Donovan Germain, a close friend and former manager of reggae superstar Buju Banton, has shot down recent reports of exorbitant ticket prices for the first concert slated for the artiste’s Long Road To Freedom Tour.
The artiste is set to perform on March 16, 2019 at the National Stadium backed by his Shiloh Band and recent reports suggest that patrons will have to pay an arm and a leg to experience the historic event – with prices ranging from $4,500 for Bleachers tickets to $50,000 for ‘Ultra VIP’.
But Germain, who played an integral role in the mercurial artiste’s development from a dancehall legend to reggae superstar, says those reports are fake news.
“That is fake news. I don’t know where that came from. It must be the work of some mischievous persons. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Germain told Loop News.
He said ticket prices have yet to be determined for the concert.
Buju Banton was recently released from the McRae Correctional Institute in Georgia after spending nine years behind bars for conspiracy to traffick cocaine. Months before his release from incarceration it was reported that a tour was being planned for the artiste to return to his craft of entertaining his fans.
Known as the Gargamel, Buju Banton was given a heroes welcome by a wide cross-section of Jamaicans upon his arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston weeks ago.
The first concert slated for the National Stadium will be held a few weeks before the Inter Secondary Schools Association Boys and Girls Athletic Championships and fears that the track would be damaged were allayed as the promoters have ensured the owners of Independence park that it will be protected.
Banton will also appear at concerts in Trinidad & Tobago, St Kitts and Barbados, whose LGBT community has demanded an apology from the reggae star for anti-gay lyrics early in his career.