Sadeke Brooks, STAR Writer

A couple enjoys the festivities at the popular French Connection Midnight Magic New Year's Eve 2007 party held at the Cable and Wireless Golf Academy, on Monday. - Ricardo Makyn

The hopes of an incident-free '11:59 Minutes to Midnight' New Years Eve Party were dashed near 4 a.m. when the music came to an abrupt stop on one of the two dance floors.

The music was stopped during selector Biggy's segment when he disobeyed police orders to turn off the microphone because he was using too many expletives during his set.

Later, promoters, selectors and patrons squared off in a verbal battle, while someone else took the opportunity to throw liquor in the face of another during the fracas.

The police were able to quell the situation before it erupted into a fully fledged war. While this was taking place, the anxious patrons who filled the dance floor went hastily to the other dance floor to regain 'the high' they were experiencing, but were only treated to some of the songs they had heard before.

Before the brawl, the party was going relatively well, even though the promoters did not capitalise on the '11:59' theme. When The STAR arrived at the party minutes after 11 p.m., scores of people were outside trying to get in, but there was no security in place to monitor the crowd or give instructions.

However, not much was missed as the countdown lasted for a mere five seconds and the New Year screams from inside the venue were faint.

Nonetheless, the beautiful fireworks from the vicinity of New Kingston could be seen and the loud firecrackers almost drowned out the selector, as he rang in the New Year with 50 Cent's In Da Club and then Cobra's Press Trigger.

Rub-a-dub

The STAR eventually got into the party at 12:30 a.m. Biggy drew Junior Kelly's Missing You, Tarrus Riley's She's Royal, Give Me A Try by Sizzla and Queen Ifrika's Below The Waist, which saw couples rub-a-dub and rent-a-tile to the music.

Like many in the dancehall, Biggy used the opportunity to take a swipe at Beenie Man and D'angel on their recently failed marriage after which he unleashed Jay Z's 99 Problems, which resulted in a large uproar from the massive crowd.

Chromatic took the turntable and got the crowd into a frenzy when he played a dub of Vybz Kartel's My Scheme that was made specifically for '11:59', which was a hit among the patrons.

Every Mavado song that was played got 'forwards' and Vybz Kartel's No Permission resulted in patrons almost jumping off the stands in the venue while shouting 'booom'. Chromatic did not leave out the popular hip-hop dance songs like Soulja Boy and Duffle Bag Boy, which were well received by the audience.

While patrons on the main dance floor were jumping and shouting, Code Red was busy making the females Back It Up for Beenie Man, Munga told them to Wine Pon It,while Aidonia asked them What's Up and Mavado gave them a little squeeze.

The patrons seemed to enjoy themselves with the super inclusive bar that had almost everything from Hypnotic to Guinness. Unfortunately, there was no detox bar for the mostly young crowd, members who could not contain their liquor.

The VIP area was sparse and was used as a rest area for tired revellers. It was not worth the $500 extra, as it had the same liquor and the music was confusing as it could be heard from both dance floors. Even Elephant Man left the VIP area to mingle with the crowd.

The party eventually ended at 4:30 a.m. when the music stopped and the patrons slowly trickled out of the large venue through the small exit. While The STAR was leaving, different sets of intoxicated people were fighting or quarrelling.