THE FETE season started with a bang this weekend, as thousands of partygoers assembled in Port-of-Spain for the first two events on the Carnival 2015 calendar. All shapes and sizes of coolers were put to use on Saturday night, as both Fantasy Carnival’s “Blockbuster Saturday” and Tribe’s “ICE” events allowed patrons to bring their own drinks. The ICE fete was held at the Queen’s Park Oval while the Fantasy fete was held at the Jean Pierre Complex in Mucurapo. While patrons at “ICE” were treated to a number of acts (Sekon Sta, Flipo, Olatunji Yearwood and Bunji Garlin among others) performing “on tracks” with pre-recorded musical accompaniment, Fantasy Carnival delivered an exclusive concert-length performance from reigning Road March King Machel Montano and his band of Caribbean musicians. Both events were well-attended and fete-lovers began their annual ritual of “stress relief’ in earnest – emptying their coolers and dancing heartily to the latest and greatest Soca releases. At the Oval, Montano’s fans refused to allow him to leave the stage, even after he delivered an extensive 90-minute set that began around 2 am. In fact, it was long after 3 am, when Montano was given four encores to deliver his 2015 release, “Like Ah Boss”. “Like Ah Boss is a runaway hit,” he said afterward. “I am grateful and happy that we were able to perform new songs in the first fete of the season and the people are so into it already. I even did my Road March contender that’s not yet released and the response was epic...” Montano’s set was studded with some technical and sonic difficulties and the band seemed unrehearsed and unable to deliver his usually expert level of sequencing and musical accompaniment. Asked about those challenges, Montano reminded his detractors that this was only his first show for the season. He said, “We only had six hours of rehearsal for this show and we have two new band members. Kitch (Kernal Roberts) is no longer with us and I am trying to give the new band leader, Darien (Bailey) more freedom to play music, so we’re trying with Kamau on the sequencer. Kamau knows what he did and what he didn’t and we hope that he will improve and make it through the season. I’m very happy with the new drummer, who is from Bermuda. This is a short season and people are still in Christmas and Old Years mode, so I was pleasantly surprised that they came out with so much energy for Soca and fete last night (Saturday). The people had a time and my Instagram is filled with positive comments today. No, it was not perfect, but we all had fun and this is why people come to see me perform because in spite of the hiccups, with all the good, the bad and the ugly, they know that they are still experiencing the best live show in the world.” During his performance, Montano introduced his new manager, Che Kothari, while also informing the assembly that his mother and longtime manager “and best friend”, Elizabeth Montano has now officially retired from the position. Montano also re-introduced his longtime friend and background singer, Roger George, who has been working with him on some of his new songs. DJs Arelon D Art Man and Artiste Team built the energy leading up to Montano’s performance, along with radio announcer, Stevenson “Shal” Marshall who served as the mic/hype man during this period. Daryl “Farmer Nappy” Henry also made a brief appearance just after 3 am and performed “My House” and “Big People Party.” The event ended just after 4 am yesterday.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 14:26:16 +0000
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