Mavado, along with Gully Squad's Chase Cross and Stacious, is fresh from a packed European tour, doing eight shows in eight days across five different countries.

Kicking off with consecutive shows in Germany, Mavado was one of the headliners on the Amsterdam Reggae Festival on Saturday, February 12. Capleton, Jah Cure, Vegas and Red Rat were the other performers at a packed Heineken Music Hall, an arena in the shadows of the Ajax FC stadium on the outskirts of Amsterdam, Holland.

"It's my third tour of Europe and it just gets better," said Mavado in a release sent to THE STAR. "It's always a joy to see people from all nations in the crowd whose first language is not English singing along to my songs. Its a great feeling and inspires me to continue making great music."

breakING new ground

The tour then went on to break new ground for Mavado that was a shock to the system. "Life on the road can be tough," said Mavado. "Any artiste can tell you that. We even have to arrange cooking facilities for ourselves as getting food we can eat is a challenge in a lot of places. You have to just condition your mind and get physically fit because it's just travelling and shows day after day. It's a joy to see the people's reaction out there 7,000 miles away from mi yard, so it's something I love doing."

"This tour, we ventured into markets that Mavado hasn't played in before - notably Scandaniva," added manager Julian Jones-Griffith. "The promoters in Finland said it was the biggest dancehall show ever there and the response was immense."

After more well-received stops in Copenhagen, Denmark and Stockholm, Sweden, where Bounty Killer's nephew Advance was also on the bill, Mavado performed in Zurich. The largest city in Switzerland is always an emotional stop for the Gully Gad as it's the place where his Father lost his life. Mavado gave a fiery performance for nearly two hours in Zurich, singing hit after hit for the captivated audience until he was hoarse and could sing no longer for the night.

another packed club

The tour rounded out in Berlin, Germany, in front of another packed club before the long flight back to Jamaica. Mavado is currently working on his album, slated for a summer release, as well as a slew of singles for upcoming release.

"Look out for a track called Delilah, which will be released on my own label," said Mavado. "It's a song about the reality of relationships and I performed it once live in the UK in December and it's had the Internet buzzing since then. It's gonna drop next month."

Mavado's Stulla Wednesdays will be returning in the coming weeks at a new venue in New Kingston, Stulla Tonic Wine will also be released and will be available in stores in the coming months and Mavado will be appearing alongside mentor Bounty Killer and others at Follow the Arrow tonight.