2013 Six Flags Caribbean Concert Highlights – Bunji Garlin, Beenie Man & Friends

On August 11, 2013, Julianspromos documented the 8th Annual Caribbean Summer Concert Series at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, capturing one of the major Caribbean summer concerts serving the New York and New Jersey diaspora.

Presented by TriniFly Promotions, the concert brought together Soca, Reggae, Dancehall and Hip-Hop with a lineup featuring Beenie Man, Mr. Vegas, Bunji Garlin, D’Angel, Lee Mazin, Young Devyn and Laza Morgan. Christopher Martin had also been advertised but was unable to perform because of a visa issue.

Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson represented Julianspromos throughout the event, documenting the artists, performances and atmosphere as the platform continued expanding its on-location Caribbean entertainment coverage.

The 8th Annual Caribbean Summer Concert Series

By 2013, the Caribbean Summer Concert Series at Six Flags Great Adventure had developed into an established annual tradition.

The August 11 event marked the eighth edition of the concert series, combining admission to Six Flags Great Adventure with a live Caribbean concert later in the day.

The format created a distinctive summer experience. Patrons could spend the day enjoying the amusement park before gathering for a concert featuring artists from across the Caribbean and its diaspora.

For audiences throughout New York, New Jersey and the wider Northeast, Six Flags became another destination where Soca, Reggae and Dancehall could be experienced outside of the traditional Carnival season.

Young Devyn Opens the Event

Young Devyn was among the early performers on the 2013 program.

Contemporary coverage identifies Devyn and her dancers as opening the event before later performances from artists including Lee Mazin, D’Angel and Laza Morgan.

Her appearance also continued a longstanding connection with Julianspromos.

Young Devyn had been the subject of Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson’s first-ever Julianspromos artist interview in 2011, making her part of the platform’s media history from its earliest days.

By 2013, both Young Devyn and Julianspromos had grown considerably from that first conversation.

Dancehall Takes Over Six Flags

Dancehall formed a major part of the 2013 lineup.

Mr. Vegas delivered one of the crowd-favorite performances of the afternoon, followed later by Beenie Man, whose appearance brought one of Dancehall’s most established performers onto the Six Flags stage.

Beenie Man also invited D’Angel back onto the stage during his set, creating another memorable moment from the concert.

The Dancehall performances helped give the event a broader Caribbean identity rather than limiting the concert to any single genre or island.

Bunji Garlin Closes the Concert

The closing portion of the event belonged to Bunji Garlin, who arrived at Six Flags during one of the most important years of his career.

Contemporary event coverage records Bunji preparing to close the concert alongside Fay-Ann Lyons and their daughter Syri.

Bunji’s 2013 momentum was being driven heavily by a song that was beginning to take Soca into spaces the genre rarely reached.

That song was “Differentology.”

“Differentology” at Six Flags

Julianspromos preserved a separate video of Bunji performing “Differentology” at Six Flags, with his daughter Syri joining him onstage.

The footage was uploaded by JulianspromosTV on August 12, 2013, only one day after the concert.

At the time, “Differentology” was already becoming something much larger than another Carnival release.

Written and performed by Bunji Garlin and produced by Keron “Sheriff” Thompson, the song had emerged from the 2013 Trinidad Carnival season with a deliberately stripped-down Soca sound.

Its slower tempo, guitar-driven production and memorable chorus gave the record an accessibility that helped it travel beyond traditional Soca audiences.

A Breakthrough Year for Bunji Garlin

The Six Flags performance came during the period when “Differentology” was beginning its international breakthrough.

Later in 2013, the song would win Best International Performance at the Soul Train Awards, while also gaining significant attention through New York radio and a Major Lazer remix.

Bunji later described 2013 as an unusual year because opportunities were opening for Soca in places where the genre traditionally struggled to gain attention.

His Six Flags appearance therefore captures him directly inside that transition.

This was not a later performance of an established international classic. Julianspromos documented “Differentology” during the same year the record was actively breaking through internationally.

A Family Moment on Stage

The surviving Julianspromos video also preserves a more personal moment from the performance.

Bunji’s daughter Syri joined him as he performed “Differentology,” with Fay-Ann Lyons also present during the closing portion of the Six Flags concert. Contemporary photography from the event independently documents Bunji, Fay-Ann and Syri together as the concert reached its conclusion.

The moment gives the footage a different quality from a standard live-performance clip.

Alongside a song that was transforming Bunji’s career, the video captures the family surrounding him during that period.

Caribbean Artists Across Generations

The 2013 Six Flags lineup represented artists at very different stages of their careers.

Beenie Man and Mr. Vegas were internationally established Jamaican stars.

Bunji Garlin was entering a major crossover period.

D’Angel represented Jamaica’s contemporary Dancehall scene.

Young Devyn represented a much younger generation of Caribbean-American talent.

Artists such as Lee Mazin and Laza Morgan broadened the event further, giving the concert a lineup that moved between Soca, Dancehall, Reggae and Hip-Hop.

Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson at Six Flags

For Julianspromos, the event was another chapter in Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson’s growing history of Caribbean media coverage.

By 2013, Vivaa had moved far beyond the platform’s earliest interviews.

She was covering major Caribbean events across New York, New Jersey, Miami and other markets, helping Julianspromos document artists and events from inside the culture.

The surviving Julianspromos history specifically lists the 2013 Six Flags Caribbean Concert among her media coverage from that year.

Three Years After the Beginning

Six Flags also carried particular meaning within the development of Julianspromos.

In 2011, another Six Flags Caribbean concert had become the first event Julianspromos ever attended specifically as media, with Julian Hackett and Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson volunteering and traveling to New Jersey by bus to conduct artist interviews.

By 2013, Six Flags was no longer an experiment.

Julianspromos had returned to the event as part of a much larger and increasingly established multimedia operation, documenting artists who were shaping Caribbean music internationally.

The contrast between those two Six Flags trips helps illustrate how quickly the platform’s media work was developing.

From the Julianspromos Archives

2013 Six Flags Caribbean Concert: Julianspromos Highlights preserves another chapter of Caribbean summer entertainment in New Jersey.

Featuring Beenie Man, Mr. Vegas, Bunji Garlin, D’Angel, Young Devyn and other artists, the footage captures the eighth annual Caribbean Summer Concert Series at Six Flags Great Adventure.

The additional performance of Bunji Garlin performing “Differentology” with his daughter Syri gives the archive an especially valuable snapshot from the same year the song was propelling Bunji and Soca toward wider international recognition.

Together, the videos preserve not only the artists who appeared at Six Flags that summer, but another stage in the growth of Julianspromos as an on-location Caribbean entertainment media platform.