TEMPO Turns 6 at Six Flags Caribbean Summer Concert Series 2011: Julianspromos’ First Media Event
On July 9, 2011, Caribbean music took over Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, as TEMPO celebrated its sixth anniversary with a major concert featuring artists from across the region.
Kes the Band, Iwer George, Benjai, Nadia Batson, Skinny Fabulous, Lyrikal, Tallpree, Rikki Jai and several others were part of the lineup, while Jamaican superstar Shaggy made a special guest appearance.
For Julianspromos, the day also marked a first: TEMPO Turns 6 became the first full event Julianspromos attended and covered specifically as media, with Julian Hackett behind the coverage and Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson handling interviews on camera.
Six surviving Julianspromos videos now preserve performances and interviews from that day.
TEMPO Celebrates Six Years at Six Flags
The anniversary concert was part of the Six Flags Caribbean Summer Concert Series, combining a day at the theme park with an evening of Caribbean music.
The advertised lineup included Kes the Band, Iwer George, Benjai, Aaron Fresh, Patch, Rikki Jai, Mr. Chucky, Skinny Fabulous, Ziggy Ranking, Nadia Batson, Lyrikal and Tallpree. Young Devyn was also among the performers connected to the event.
Shaggy joined the celebration as a special guest, giving the concert another major Caribbean name during a summer when he was preparing to release his Summer in Kingston project.
Kes the Band Live at Six Flags
Kes arrived at Six Flags during a particularly strong year for the band.
Earlier in 2011, “Wotless” had become one of the biggest songs of the Trinidad Carnival season, with Kees Dieffenthaller winning the International Groovy Soca Monarch title.
Julianspromos captured Kes the Band performing live at Six Flags, preserving one of the major performances from TEMPO Turns 6.
Vivaa Interviews the Artists
Away from the stage, Vivaa interviewed several artists appearing at the event.
The surviving footage includes conversations with Skinny Fabulous, Lyrikal, Iwer George and Tallpree, giving the archive a cross-section of Soca artists from Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and the Caribbean diaspora.
For viewers revisiting the footage today, the interviews offer an early look at several artists who would remain familiar names in Soca for years afterward.
Young Devyn Returns to Six Flags
The event also brought Julianspromos back together with Young Devyn, who was only nine years old at the time.
Earlier that year, Devyn had been the subject of the first artist interview in Julianspromos history, conducted by Vivaa in New York.
Her appearance at Six Flags therefore connected two early moments in the archive: the first artist interview and, a few months later, the first full event covered by Julianspromos as media.
Getting to the First Assignment
Behind the coverage was a much smaller operation than viewers might assume today.
Julian and Vivaa volunteered for the opportunity and traveled from New York to Six Flags by bus. There was no media budget or established production operation supporting the trip.
They went because there was an opportunity to interview artists and cover a major Caribbean event, and they wanted to take it.
That simple decision turned July 9, 2011 into an important date in Julianspromos history.
Six Videos Preserve the Day
The surviving Julianspromos coverage features:
Kes the Band
Skinny Fabulous
Lyrikal
Iwer George
Tallpree
Young Devyn
Together, the footage provides a look back at both TEMPO Turns 6 and the Caribbean music scene that gathered at Six Flags Great Adventure that summer.
From the Julianspromos Archives
More than fifteen years later, TEMPO Turns 6 at Six Flags remains one of the most important early events in the Julianspromos archive.
The July 9 concert brought together artists from across the Caribbean, from Kes and Iwer George to Skinny Fabulous, Tallpree, Lyrikal and Shaggy.
For Julianspromos, it was also the first time the platform went to a major event specifically to interview artists, capture performances and create original media coverage from the venue.
The six surviving videos preserve where that chapter began.
