flow! Other than that, another good Rise.
- Jessica, Camberwell, 14/07/2008 14:19
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Pulling the plug on Jimmy Cliff was a disgrace. Up until then it had been a superb event. No offence to CSS, but they are just a disco band in clown pants. All very well, but we were there to see the reggae legend and I feel he was treated with disrespect by the organisers. As were the crowd, who were given no explanation for the abrupt finish.
- Tinymod, London, 14/07/2008 14:16
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Unreal that anyone could be such a petty-minded bureaucrat as to cut the sound system during 'Rivers of Babylon' being sung by a legend like Jimmy Cliff.
Also, rather unhappy that dogs are now banned from Rise. Seems rather discriminatory against dog-owners. Especially as dogs have been allowed in the past.
- Al, London, 14/07/2008 14:05
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It's a disgrace that Jimmy Cliff was cut off, how can they disrespect and embarrass such a great man as well as disappoint the entire crowd? The guy had to suffer the indignity of being laughed off stage by a confused crowd with no opportunity to even say goodbye and receive the applause he deserved. Whichever miserable meddling council killjoy pulled the plug on Rivers of Babylon should be utterly ashamed of himself - whoever you are you are clearly dead inside.
What makes it all one hundred time worse was that we were forced to put up with the appalling, smug, puerile, self-congratulatory musical toothache of CSS for what felt like about 50 minutes of interminable, indistinguishable, "ironic" in-joke dirge. Why couldn't these cretins have been cut short instead of Jimmy? And although Beardyman was very talented and would have played a great set, the sound was not working for him at all, it was excruciatingly bad sound quality, no-one could hear him over the crackle of overloaded speakers, and he should also have been pulled early.
Jimmy didn't even get to play Many Rivers To Cross, what a tragedy, that would have been perfect in the sunset.
- Spenny, London, UK, 14/07/2008 13:28
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I can't believe they cut Jimmy short! Abit disrespectful to be honest! They should of let the legend that is Jimmy at least finish his song and then they could of got him to tell the crowd that was it, even thou the sun shone and it was a great day out that put a dampner on it. Sort it out Boris!
- Neil, Reading , berks, 14/07/2008 12:15
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Jimmy Cliff was performing an absolutely blinding set and it was a disgrace that he was cut off in mid flow and ruined what was otherwise a fantastic, sun-drenched and trouble free celebration. His message was all about togetherness and celebration ie. ‘Wonderful World, beautiful people’ and encapsulated the spirit of the festival, with Londoners of all colours and creeds coming together for once.
But in a warped display of prioritisation, small minded officiousness won out over harmony and breaking down barriers. The organisers and council should hang their heads in shame, couldn’t they have at least let him finish his song? Boris should apologise to the festival goers and Jimmy Cliff, who should definitely be invited back next year.
- Toby Hicks, London, UK, 14/07/2008 10:48
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It was a massive anticlimax and a terrible shame that all had waited patiently between the CSS and Jimmy cliff set whilst the it was all set up for the great man only to then have a a truncated set. I simply cannot believe that the plug was pulled prior to the end of his song...
There wasn't even a message on screen to explain the issue or apologise or anything. A bit of a farce really. And it should have been pre-empted. so that maybe CSS would have played shorter set to allow Jimmy a bit more time on stage. No besmirch on CSS but the legend that is Jimmy Cliff was frankly snubbed.
- Matt, London, UK, 14/07/2008 10:18
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