True to form, Barbadians love to wait until the last minute and in the final hours before the staging of Tailgate: The Bumper to Bumper Edition, there was a surge in ticket sales by those who did not want to miss out.
Orlando Newton, one of the event organisers, informed the media that they had to close off their box offices by midday to ensure that they could comfortably accommodate their patrons at the Bushy Park venue.
Though this location is traditionally home to the island’s premier car racing events, on Sunday evening the focus was different. Attendees drove in, parked, opened their trunks and partied.
This cooler party allowed attendees to enjoy themselves with their circle of friends from the comfort of their own vehicle. Even those who did not have their own party crew to carpool with could still purchase a pass to participate in the event.
The novel idea conceptualised to pacify those suffering from Crop Over withdrawal while adhering to the COVID-19 mandated safety protocols was a joint project by some of the major stakeholders in the Crop Over festival. Among the groups teaming up for the production and hosting zones were Aura, Chocolate Army, Rise, Colorz Entertainment, UV Vibe and Gimme Soca.
It was a cool lime with attendees casually perched on their vehicles enjoying the festivities with blaring honks of their horns being used to show their appreciation.
Although filling the obvious void in what would have been the lead up to Grand Kadooment was paramount, ensuring personal safety was never far from mind as there were constant reminders to adhere to the protocols. Attendees partied from evening straight up to midnight as they enjoyed some of the island’s best deejays and soca artistes.
Among the list of deejays keeping the top tunes blazing were RocFresh, DJ Indian and Chris Gayle, Blank and Surf Rat, Daddy Fabian and Menace. Always a crowd favourite, Surf Rat is like the Pied Piper always getting his audience to heed his commands. Daddy Fabian brought an old school vibe incorporating the likes of Gabby and Grynner into his segment.
Throughout the seven-hour production, patrons enjoyed carnival selections from across the region. But they really came alive when the live acts touched the stage. Stiffy, accompanied by the Multifarious dancers, was first out. He did Quarantine Fitness, Squat, Tek Off Something, No Boring Girls Allowed and Mavis.
Even a year later, Leadpipe’s Sometime still hits a sweet spot. He premiered some lyrics to an upcoming tune, which had the crowd in stitches before he delivered a few of his popular tunes.
Mole, too, was in fine form with Aye and Breathe and he even included one of his earlier releases, Bring My Glide.
Lil Rick was the final guest performer. Mr Crop Over dropped a snippet of his most recent release. In his set he sang Sugar Lump, It Ain’t Me, All is Rum and Mother Sally. The crowd was left craving even more when he departed. (STT)
Read our ePaper. Fast. Factual. Free.
Sign up and stay up to date with Barbados' FREE latest news.
Barbados Today firmly discourages any commentary or statements that are libelous, disruptive in nature or incites others to violate our Terms of Use. Any submissions made on our comment section, are solely the views of the individual and not Barbados Today.