BONEY M AT CASEMATES Boney M brought us the Christmas Cheer Text by Joe Adambery Photographs By Johnnie Bugeja We sauntered into Casemates around 6.15pm to find a good spot to see and listen to the ‘soundtrack of our lives’ (well some of us). Disco legends ‘Boney M’ were in town and were about to put their golden seal on a day of many events, all festive and designed to keep the shoppers and browsers in town entertained. Many folk had thought like me and were already positioned stage front in the cold dusk, stamping their feet to keep themselves warm. The atmosphere was electric. The music on stage was very competent indeed – ‘The Trio’ - Jesse Maclaren, Jeremy Perez and Rob Bensusan fresh back from ‘UNI’ and sounding tight and authoritative. It was a good set, many popular classics and current pop/rock songs. The Beatles, White Christmas ‘et al.’ They were “happy to be here” said Jesse, and the crowds , now swelling even more were approving of their music which ended to rousing applause and whistles of acclaim. A few minutes past eight and compere Christian Santos told us what we already knew - Boney MM MMM!! A wild roar went up and suddenly; it was Sunny in full swing and then It’s a Holi-Holiday (Hi Di Hi Di Ho), the years rolled back and their hits kept coming thick and fast. Ma Baker followed on and then an obscure one for us, Belfast. Another great roar of approval greeted Brown Girl in the Ring, which they started singing ‘acapella’ (no backing music, just voices) then the music track came on to great effect. Yes, this was ‘live singing’ and it was pretty good and tuneful. Bob Marley’s No woman No Cry with a thumping disco beat instead of Reggae followed on. This one too ended in acapella - just for good measure so that nobody would think it was all production tricks. As if they would by now. Casemates Square was jam - packed to the limits and there was a lot of love for ‘Boney M’ and they were feeling it. Maizy Williams, their leader and the only original member remaining, was thrilled. She and the two other singers were in stunning red frocks. Their dancer/bass voice guy had already taken off his jacket way back in the third song. He had the dance moves off to a ‘tee’ and he needed to be free. Ra, Ra, Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen no prompting was necessary, we were all jumping to the thumping beat - only to be followed by Rivers of Babylon introduced by Maizy, who by this time had teased about the end of their set, which was always meant to be an hour. Disco heaven had come to Casemates and we were not about to let them go without a fight. Mary’s Boy Child saw the confetti guns firing and the snow scape lighting backdrops painted the whole wintry scene. The cold was all but gone and then sung in Spanish came Feliz Navidad -We Wanna Wish You a Merry Christmas. You could smell Christmas in the air. Their third encore was Gotta Go Home, (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) - but nobody was listening, they were all screaming for more, cold but happy. Finally, the Minister of Culture, the Hon Steven Linares presented them with a token of our love and invited them to come and visit us again. Yes please! My brother Eddie, who was here on holiday and is a long time friend of Maizy Williams, later on went to dinner with them and told me how they were bowled over by the Casemates experience. What a nice and happy festive touch ‘Boney M’ brought to us and how many old timers, but young at heart, turned out to relive lost youth. Happy days and I just wonder what the younger folk made of all that. I think they enjoyed themselves too.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 16:54:37 +0000
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