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Tobago Jazz Fest Chronicles Pt. 1

With some of Team TJJ already on the sister isle soaking in some beach, sand and sun since earlier in the week, the foreign based TJJ crew have to thank Caribbean Airlines for accommodating us last minute. When we tell ya everything going to and in Tobago sell off for Jazz Festival weekend.... rental cars, hotels, bed and breakfast, airlines, boat and all....... EVERYTHING SELL OFF! After managing to escape the wrath of Friday after work traffic on our way to Piarco Int'l airport, we caught our 7:30pm (supposed to be 7pm) flight to Bago. And when we linked up some good frens of the Jungle on our flight, we had a good, good feeling that this weekend was going to be another one for the books! Let's fast forward...

The traffic wasn’t too pleasant as we drove on Shirvan Road to the Festival. With over 30,000 visitors and locals expected to flock the Plymouth Recreation Ground for the three-day event, traffic was inevitable. We parked our car, grabbed our gear and quickly headed toward one of the shuttles lined up on the street near the 1st car park in Black Rock. There was an abundance of shuttles, so wait time was literally less than 2 mins. Shuttle service was definitely a smart move by the organizers. We arrived at the drop off point approximately 9:15 pm. Looking around the grounds you notice distinctly a b-Mobile tent, a KFC tent and about 13 other tents lined up against each other selling food, drinks, tokens etc. on the left end of entrance. You had the general admission and VIP areas stage-front, and we believe the stands far off to the back right-side was the V.VIP. Most sponsors of the event had their tents as well. People got a chance to buy chairs on entering and lined them up in front the stage area or anywhere u wanted (or could find a spot) to camp out. Some of folks brought their own throw cushions or blankets to spread on the floor.

We arrived just in time to catch Sharon Phillips & Flame Unlimited on stage. These 3 lovely ladies from Tobago did classics like Sade's "Kiss of Life" and Whitney Houston's "I'm Every Woman", and had body and soul that would rival any American Idol. If you were there for all three concert nights, honestly, Flame Unlimited was one group to actually bring us a true taste of JAZZ. You could feel the tempo rise when they performed "You" with soca/reggae artist Ziggy Ranking, a song they referred to as a 'Reggae Jazz' genre. Definitely one of the highlights for us.

Unfortunately we missed TnT's own Roy Cape All Stars and KES The Band, who both performed before Flame Unlimited. From what we heard, Trini Jacobs (Roy Cape) did a rendition of Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman" which was quite impressive, and KES The Band of course, did their very own 'Trini Jazz' contribution delivering tunes like Shadow's "Dingolay".

We noted that the turn around times between each artist were good throughout the night, with the revolving stage. Very smart!

Jamaica’s dancehall star, Sean Paul (who’s Mr. International now) was on stage hot ‘n sweaty to perform next. Sean Paul, 2 hype men and his 4 hottie hottie dancers took over the moment and heated the place up. The entire crowd got up on their feet to see the red and black outfits that covered the dancers camouflage bikinis. Hmmm... who say sexy??? Sean Paul started to unlace his hits like "Like Glue", "Straight Up!", "We Be Burnin" and other tracks off his latest album, 'The Trinity'. At 10:35pm, some 25 mins after he started performing, Sean Paul and his live band were ever blazing with tunes like "Give It Up To Me" and "Temperature". Two of the many highlights for his performance was when he sat down with an acoustic guitar to perform a song calling for peace in Jamaica, which the fans seem to appreciate; and hearing one of his guitarists jam down to "Cry Baby Cry ft Santana" after he shouted "Chat to us Santana"!! Sean Paul ended his performance with his sexy dancers doing the 'hot wuk' and 'dutty wine' that certainly occupied us for a while. ;-) This was undoubtedly Sean Paul's best performance on T&T soil.

The anticipation was crazy while concertgoers waited on hip-hop icon/actor LL Cool J to bust out on stage like “BAM”! As Friday's headliner, the Plymouth crowd was very interested in seeing his performance. Shortly before midnight, Uncle L with his strapping muscles that resembled an American body builder hit the stage decked out in blue jeans, a bling'd out red t-shirt and his customary NY fitted baseball cap. He banged out a high-energy act with classic rap numbers like "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells", as long time friend and DJ, Cut Creator threw down the beats. LL was on fire, moving from side to side of the stage giving EVERYONE a view of him! He even broke his 'bling-bling' belt and had to get a replacement before his pants dropped off, which definitely would have driven the ladies crazy. Trust us when we say that some women felt like fainting with just the thought of his pants falling. Hip Hop in Jazz Fest? Yes sir, and it was ALL GOOD as LL injected more energy into his memorable performance when he kicked down a custom-made gold microphone stand to the ground to his mega hit "Head Swung".

This heartthrob tantalized the females effortlessly. He brought about 2 dozen roses with him on stage; which he tossed to females during his sensual numbers like "Love You Better". He asked for ladies to sing Jennifer Lopez lines for "Control Myself " and we guess all this heat made the Queens, New York winter bird very hot and sweaty as LL decided to cool down by pouring a entire bottle of water all over his body. You could just see the women sitting like lions watching a gazelle as he continued with numbers like "Hush", "Doin' It" and "Mama Said Knock You Out". Fellas hold onto your wives.... LL IS IN THE BUILDING! To make matters worst for the ladies, he eventually took his t-shirt off displaying his drenched 'wife beater'. What a tease! Huh! Although he still had on his 'wife beater', the ladies acted as though the man was naked!! We truly expected a moment where he’d just rip off his vest, but it never came. Instead, he ended his act with his kids on stage dancing with him, and he gave a positive message for everyone to get home safely and make a positive impact on their communities. LL Cool J surely did not disappoint the near capacity crowd... what a classy artist!

Day 1 of Plymouth Jazz was off to a nice start, and we could only imagine how much people will be there come Saturday. Stay tuned. Some of us got a morning flight back to Trini, yes you read correctly.... a good fren's wedding to attend! Hummm... we missing Diana Ross, Mary J Blige, Gladys Knight, Heather Headley and Beres Hammond?? The love we have for we frens, yes! No worries, TJJ still covering Saturday! Okay, time to find a After Jazz Party!! Shuttle bus, where ya at?

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Related Galleries
Plymouth Jazz Festival 2007 ... Day 2
Plymouth Jazz Festival 2007 ... Day 3