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Date: Saturday 14th February 2009 Location: Hasley Crawford Stadium. Trinidad W.I. Promotions: Machel Montano HD Click on thumbnails to see the big picture/entire gallery Did AC 7 Deliver? The Alternative Concept has become one of the most highly anticipated events of the carnival season. To date I have only missed one, I don't know about allyuh. I'm not a groupie or anything but this show never disappoints. As usual, we piled in the car mad early ... well, is the East I coming from. From the time we reached the by the fabulous Hyatt ... traffic! Steupsssss. More drama again finding the entrance to the car park as we had parking permits and on top of that, I had to leave my crew to link with the TJJ crew as our entrances were different. You would swear I was on a walk-a-thon with the amount of laps I made around the stadium. As it turns out we
walked in on Benjai, who was performing for the very first time
on his own, backed by band Ventures. Who remembered that Benjai
had so many hits??!! He definitely had the crowd's attention, especially
for "Jah
In Your Life" and "Drunk
Again". It was also nice to see Gailann sharing the
stage with 'Jai' once again. After that set the DJ's resumed dropping
all of the latest chunes for the season. Folks closer to the stage were
jammin' hard and towards the back, the people were just vibzin' ... you
know, just cool ... normal.
Next up was Shurwayne Winchester and Y.O.U featuring guest artist Maxi Priest. Now that was a treat ... whooohooo! Winchester was most electrifying on stage as the band's energy kept at a constant high as they delivered the hits ("You", "Dead Or Alive", "The Band Coming") to keep the stadium moving. Maxi Priest was also on fire with his groovy tunes. What a way to warm up the crowd for the Taipan himself. It was after this set I ventured out of VIP and into the "other side". Yes folks, it was fabulous! I have to say we spend so much time and money at events like these in "VIP" with no perks and it makes no difference. The DJ's were back on keeping the crowd alive and I was jammin' with some of my peeps and the notorious Two Face Crew! Love those guys, they know how to have fun! Righto, back through
the fence and up into the stands to get the birds eye view. Allyuh next
year I not doing the VIP nuh ... all the action was on the "other
side". Two Face ah hope allyuh hear meh ... TJJ NY rollin with you!
Well by the time showtime rolled around the stadium was almost packed. Machel and his HD dancers burst onto the stage ... "Wild Antz". The dancers were literally dressed like ants. The crowd went wild of course because that song was just starting to catch momentum having been recently released. The various flag crews represented in full force, not to mention, glowsticks and balloons. You name it was waving in the air!!! I got so caught up with the jammin' and jumpin' that I really doh remember which song came after which, but I know for sure that he proceeded to sent the crowd mad with "Jumbie" and "Higher Than High". Not to mention when Patrice Roberts bust out with "Sway In D Mas" and the dancers started "Bubbling Gal"! I almost sprained my waist trying to keep up ... lol! The energy continued with performances from Umi Marcarno ("De Feeling", "Block To Block"), Farmer Nappy ("Belly Dancer", "Chippin'"), Zan ("Hold You Down", "Slip Away") and more Machel with reggae stars Collie Buddz ("Fly Away", "Mamacita", "Come Around") and Busy Signal ("Push Bumpers (Remix)", "Pon Di Edge", "Up In Her Belly"). The reggae touch was nice, I have to admit. Well I soon found myself back in the middle of the action on the "other side" when the show switched gears to "Ravin". It was awesome, but went on a little too long. Highlights on the night were while Synergy Soca Star 2009 winner, Chynee was mashin' up the crowd the guru, Chinese Laundry himself buss on the stage belting out everyone's favorite "Mona Lisa"! Ooooh gaaaad ooooyeeee!!! I well say the stadium mash up! Wait allyuh, my favorite line was when Chynee joined in to put a wrap on it singing, "Cuz de new Chinee come before de old one gone!" Wheeeeeeeeyyyyyy! Other crowd favorites were the youngters. One was like a miniature Machel Montano from Form 1 *lol* and the other little boy had the sweetest voice singing in Hindi. More mayhem ensued when Lil Jon and Pitbull finally hit the stage for that 'Dirty Soca'! The floor ... the floor ... the floor is on fire ("Fire On The Floor")!! Jon and Pitbull represented in their quest to help take soca music worldwide, with some incredible local breakdancers joining them on stage. Things slowed right down towards the end of the show for "Pray" (featuring Make It Happen), a personal favourite of Montano that's not receiving much airplay, and then it was a raid as "Wild Antz" brought the show to a close. Although the evening was not as high impact as we have become accustomed to, thousands of fans went home content. Who say AC8??!! Le Petite for the TJJ fam ==================================== |
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