Some rose, some didn’t

Kensington Oval was the place to be for the massive crowd which attended Rise Together Wednesday. It was home to loads of entertainment throughout the night which, for the most part, kept the party vibe going.

Top local acts, as well as performers from neighbouring Caribbean islands, shared the stage to deliver five hours of fun and frolic for the feters. In the crowd too, patrons of varying nationalities were seen jamming and partying together. There were flags held high representative of countries across the Caribbean.

And when DJs and entertainers did a roll call, people were more than eager to identify with their birthplace by screaming as their country was called.

But with a show so full of acts Rise should have started earlier. And while the push for Caribbean unity is all well and good, some acts needed not to be in the show such as Freezy and Big Red GT, just to name two.

The Bajan acts all held their own with some outperforming their regional counterparts.

Early servings from Rhea, Mahalia, Nikita, Versee Wild and Stiffy delivered. People like RPB and Hypasounds too gave solid performances.

When Edwin Yearwood hit the stage, the rain began to pour as if a signal for Wet Me which was part of his set. Strange thing though, there was no sound backing Edwin throughout his entire performance. He was forced to sing acappella, and the crowd sang along with him.

Lil Rick jammed down on the Kensington Oval stage with his usual energetic performance as he sang hit after hit after hit.

Then Soca Monarch Mikey whipped the crowd into a frenzy with his winning song Action Time Again.

As for the foreign acts, only Patrice Roberts, Farmer Nappy and Skinny Fabulous had the crowd rocking.

Farmer Nappy had the crowd singing along to Hookin Meh. Patrice Roberts took things to another level when she decided to take her performance to the middle of the large crowd in the VIP section. The Big Girl showed that she was not Old And Grey and she jumped and pranced to the music of Sweet Fuh Days. Her performance was one of the major highlights of the night. She ended her set with a tease of old time favourite Band of the Year, much to the delight of screaming fans.

And while Bunji Garlin may be one of the best in the business, his performance was anticlimactic. The presence of his wife Fayann Lyons on stage added nothing to his set either. Given the repertoire of music and huge hit songs he has, one would have expected better. The best part of Bunji’s time on stage was spent when he teamed up with Skinny for mega hit Famalay.

Vincentian Skinny Fabulous is the act who performed as if he were the headliner. The energy he brought to the stage was electrifying. Singing hits such as Duracell, Happy, Behaving The Worst, Watch Thing, Head Bad and Push It, Skinny had the party massive going wild. The talented artiste then added dancehall to his set and was free-styling as he hyped the crowd.

All in all, it was a good show; some acts rose to the occasion while others didn’t quite deliver. (IMC)