Sweet limes draw crowd, top entertainers to the north

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By Simone Tull

Crop Over 2023 is heating up. And judging from the first Crop Over Sweet Lime, the season is setting up to be a scorcher.

The second series of the limes started last Friday night at the well known John Moore’s Bar in Weston, St James where emcee Peter Ram opened the live entertainment with Woman by My Side and his 2023 release Welcome to Crop Over.

The National Cultural Foundation-organised event also featured other acts which included the lone female performer of the night SugahRhe who showed her dimensions as an artiste with her sweet and groovy Love You and the sizzling Big Bike.

Quan De Artist’s song Waistline is one of the most popular songs for the season so far and there is already talk that it may be a road march contender. The audience warmly embraced northern hometown boy Stiffy who began with his 2023 offering I am Blessed, before launching into many of his bashment soca hits including Tek Off Something, Ride It and Squat.

The Sweet Limes will be held at bars across Barbados over the next several weekends when patrons will have the opportunity to enjoy a mix of both emerging talents and some of the more familiar voices.

They are likely to regularly hear crowd puller Lil Rick who was the final act on opening night this year. He was in fine form, entertaining with hit after hit and even giving a flashback to the earliest part of his career with the ever-popular Hard Wine. With loud calls for more, he ended his stint with Mother Sally.

The second Crop Over Sweet Lime took place on Saturday night at the Lime Bar on Stadium Road featuring a different crop of artistes. Just after 9 p.m. Chrissy D opened the live entertainment package with her sweet soca offering Forever I Do while Grateful Co delivered Location, Centre and Trouble.

Another favourite, the sweet-singing Biggie Irie sang his new release Send Somebody during his set, while Marzville included his new track Good Wine. Other performances came from Jus D with Manager, So What and Caller. Leadpipe and Saddis were part of the lineup and they thrilled the crowd with Brain Freeze and Gone Clear.  A surprise appearance was made by Lil Rick.

The Crop Over Sweet Limes will continue next weekend at Fowlie’s Bar in Parish Land Christ Church on Friday and Thelma’s Sports Grill at River Land in St Philip on Saturday. (STT)