Reggae heavyweight Buju Banton says he is postponing eight dates of his current “The Overcomer” tour until 2025, disappointing fans across the United States.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, the Grammy winner confirmed that upcoming performances in Boston, scheduled for August 30, at the TD Garden Arena in Philadelphia (September 1) and in Hartford, Connecticut (September 6), have been removed from this year’s calendar due to “scheduling conflicts beyond my control.”
These cancellations follow an earlier announcement this month that postponed five September dates in Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Chicago. While Banton’s team has confirmed the rescheduling, they have not yet announced new dates for the affected shows.
“I want to make sure I deliver an experience of the highest caliber and my fans are my top priority. I look forward to announcing the new dates for these cities in the near future. Thank you to all reggae fans around the world for being there for all of us,” said the Untold stories the singer wrote in the post.
However, in a subsequent Instagram Live session on Tuesday, Banton’s tone changed dramatically as he attacked “haters” who wanted to stop him from making money.
“You sit down and just try to destroy each other. You can’t destroy me, I’m already destroying each other, I’m going to build something for myself now,” he said, showing the middle finger.
The artist further defended his work ethic and success by using flowery words and homophobic slurs. “My God is real and my work and my sweat is mine because my age is crazy, my ass is nowhere mine, I work hard so when you come out of hate, remember that. Most of y’all can relate to Buju Banton, oh God I say go say something so we can hear it,” Buju ranted.
“My dear people, I am moving some dates because Connecticut and Boston are too close to each other. And I don’t want any conflict, so I’m moving them forward,” he explained.
In an interview with TanzhalleMagPromoter and radio host Paul “Notorious VOG” Parara expressed disappointment with the performance of Banton’s Overcomer Tour, attributing the difficulties to a series of “missteps” by the artist’s management team.
VOG said the tour’s promoters should have started with smaller venues to gradually build momentum and hype. Instead, they opted for larger venues, which led to low ticket sales and empty seats. He also argued, among other things, that the tour’s ticket prices were too high and were scaring away potential attendees.
In his Instagram video, Buju continued, “I ain’t going anywhere because they can do it like Buju, the good over the bad. They can’t stop my love, your love or the father’s love so what are they supposed to do? They’re gonna use their shit to divide us, it can work. We’ve been divided before, now we’re more in solidarity. I love you and see you tonight in Washington DC.”
“Haters, this is a piece of cake,” he added.
The Overcomer tour marks Buju Banton’s triumphant return to U.S. soil following his deportation due to a drug conviction. The Kingston native was released from the McRae Correctional Facility in Georgia in 2018.
The singer kicked off the tour on August 23 at the Amerant Bank Arena in Fort Lauderdale and on August 25 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Although those venues reportedly did not fill to capacity, Buju’s tour follows two well-attended shows at the UBS Arena in New York last month.
He will continue the tour on September 8th in Atlanta, GA at the State Farm Arena and on November 17th in Brooklyn, NY at the Barclays Center.
The Accompong Town Maroon Culture group is scheduled to perform with Banton tonight (August 27) at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.
On Tuesday, Accompong Maroon Chief Richard Currie posted video clips on Instagram showing himself, his ministers and members of the Maroon performance group disembarking from a plane in Washington, DC.
Chief Currie announced their arrival and revealed that they would be joining Buju, who had confirmed on stage his identity as the Moore Town Maroon in 2021.
“Tonight the Sovereign State of Accompong will make history by performing alongside living legend @bujubanton on stage for his ‘OverComer’ tour in Washington DC @capitalonearena. Greetings to the United States and the Washington DC Massive. Greetings to the Moors, Maroons, Tainos, Native Americans, Africans, Rastafarians and all other indigenous peoples. Tonight Accompong will raise his voice!” he noted.
“Tonight we write another chapter of Maroon history! Tonight the Accompong Maroons and our government will reaffirm our rightful status and share our culture of love, truth, peace, freedom and justice with the world. We are Kindah, one family… We are Nyankipong Pickibu, children of the Almighty… DON’T MISS THE ACCOMPONG MAROON CULTURE GROUP WITH BUJU BANTON LIVE TONIGHT!!! I am Paramount Chief Richard Currie and we are the sovereign state of Accompong,” he added.
Buju has been a loyal supporter of Chief Currie since 2021, when the former Munro College student sought to take over the leadership of the Accompong Maroons. In February of the same year, the African Pride artist publicly supported Currie, who was attempting to overthrow then-leader Colonel Ferron Williams.
Later that same year, in October, Buju donated two horses and a tractor to the St. Elizabeth parish to support the Maroons’ sustainable development and self-reliance initiatives.
