Machel Montano's team sorry for 'poor' One Show concert

Soca star Machel Montano's production team apologised on Sunday for the problems that led to the seven-hour long Machel 40 One Show concert at Haseley Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain on Friday, that left thousands of fans disgruntled and upset.

“WE know that you expected the highest standards from us and this fell short of what we have been doing over the year,” Machel Montano’s Team One Show committee admitted in a statement after attendees deemed the Machel 40 event, as “poorly organised” and “a disappointment.”

In the statement, the committee said it did not have enough time required to build out the venue because of a track event at the stadium seven days before.

“At the opening time, there was a lot of heavy equipment around the perimeter and some more work remained to complete inside the floor. For this reason, the fire services did not allow us to open at our advertised time.”

The show featured international Afrobeats star Ayra Starr, Rema and Africa’s biggest and most influential artiste Wiz Kid. The show also featured a powerful line of local and regional soca, and dancehall performers. Over 30 artistes from the Caribbean and Africa touched the stage.

Thousands of people stood in cramped conditions for hours waiting for the gates of the Hasely Crawford Stadium to open so they could enter the show that was supposed to be the highlight of Fantastic Friday night.

Gates were supposed to open at 6 pm and the show was promised to start at 9 pm. But by 9 pm workmen were seen laying protective covering on the field at the stadium.

The show started at 10 pm, an hour late, which inadvertently caused programme rearrangements and delays in changeover, the statement said.

Machel performed for three hours and 45 minutes. The show ended at 5 am Saturday.

The committee explained, "There are many challenges preparing a stadium that was designed for sport to be ready to host concerts of this magnitude...The stadium is the only venue that can accommodate these numbers and we are grateful to SportTT for this accommodation in light of them working on its refurbishing.

“The stadium contractors, the sporting fraternity and all of the show service providers tried to deliver our best while being very cognisant of protecting the property and patrons but did not deliver on time despite our greatest efforts

It lamented, "Culture needs its own venue of this size and as a nation, we must understand this is our greatest natural resource. Nobody in the world can create stories this rich and produce music this sweet and gather in harmony like this."

The team said it was still "grateful and humbled by the support from everyone who attended as well as the artists and performers who came together for this showcase.”