BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NOW that the much anticipated 15th Annual St. Kitts Music Festival has passed, SKNVIbes will report on the festival by way of comments gleaned from various patrons who attended the three night event.
First comment comes from a white male visitor named Jess, who indicated that he is a visitor to the island and while here he heard about the festival and decided to attend. Jess said he enjoyed all three nights. He singled out one of the bands that played on Thursday night. “I could not understand the lyrics very well but the rhythms were very moving,” he added.
Chazz said she thought the festival was excellent, well attended and the performances met her expectations.
Bogle, a popular radio personality, who is a national of St. Kitts but resides in the Virgin Islands and was also a past Music Festival host, indicated that it was a well-rounded card of entertainment for the three nights. He went on to state that some DJ music was needed between the acts.
On the down side he said that he was not impressed with Black Ryno and regretted that they did not showcase enough local talent. He was disappointed with artistes who refused to meet with the media after performances.
A young man named Shane stated that he attended all three nights and they were good. Said he, “Bunny Wailer was excellent and Sugar Band ‘turn it up’ as usual. I saw Yellow Man for the first time on Friday night and I was impressed. My other favourite was Coco Tea who ‘killed it’ as well,” he stated.
Cj Don, in giving his response, stated that Thursday was good as usual but they should have had more bands. He thought that Friday was one of the poorer nights in the performances.
He said, in reality, most people were anticipating that Black Ryno, Demarco and Gyptian would have ‘sealed it off’ and made that night a tuff act to follow, but it was the older guys like Yellow Man and Maxi who made it reasonably good.
He further noted that Saturday was very nice, the best of the three in his opinion. However, he expressed the opinion that Fantasia should have closed the show instead Jah Cure.
“He was good but Fantasia brought down the house. I loved it when she told them to release the gate so people could come right under the stage... it was ‘mad cool’. The Commodores did really well; they are great entertainers and had the crowd on their feet,” he concluded.
A returning national, who is studying abroad, said he had no intention of attending all three nights judging from the first night being so drawn out but he still ended up attending all three nights to see the unforgettable performances of UB40, Bunny Wailer, Demarco, Fantasia, Gyptian and Jah cure.
In addition he said the overall performances were really great especially the home grown ones, despite one or two exceptions. He told SKNVibes that the festival received five stars from him and the turnout and atmosphere made the night even more enjoyable.
The 15th Annual St. Kitts Music Festival ran from Thursday June 23 to Sat. June 26. The first night saw performances by the Nu Vybes Band International, Small Axe Band, Ali Campbell from UB40, Bunny Wailer, Mic Stokes, King Konris, Xman and The Kore featuring Gharlic.
On the second night Gyptian, Demarco, Konshens, Black Ryno, Maxi Priest, Coco Tea and Yellow Man took to the stage, while the festival concluded on Saturday night with East Meets West, The Commodores, Fantasia and Jah Cure.
