Reggae Sumfest 2020

The staging of Reggae Sumfest 2020 was cancelled due to the global pandemic. Reggae Sumfest is the Caribbean's premier music festival, showcasing Jamaica's indigenous music , as well as other popular global genres of music. Like most major entertainment events around the world this was shocking, and very disappointing to the fans. Sumfest had been staged every Summer for the past 27 years was not happening. 

Always innovating, we got a call from Downsound Records, the producers of Reggae Sumfest. They had secured a deal with Facebook Music and Instagram to carry the festival, a first in the region. We all had to ensure the production was of the highest standard as expected from the brand. 

The Downsound team had a very short timeframe of 3 weeks. Phase 3 worked closely with the production teams of John Dacosta (Stage and Lighting Design) and Martin Lewis (Production Management and Audio) working assiduously to pull everything together.  

Phase 3 provided full production services including creative and scripting, live streaming, 4K production truck, video production, post production, graphics, lighting and LED screens. P3 had a team of 50 persons working on production of the live show as well as other content, vignettes for the (2) Day Virtual presentation. The virtual event showcased local talent such as Koffee, Maxi Priest, Tarrus Riley, Freddie McGregor, Sasco, Shensea, Ding Dong, Tee Jay, Daddy 1 and Sizzla to name a few. 

Reggae Sumfest 2020 went down as a game changing virtual event. The show was well received by the local and international audience, sponsors and surpassed all metrics originally set. The Facebook team was ecstatic, In a Jamaica Observer article (2nd Aug, 2020) Joe Badonivich is quoted 

“The comments on the quality of the production were as important as the volume of the viewership,” Bogdanovich, CEO of Donwsound Records said. “While the world is well aware of the talent to be found in Jamaica's musicians, many were blown away by the excellence of the technical presentation and the achievement of the authentic energy and feel of the festival. We were proud to be able to showcase the creativity and technical expertise of the professionals in Jamaica's entertainment industry which are among the best in the world,” 

Sumfest is a close project to the Phase 3 team having been a part of the music festival for the past 15 years. We are happy to have played our role on this innovative Sumfest project.