Soca blends with vintage
published: Tuesday | April 17, 2007
Krista Henry, Staff Reporter
SOCA MOVED vintage last Saturday night at Jamaica Pegasus by the poolside at 'Vintage Meets Soca'. Other than a noticeably missing guest artiste and a late start, the show got patrons out of their seats and on the dancefloor.
Sometime before 1:00 a.m. when the show was winding down, 'wukked-out' audience members started querying the absence of the advertised guest artiste Beenie Man. One patron who was standing outside looked at the banner for the event for confirmation that he was indeed supposed to attend. A male patron commented on the unprofessionalism of the organisers for ignoring the absence of the artiste, as they did not mention why he was not present.
One other drawback of the show was the late start. Advertised as 6:00 p.m., when The Gleaner team arrived after 6:30 p.m., the venue was still being set up for the show.
Only after 8:00 p.m. did acts like Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, Oscar B and Ernie Smith perform a spectacular set. Before that, Peter Phillips Disco kept a vintage vibe going with tunes from John Holt, such as I'm All Right and Number One, as well as some disco classics from the Bee Gees and others.
Late start
The turnout in the early hours was small. After 7:30 p.m., more patrons flocked in and sat poolside patiently awaiting the show. Three lovely ladies in their soca wear came to the front of the stage and started dancing, trying to get the vibe going. Finally, at 9:00 p.m., there was movement on stage as the Dragonaires set up.
The sound of the trumpets ushered in the presence of the band and the start of the show. Patrons got out of their seats and moved to the stage as the female announcer said, "From now we'll be asking you to put the chairs away." The group went into tunes such as Blame It On Di Music, Why Don't You Come Over, Di Road Is Mine, among others. They performed some oldies such as Dollar Wine, Tiny Winey and went into covers of 2007 songs from, among others, Machel Montano and Destra.
The more mature crowd showed their stamina as they jumped, waved their flags from left to right and followed the instructions of the lead singer as he moved them around the venue. They then mixed the vintagewith the soca going into Fresh Vegetable and went back into soca.
After more than an hour, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires ended their first set. After a brief intermission with music by Peter Phillips Disco, Ernie Smith came on. After songs such as Sammy Dead and It Must Be A Duppy Or A Gunman, the crowd wanted more from Smith, who returned for an encore performance.
Bringing a more carnival feel to the party were costume designs from Radical Mas out of Miami. The designs were entitled 'Scorpion Princess', as two ladies came on in gold costumes with huge white and gold attachments in various shapes. The costumes were undoubtedly lovely. Oscar B went on stage last and ended the night with energy as the patrons left, vintage and soca embedded in their minds.
