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When Rotterdam Summer Carnival (Zomer Carnival) distilled concepts into the minds of Triniconnection & Friends with respect to an initiaton of sorts, forming a complete and all round Soca affiliated party to start the Carnival Festivities could not be anything but easy pickings for these folks. The first elements to be included was ideally a date - obviously the Friday directly before the parade on the saturday; a location (we will get to that soon) and then construct a DJ line up so confusing that the sheer doubt and the moral complexity of choosing where to go would be so simple and hence the bigger picture can be seen.

Pre-Carnival Parade Parties are everywhere! There are comical pre-carnival parties, action-filled pre-carnival parties, metaphysical pre-carnival parties, there are sly and wry fractures masquerading as pre-carnival parade parties, and even the waste of time pre-carnival parties; however, at Socalicious in Rotterdam Carnival 2011 Season I almost forgot how it felt to be exposed to debauchery, random gyration, and bamcee brutality - both on the floor and in the air! That what used to be a simple warm up session in itself has now become the conventional canvas upon which every pre-carnival party should be painted. I had to ask myself on more than one occasion is the background noise of soca music so familiar now that I barely notice it any more.

Nevertheless, Socalicious, uniquely, is a pure pre-carnival parade party! Rather than using or mimicing any other pre-carnival parade parties, Triniconnection & Friends kept it quite simple and the soca driven framework wrestles with the utter essence of the type of party they were promoting. There was more than enough action in the party's five (5) hour existence to satisfy the most thrill-hungry party-goer in Rotterdam but Socalicious was made to be simply exciting, rather than merely based on enjoyment (yes there is a difference between enjoyment & excitement), through both the strength of the DJs and the brutal rigor of wining analysis.

The genius of this party and trust me it is a party of genius - is that it makes you have an internal investigation into the human soul's capacity for wining, while somehow still managing to socialise, meet new people, entice the other sex to leave the party with you, keep track of the people you actually attended the party with which, at the end of the night manages to make this event very funny, thrilling, lively, shocking and unremittingly entertaining.

On the flip side to my previous three paragraphs, Socalicious was a mixture potent enough to garner an award for confusion at the usual annual Confusion Awards (if there was one) and has invited favourable comparisons with such pre-parade party legends such as ... none! Yes! Socalicious is in its own bracket of pre-parade parties; its own category; its own symbol or beacon of light; this is also known as Unique! What I will say is that compared to other European pre-parade parties it is not richer, but it is more dynamic and less reverentially styled which then creates a completely surreal intimate session.

Triniconnections & Friends are definitely not a new face on the prowl in the Caribbean party circuit, and with their last feature that I attened - the ultra masquerade party - Socalicious 2010 which would seem to be outdated however still very fresh in my memory bank the two events are equally compared however, its predecessor had a more likeable edgy premise, it was commercially successful, never dreary and always had that seductive and energetic charisma flowing through patrons. I blame the DJs. 2010 saw the carnation and double threat from D1 Jam Masters & DJ Tate - both two talented individuals playing songs that ensured people were in that constant state of Euphoria. This year ... I am not sure what happened. Do not get me wrong ... it was just not as constant as last year. There were highs and lows peaks of truffles and shuffles and let us not forget with Soca 2011 being the most entertaining soca produced for the last decade (Scorn's Unbiased Opinion), patrons at Socalicious were never anything less than gimmicky during specific tunes that were played. Some examples:

    * Palance (I know 2010 ... but still an anthem in 2011) ... left to right;
    * Come To Meh ... left to right;
    * Bend Over ... uhm ... Bend Over!

With that being said I must commend the extraordinary power of the females tonight, breathtaking some of them to the extent that I had to stop taking pictures and just observe the debauchery production taking place - oxygen required! But the most extraordinary power of Socalicious by far comes from the main leads: Triniconnections & Friends. They as promoters ensure that everyone in this party is having a fantastically splendid time and still have time for themselves to produce driven, entertaining, lack of morals performances of gulp-inducing fun & sheer entertainment! 

"I Don't Want You To Feel The Energy, I Want You To Live The Energy!" ... Quote of the night ... more like the theme of the night!

With this volume of intensity at Club Roses backed by such a daring, well-crafted patrons who possessed an unerring sense of pace throughout the night, Socalicious was, quite simply, an exciting party. On one level, it's as Laugh Out Loud as Stand Up Comedy, while on another a perfectly-arced sweep of wining and endless Carnival Excitement into action.

Verdict:
A must-attend fete for any Soca Fan in Netherlands.

-Scorn Juice
... sing boy sing! wine boy wine! pump boy pump! ... ooooooohhhhhhh yyyyeeeaaaahhhh!!!! ....

Did we forget anything? Add your 2 cents below...

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