By Shawn Seabrookes
Staff Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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Massive crowd, at Thursday Night Music Festival
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The first night of the 11th annual St. Kitts Music Festival is officially history and the reviews are officially in. The artistes really gave the thousands of patrons a memorable time and it was indeed a melting pot of talent and an explosion of energy as the Warner Park Stadium came alive with dance and sweet rhythm.
The Better Band of Anguilla the first act and they wetted the appetite of the expectant crowd, giving them just a taste of the transcending powers of soca music. Upon completion of their gig, the huge audience was thirsty for more and lunging closer to the front.
Queen Anastasia, the reigning local Female Bacchanal Queen, showed poise and much promise as she capitalized on her debut opportunity to showcase her versatility in delivering not only Kaiso but a rich soca blend.
She too was well received by the audience and songs such as “Lithmus Test” and “Man at Home” were just a quick refresher “in a parched land”.
King Konris exploded onto the stage and was swift to belt out some of his very popular tunes, such as “Sunday J’ouvert”, “Must be in the Water” and “Strange Land”.
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| Queen Anastasia on stage, at the 11th Music Festival |
The reigning Calypso King of St. Kitts was a true entertainer as he worked the stage and proved that his best work comes in front of a receptive audience.
Both King Konris and Queen Anastasia were backed up by the Royaltiez, a young band that established themselves as young music prodigies in Trinidad for CARIFESTA 8. The youngsters used the opportunity to capitalize on the pre-established positive reputation and definitely opened new windows for themselves as they appealed to the entire audience with their rich sounds.
The defining moment of the first night of the 11th St. Kitts Music Festival probably came when Crazy stepped on stage with the Lejah Band out of Antigua as his back up. The veteran was a pure genius as he expertly blended calypso with soca and had the young, old and in between, rocking and enjoying his witty tunes.
When he sang “Nani Wine”, the crowd was carried back in time and then he showed true showmanship as he lashed out with “the Electrician”, which totally bridged the gap between young and old, as the crowd showed their appreciation of his ability to decorate musical lyrics with humour.
Then it was the soca Queen, Alison Hinds. She simply reached out to the audience with her old and new tunes and had them rocking, clutching at every beat.
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| Queen of Soca Alison Hinds |
She highlighted the need to get the crowd involved and when she called up three persons from the audience to “help” her perform, it was a stroke of brilliance, as she enjoyed maximum attention from the music thirsty patrons.
Alison was a true performer as she tactfully combined singing with showmanship- the winning fomula for a classy entertainer.
The Small Axe Band, “de Sweetest Band in de Worl’”, kept the crowd going with their usual pulsating rhythms and the huge audience wasted no time in sponging the music. Even, though, the performance was a bit short of what the Small Axe Band is capable of, it was home town proud once again for the band.
The Grand Finale Machel Montano was enthralling. He was able to immerse the crowd in his unbelievable energy and within minutes of his entry on stage, they were at his command.
He was truly a source of energy and as a special treat, he brought out Patrice Roberts, who collaborated with him on his 2006 Road March winning tune.
Patrice fit right into the mix of things and for good measure, she sand her popular single “Sugar Boy”, which was gobbled up by the salivating soca fans.
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| Machel Montano giving an energetic peformance |
Indeed, when the Machel Montano ended his performance just after three in the morning, it was just time enough to salvage what little, if any, energy was left and head home for a little rest before the sun peeped over the horizon.
The crowd was nowhere as large as that of last year, but the audience drank up every performance.
The general consensus is that the Music Festival Committee erred in focusing too much on regional and extra-regional promotions, which in effect left a void for local marketing.
However, the action is still sweet and it is predicted that it will get much sweeter, as Friday night’s line-up includes Lady Saw, Steel Pulse, Sean Paul, Pluto Shervington, Richie Stevens and Tessanne Chin.
