I-Octane

Dancehall artiste I-Octane yesterday sought to clear the air on what caused a bottle-throwing incident at Sunday's Western Kite Festival in Westmoreland.

The event, which also featured Romain  Virgo and Popcaan, was held at Mannings School in Savanna-la-mar, Westmoreland.

THE STAR  received reports from persons who attended the event that I-Octane's early exit from the stage during his set caused the bottling incident.

Reports are that Virgo called I-Octane on the stage and he did a few songs. During the performance it is said that I-Octane asked for the lights to be dimmed, but the organisers were unable to do this. He then walked off the stage, resulting in the bottle throwing.

However, the artiste had a somewhat different account of what took place on the night. According to I-Octane, patrons had been waiting in the venue for his performance from 5 p.m. Popcaan performed earlier and he decided to 'work' with Romain Virgo because there was only one functioning CD player.

"Wi talk to the crowd and try get dem sympathy and dem a enjoy themselves. Then this one CD player stop and the crowd started asking for it to be fixed," he said.

"You have some youth a record di ting and mi a ask dem fi dim the light so mi can see wah a gwaan inna di crowd. Mi neva like the energy weh dem a come off wid. Mi ask fi di dark segment and it seem like dem man ya have some personal vibe."

I-Octane said the audience pleaded with the cameramen to turn off the light but they didn't.

"Me is a man weh nuh just walk off a stage so but the tone mi neva like it. True dem vibe mi neva waan turn mi back and sup'm go gwaan. Mi just seh to dem seh since unuh nuh waan hear wah mi a seh mi a seh unuh work then. Di crowd get vex wid dem and start fling bottle," he said.

The artiste said he was already on his way out of the venue when the incident took place, as the patrons realised that he was not returning. However, he said he will have another show in the area soon, at which point he hopes to make up for not completing his set.

When contacted, the promoter for the event said, "I don't want to make a comment at this time."