This is what went down at this year’s OVO Fest: the previously all-inclusive concert format was segmented into four separate days—the first one being Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg’s High Road tour date, followed by a heavily-dancehall themed outdoor fest yesterday [Saturday, July 30]. Those will be followed up by two Summer Sixteen tour dates at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday, July 31 and Monday, August 1, and stars Drake, Future, Roy Woods, and DVSN.
The assumptions of a not so successful OVO Fest started circulating when the news broke out of Beanie Man canceling after contracting the Zika virus. Regardless, OVO definitely had a few surprise special guests. The headliners included Kranium, Kes, Machel Monatano, and Mavado. The DJs on deck were Black Chiney and Jester. The acts were very much in tune with soca and dancehall music.
The surprise guest was Sean Paul, who performed hits like “Temperature,” “Gimme De Light,” “Like Glue,” and the remix of Tory Lanez‘ standout track, “Luv.”
Amongst all of the people present at the festival, New York’s own and Hot97’s Ebro was also present hyping the crowd on the mic throughout the concert, alongside host T-REXX.
Drake’s Summer Sixteen tour clashed with the festival dates, which made it confusing to know which day “OVO Fest” began, as the 6 God announced through his Instagram OVO Fest Day 1 starts tonight [Sunday, July 31] at the Air Canada Center.
Albeit Drake was not in attendance, this was a big experimental yet very authentic OVO fest dedicated to soca and dancehall music. The energy of the entire festival was very much intact and the spirit of the fans was way up. It was more of an authentic thing than a sold out stadium thing.
Photography by Zhamak Fullad.
