Heavy rollers ‘Soca for Sight’

The sounds of sweet soca filled the atmosphere at The Barbados Yacht Club Saturday night when patrons gathered for the Soca For Sight charitable event.

Some top local entertainers performed at the worthy cause which is one of two activities intended to raise $500, 000 for the Lion’s Eye Care Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. There was food and drink on sale throughout the night as well as a silent auction which all formed part of the fund-raising initiative.

As for the show, it was a top-notch production from start to finish. MC Ronnie Clarke did an excellent job complementing what the artistes delivered on stage. The backing band, De Red Boyz, were in fine musical form for the entire night. The brass section was superb. Two sweet singing vocalists in Betty B and Biggie Irie added to the band. They started the night out with some hip hop classics such as Dancing Queen, Oh What A Night and Happy, among others.

A fitting member to the performing cast was newly crowned Blind Soca King Mr DJ who sang It Got Me. When the six-time champ was done performing, he was spotted in the crowd enjoying the night’s entertainment.

The Soca General, Edwin Yearwood, was the first main act to grace the stage to the sounds of the 1997 hit song All Aboard, a song he had penned for Trinidadian band Atlantik. His was a full groovy set which appeared to please the party crowd and included such hits as Good Time, Carnival On My Mind, Feels Like Home Again, Pump Me Up and Wet Me. Edwin ended with Sak Pase and as has become the norm, the massive were rocking from side to side as they loudly  proclaimed: “De Road is Mine…”

Biggie Irie returned to the stage, this time for a solo set which included: Country Girl, Pankatang, Need Ah Riddim, Magic and Nah Going Home. He went way back in time to sing an old time favourite Splash Band’s Get Busy.

King of the Road Mighty Grynner upped the pace a bit, and the crowd loved it. With a set filled with classics, the “old dawg” sang Mr T, We Want More Grynner, Turn Up De Speaker and Leggo I Hand and had the crowd rocking. Repeatedly saying he could sing all night long, Grynner got an encore as the crowd chanted: “more Grynner” to which he obliged. He came back on stage and sang Leggo I Hand one more time.

RPB got the honour of closing the show. His performance saw the crowd enjoying songs such as Once Upon A Wine, Wrong Gal, Ragga Ragga and Something’s Happening. He ended with the 2017 hit song Boat Ride at which time 75-year-old Bill Tempro, who is legally blind, made his way to the stage.

RPB said the song was in tribute to Bill who will set out to sail around the island on October 13, the second fund-raising event called Sail for Sight. The entertainer asked everyone to give Bill their support as he embarked on the activity which is for a worthy cause. (IMC)