BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LAST night (June 23), the 15th Annual St. Kitts Music Festival started with a ‘bang’ as the large crowd was entertained by a number of legendary acts and local artistes for almost eight hours.
Females limping with shoes in hand and men with their shirts soaking wet were seen exiting the Warner Park Stadium after a night of ‘skanking’ and ‘jamming’ on the cricket field.
The night’s lineup was hosted by foreign-based national DJ KevyKev while Gharlic out of Nevis rendered a short performance. He was followed by Xman, who sang a number of songs before moving to his big hit ‘Food All Over’.
Road March King, Konris Maynard then took the stage singing ‘Unstoppable Force’, but minutes into it he changed the tempo and gave a reggae version of the song. That was followed by ‘One Song’ and ‘Take the Oath’.
Known for his crowd-pleasing performances, Konris came off the stage and ran through the crowd singing and jumping and was joined by a large section of the audience.
He was followed by Mick Stokes, who was bedecked in a gold suit and who, in many people’s opinion, was one of the best entertainers for the night. His performance was topped off with some dancers who added more excitement as he sang his heart out and gave a few foot moves and gyrations to the melodious rhythm.
He belted out songs such as ‘Calling’, ‘One Shot Man’ and ‘All Kind a Things’.
Musical accompaniment for the first four artistes was provided by The Kore Band whose musicians and backup singers did an excellent job.
At 11:00 p.m. it was Bunny Wailer’s time to take center stage. His appearance drew many male Rastafarians to the front of the stage and one of them was seen running back and forth and kicking in a dancing motion as the legendary reggae artiste reminded patrons of the past with songs such as ‘Roots Man Skanking’, ‘Cool Runnings’, ‘Trench Town’ and ‘Simmer Down’.
Bunny Wailer reminded the crowd that the world needed that type of gathering and love because there have been many global struggles.
Ali Campbell, who had been the lead singer of UB40 for 28 years, performed alongside his new band and started his performance with the much loved ‘Here I Am Baby’.
He also sang ‘The Way You Do The Things You Do’ and ‘I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You’, which was his exiting song. He was however called back onstage as many people started to chant “Red Red Wine”.
After satisfying the patrons, Campbell was followed by some long awaited ‘pep’.
The Small Axe Band wasted no time as its members entered the stage with high energy, singing their newest and famous chant ‘De Soap Drop’ while wearing towels and showers caps to create a bathing scene as the song suggests.
They sang that song a few times during their performance, but nevertheless some females became excited each time and rooted up the grass on the field with wild gyrations.
The band kept their energy level up throughout their 45-minute performance and threw some bottles of water in the crowd along with bars of soap. They also sang songs like ‘The Rum Song’, ‘Bedrock’ and ‘Watch De Creep Up’.
After a short break to accommodate a change over, the Nu Vybes Band was announced just five minutes to 4:00 a.m. and their fans began screaming and moving forward. They sang, ‘Put up your hand if you love the sugar band’ and that is exactly what the crowd did.
The band then took down the pace with ‘Walkie Talkie’ and ‘Apple Bottom’ but they got right back into the ‘pep’ and had patrons jumping and waving together.
Just when the band began to warm up and the crowd starting to ‘break loose’, it was time to bring the curtains down on night one of the festival.
SKNVibes spoke with a number of individuals to get their feedback on the event.
One female said it was too mixed up, “I came to jump up, me'ain wan' hear no reggae and all that, and those long breaks kill it,” she added.
A young man, who indicated that he is a Sugar Band fan, said he was there only to hear his band but the show was okay. He said the band’s base did not sound good and they need to have that rectified.
An older man said he was there to see and listen to Bunny Wailer and he had enjoyed every all of the artiste’s renditions. He added that he was not too much interested in the bands and thought that Bunny Wailer should have performed on another night.
A visitor from Anguilla said she totally enjoyed Mic Stokes and rated him as the best for the night. She said it has been quite some time since she heard his music and was glad to know he was on the show.
Many other patrons voiced their disgust on the long breaks and wanted to know why a DJ was not there to provide music during the breaks as was done in the past.
Night two of the festival continues tonight with Gyptian, Demarco, Konshens, Black Ryno, Maxi Priest, Coco Tea and Yellow Man.
To view photos from Music Festival night one please CLICK here http://www.sknvibes.com/photos/viewgallery.cfm?iz=2491
