WE had the best music festival ever last weekend. Kudos to all who made it happen. I wasn't able to get tickets for The Whispers but I went every other night.

So contrary to popular belief, reporters don't always get free tickets. At this juncture it is fitting and appropriate to state that for whatever reasons, the organisers had zero interest whatsoever in working with or including, even in a small way, the Bermuda media.

Notwithstanding this, the Bermuda media have still given the event excellent support and brilliant coverage. Hopefully, next year they will let us into the hallowed halls of the Bermuda Music Festival. So, Mr. Rock Newman, holla at the reporters next year!

The tickets were a bit pricey, but most things in Bermuda are pricey, so it is what it is. The stars did not disappoint. It was indeed the best line-up of talent in the history of the event and as Premier Ewart Brown said: "The organisers have definitely taken it to the next level."

The organisers had the batting order just perfect. The Whispers were the right choice for Wednesday because whilst they are great, they were not the biggest draw. Having Beyoncé on Thursday night was a smart choice because she really got the crowd into the Festival proper, since hers was the first night at the National Sports Centre.

Beyoncé brought her "A" game and I can tell you that she is even better than advertised, more unbelievable in person than she is on TV and/or in magazines. Man, she is super fine. I had the pleasure of attending with my mom, dad and brother. Little brother enjoyed seeing Beyoncé and couldn't believe his eyes. I ain't mad at him; she is beautiful.

Beyoncé performed more than 20 songs in a 90-minute performance with her all-female band that included dancers, vocalists, pianists, horns, two percussionists, guitarists and her amazing bass player. B didn't play any instruments but she danced and performed her butt off. Actually, her thighs look a bit smaller so she has obviously been working out.

I concluded that Beyoncé has more hits than anyone else on this year's ticket and she had so many to choose from that she was able to do 60-90-second samples of some of her many hits. I also concluded that Beyoncé is the consummate entertainer, show girl and she put on a performance that was second to none during this year's Bermuda Music Festival.

Beyoncé's sister Solange gave a stirring performance which shows that these sisters were bred with good genes, in terms of looks and talent.

Lyfe Jennings was also smooth and hit some high notes during his performance, driving the ladies wild.

Friday night saw Bermuda's Collie Buddz and UB40. I really did not approve of Collie Buddz encouraging people to smoke weed while he was on stage.

While he should be invited to perform next year, he should be invited with the agreement that he cannot advocate doing drugs at a Government-sponsored event. Collie Buddz was good but as soon as he performed I said to my wife that the music was too low and should be turned up louder.

Then they cut Collie Buddz short. I know it rained but they didn't have to cut him down so much. He did well and got the crowd going but was somewhat disappointed at not being given the proper and full amount of time to perform.

Then UB40 came on stage and tore up the place. I immediately noticed that as soon as UB40 came on, the music was considerably and noticeably louder. This is unfortunate and makes me wonder if it is the norm for the opening acts to be stuck with performing their music at a lower volume whilst the main acts get the volume at the Full Monty, thereby aiding in making them actually sound better than those who performed before them.

There is also the issue of whether they were afraid that if they had Collie Buddz's volume up too loud, he would have garnered too much fan support, since he is homegrown, from Bermuda and a son of the soil. One fan suggested that Collie Buddz needs a better band and while his management team can address that, clearly there needs to be decent and fair sound production and engineering at shows. My wife and I totally enjoyed UB40 as their hits reminded us of the '80s and '90s, when they were in their heyday. Unlike most fans, my favourite UB40 track is not Red, Red Wine, but Rat in the Kitchen, a track that has an awesome beat which really causes you to dance and gyrate.

Red Red Wine makes you sing, but the beat of Rat in the Kitchen makes you dance and enjoy yourself. It reminded me of my heyday as a prime time Front Street DJ; those were the songs of yesteryear that I used to play, first on vinyl, then on CDs. Wow, we've come a long way since the gramophones, haven't we?

I have to make note of the fact that there was a larger concentration of guest workers, mostly British of course, in attendance on Friday night when UB40 were on the ticket; and they, like the rest of us, were not disappointed.

However, the only issue I have with this is that they didn't turn up in those kinds of numbers for Beyoncé and Alicia Keys ¿ just for one of their own. I know that the tickets were a bit on the high/expensive side but most of these people can afford tickets to a music festival and my comment is really an appeal to them to get more fully engaged and assimilated into Bermuda, Bermudian culture, history and traditions. This will enhance their experiences in Bermuda and if they should leave, they will be far better equipped to speak about Bermuda than they would have been otherwise.

Ali Campbell, the lead singer of UB40, has an excellent voice that is still powerful and inspiring, some 30 years into his career. This dude can flat out sing and carry a band. He deferred to others at various spots to share the love. UB40 put on an excellent show; people were dancing in the aisles, blocking the access to the stage and a good time was had by all.

