Rebecca O’ Connor channels music icon Tina Turner

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Irish performer Rebecca O’ Connor channelled every aspect of music icon Tina Turner during her performance at the Barbados Yacht Club on Friday night. 

From her trademark wildly tousled hair to her characteristically raspy voice and signature dance moves, the entertainer captured the essence of the star. 

Accompanied by her exceptional backing band and lithe dancers, they braved intermittent showers to deliver a well-received performance for Simply the Best staged by Rockin’ Hard.

Barbados was the final stop on their tour, and the one-night-only production created a truly rockstar experience with the backing musicians expertly playing technical guitar riffs and showcasing excellent saxophonist skills. They performed a selection of the late singer’s legendary songs including favourites like Private Dancer, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Addicted to Love, River Deep Mountains High and I Ain’t Missing You.

Catapulting fans down memory lane, O’Connor even donned a cloak reminiscent of the one Turner used to wear during her stage performances of We Don’t Need Another Hero. The performer was electrifying as she and her dancers synchronised for Proud Mary. 

It was a full package, complete with multiple wardrobe changes throughout the 90-minute set. By the time O’Connor was wrapping up with Simply Best several audience members had thrown all caution to the wind and were prancing around in the falling rain, which had done little to dampen their enthusiasm.

Earlier in the night, patrons were entertained by four of the island’s leading female performers. Looking glitzy in their black and silver ensembles Casheda Dottin, Shadia Marshall and Nikita radiated star power as they teamed for the attention-grabbing segment. 

Their setlist was a collection of massive hits. This session included Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, The Police’s Every Breath You Take, Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly and Rihanna’s We Found Love. 

The trio stamped their authority on the stage and there were murmurs of approval as they emphatically confirmed that they could rival any international act with ease. By the time they wrapped up with We are Family the entire audience was euphoric.

Joining this talented lineup was the Caribbean Soca Queen Alison Hinds. She too was pleasing with her rendition of Abba’s Dancing Queen, before launching into her own Roll It.

Host for the evening was Caroline ‘CiCi’ Reid. (STT)