Review: Kingston plays to mostly beautiful skies

Posted by arts_reviews

Posted: August 30, 2008 - 11:20 am

Dawnell Smith
Daily News Correspondent

Rising hip-hop star Sean Kingston got a little sun, a little rain when he played the Alaska State Fair's Borealis Theatre Friday night in two shows that drew throngs of teenagers and families.

Instead of hanging out on the theater grounds, I skulked the securing fence for a peek since the promised guest list never materialized and no one in security or the box office seemed anxious to help me find it.

While spying the contoured mound of the theater grounds through a chain link fence, I ran into Troy McGlashan, a young man in groovy clothes who appeared smitten by the righteous reggae groves of Bare Roots, a local reggae band that started jamming by 5:15 p.m.

"Look at them," said McGlashan, gesturing to concert goers on the other side of the fence. "No body's even dancing."

Security scooted McGlashan and everyone else along and he ended up buying tickets to the 8 p.m. show. "I don't care about Sean Kingston," he said. "I'm here for the opening acts. They're the ones trying to get heard and putting everything out there for people."

Meanwhile, parents bought their kids tickets and others stood in a line that snaked down the vendor highway. Most wanted to hear Kingston, the Miami-born singer who grew up in Jamaica and put out a self-titled CD in 2007 that generated hits like "Beautiful Girls" and "Take You There."

The first performance ended around 7 p.m., right after a short sprinkle. Kingston played for about 40 minutes, according to a woman trying to make her way through the fair crowd.

By then, another wall of fans waited for the next show.

If you saw Kingston, tell us what you saw, heard and think.

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