It must be stated that the comedians during this year's Bermuda Music Festival were funny. Bill Bellamy is cool and funny in his own right and Steve Harvey is the best; he is an amazing host.

It was a real treat to have Dick Gregory come out on Saturday night and do a surprise performance. But, the real treat for Bermudians was to see Nadanja Bailey on the main stage.

He was really funny and as a home grown talent must be featured on the main stage. In fact, we could do without Bellamy or whoever they think they need to bring as the alternate comedian/host and use Nadanja alongside Steve Harvey. It might actually be funny; having the big guy and the little guy working together or at the very least taking turns as appropriate! Food for thought!

Then on to Saturday night. Aaron Neville has a unique style. He is clearly country and he wears a cowboy hat most of the time. His band was unbelievable, especially his brother Charlie Neville. Charlie plays the saxophone and is a very competent musician. However, Aaron Neville is not Alicia Keys.

The Grammy Award-winning songstress gave us something to remember. She is really pretty, she appeared genuine and she kept the audience involved the whole time. Alicia is a prime time superstar. Her team included other musicians who are world class musicians in their own right but who defer to her as their leader, because she is clearly the star of their show.

She belted out hit after hit and the audience really loved her. Alicia is quite versatile. Her first song was a rock track. Although I accept that she is a completely different performer from Beyoncé, she might have changed outfits a few times during her performance, but I guess that isn't part of her shtick just yet. As she develops, this may change, but take nothing away from her; she can sing, she is extremely talented, she writes beautiful music, she is an accomplished pianist and she moved the crowd.

Overall, this year's Bermuda Music Festival was the best yet, even though it rained on a few evenings. On that note, the organisers might want to consider a date change, maybe pushing it later in the month of October. Rain isn't everything and you can never plan the weather, but it just seems to rain every year. You can, however, simply ask the weatherman, Dr. Mark Guishard, what the statistics show in terms of weekends and periods where it has historically rained the least; then schedule the Bermuda Music Festival for that weekend.

The organisers must also look for opportunities to save money wherever possible, not only because it is getting expensive, but also because of the economic forecast for the Western World, which includes Bermuda. It is also intelligent business practice. Artists need to be forced to cut back their entourages and the number of free trips and passes must be kept to a bare minimum. People need to be reminded that the Bermuda Government is the primary sponsor of this event.

On that note, it might be appropriate to conduct a study on the Music Festival to determine if it is a Tourism event, which generates an acceptable amount of visitors and/or prime time media exposure; or if this has remained mainly an event for Bermuda and Bermudians. Some people will not like the implication, but facts are facts.

I fear that although we sell packages, by the Bermuda Department of Tourism's own standards, there are not enough visitors coming into this event, to justify the millions we spend on it. I also fear that too many of those included in the group of "visitors" came on free/complimentary tickets, whether they be stage crew, entourages, engineers, sound/lighting technicians, whatever!

It might be that there is significant prime- time media exposure, but I have yet to see it. Maybe we can get BET or FOX or Entertainment Tonight to run a special on the BMF, like they do for the St. Lucia Jazz Festival. It has been done in the past but it seems that we have strayed from this or the networks have little interest in it. This is not a criticism; I am just highlighting opportunities to make the event better and for it to provide a higher return on investment of the taxpayers' dollars.

Given the credit crunch and the Government's decree that all departments must cut their budgets by ten per cent will the BDOT's budget also decline by ten per cent and will the Bermuda Music Festival have a smaller budget? In the past the model advertised and aimed for was that after a period of time, events should become self-sustaining.

Whilst that is highly unlikely to happen between now and next year, given the global economic woes, one has to ask the question if any serious effort has been made over the past ten years to make the BMF self -unding and self-sustaining. I sense that we have not been able to get a title sponsor to take on this event and that it is very hard to do so. However, this in no way gives us licence to stop trying. We must be like Calvin Coolidge and "press on".

Mr. Newman et al will be hard pressed to top this year's line-up but I think they can get us some good acts. It would have been great to be able to tell people at this year's festival who would be coming in 2009, but perhaps it is too early. They did have Tyrese Gibson, who the ladies adore, on island and he is to be performing next year, but they could have negotiated more, to get people excited about next year. They could have even started selling tickets and packages now, to the captive audience.

Suggestions for 2009: If we can get them, go for Rihanna, Kool and the Gang, Mariah Carey, Aswad, Sean Paul, Madonna, Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Janet Jackson, to name a few? God willing, I will be there.

Hopefully, we get even more paying international visitors, because this is still billed as a tourism event and we must therefore work to make it justify the millions we are spending on it every year.

See also Island Notebook on Page 18 and DJLT's regular column on Page 19