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ANYWAY, we were all there - Shaggy had
copped another award under his belt, this one for the
Smash Hits 'Best Male Solo Artist of
the year'. He gave a superb performance, the best for
the night at a show that included the likes of Wyclef
(singing his "Go Go" song)
, Kylie Minogue ("Na
Na Na..."), Samantha Mumba etc...We were all
in very high spirits. This was a great accomplishment for any
artist, much less one of our very own from yard.
Clef
was there at the bar with his entourage dancing up a storm,
when he came over and told us that Luciano was in town and
was having a live show in Stratton near Docklands that night
- were we going? Then he starts going on 'bout how him is a
Haitian and know more about yard man tings dan we who a yardie
etc...etc...Everybody dun know seh Wyclef - KILL HIM DEAD(!!)-
swear seh him a Bob's son, suh whatever...
We
rounded up the posse, I grabbed the camera hoping there was some
battery life left in it (there wasn't much) and we CUT! When we
reach, we see the cars well before we even sight the club. You
could already tell by tekking in the masses of people walking
towards the venue, that this was a strictly ROOTS & CULTURE
kind of vibe. Mi love dat! Although, most of the people tended
to be in their mid-30's upwards so it was definitely a more 'mature'
audience...(ah hem...).
We
enter through the back entrance and head straight backstage
to give 'The Messenger' a
one hail, but him neva reach yet, so I stood side stage and watched
the all female reggae band, 'Sista Sista's'
wrap up their last song. Afterwards, the lead singer, Jane, and
I got to talking about the group and, of course, I was blabbing
on about the website. She was cool. I think I got a pic of her
somewhere... Their drummer was wicked
by all standards. It was kinda weird seeing an all
woman (Rasta/Reggae) band playing that night. Is a good weird
feeling though. Dem play all the instruments, the bass, keyboard,
drums etc...That's unfortunately not something you're accustomed
to seeing in Jamdown, so....
After
our little chit chat, I decided to go out into the crowd to hold
a vibe. It was all very mellow, every man did either have a spliff
a build, a smoke or a battery. Usually
you have to hunt down the sess in London, now everywhere I
turned, there it was!!! To any Weedie, this would be heaven. Another
thing I noticed was, the crowd was mostly man, and a 'bear' Rasta
man!!!!
I
thought the venue did wicked...it was like an old time
opera house, with the balconies and all...(kinda like the Ward
Theatre, downtown), and it was warm, not freezing like outside.
Pretty
much right after 'Sista Sista' closed, 'RasItes'
(I think that's their name), set up and unleashed their uplifting
roots and culture tunes to the willing, receptive and by now
VERY mellow audience. Everybody's been whispering for some
time now, that is the singers that a go come next, dat dem a mek
a comeback, and right here tonight, it was evident, the crowd
was eating everything up.
I
think that the whole vibe of the old Rock Steady and Culture ting
fits better in the realm of what England is (esp. London).
Nuff artist buss big inna England, (and Europe side) and have
probably never had a hit record anywhere else. Nuff artist eat
a food, sake of England (and Greensleeves, I guess).
I
not going to lie still, I enjoyed their performance.
Some of it was a little too roots for me, but they had a good
smooth groove that swept up the entire audience. That combined
with the air saturated with weed smoke made us all mellow and
vibesey. It was sweet.
Another
thing, thought it certainly has nothing to do with the actual
performance, is that at no point whatsoever whilst walking through
the crowd (and I did go back and forth a few times, to say the
least), did I find any bad vibes. You
know how in Jamaica if you go a stage show and you get thirsty,
yuh rather dead of dehydration than lef' yuh spot,
caw yuh know dat when you go fi walk through the crowd, is a hassle,
You KNOW that some man (or woman) is going to be really nasty
just for the simple fact that you may have squeezed your way past
her, even after begging a pass. In England, I don't know if it
was the crowd or the weed or what (because England aint far
from the mark, when it comes to rude and dutty people) but,
not once did I experience any animosity from the crowd, NOT ONCE!
And, when I went to the bar, I couldn't believe it when I returned
to find my 'space' still in tact. Maybe it was just a good night,
I was impressed nonetheless.
Anyway,
RasItes closed their set after not one but two forward from the
crowd, so I decided to go to the bar where the rest
of out crew was chilling. I wanted to get out of the way of these
two Russian chicks who kept bouncing into me whenever they danced.
I am sure they were tripping on something other than herb as their
actions did not reflect any tranquility like it did in the rest
of the audience. So I was hoping I wouldn't have to venture back
there, that I would find a much better vantage point, for Luci's
thing. HAH!!! HA! HA!!
We
had a few drinks, smoked a little, run some joke and danced to
the weird selection of music (the DJ
would play Ernie Smith, then she would mix it with Batty Rider).
After a about an hour, we all started getting restless. Luciano
still had not graced us with his presence and we were all very
tired from our own outings earlier in the day. There was a likkle
talk that the promoters still hadn't paid him the dollars, so
he was holding out. Which is all good and well, but at the price
of your fans waiting for the show? I checked my watch again, by
now I was tracking the time, sleep was taking over my entire body,
and I could hear my bed calling. Not to mention that the crowd
was restless, some were leaving (they had work presumably the
next day - it was a week day) and we were all getting bored. I
guess they sensed this (the promoters) so they were probably getting
anxious as well.
I
saw a band setting up, this got the crowd's interest again, and
the MC announced that Mikey Spice was up next - I never
even know him was on the show, and I never wanted to use up what
little battery life I had left, but I still wasn't entirely sure
that Luciano was actually going to perform or not. Mikey Spice
maintained a strong stage presence throughout, and him nuh young
like him used to be, so I was impressed. He was cool. And for
the crowd, it was a generous offering of songs for them to sing
along to.
He
departed the stage, and we sat and waited, I hoped this would
not be another hour and a half before 'The Messenger', and luckily
God, Jah, Selassie whoever, heard my prayers, 'cause by now I
was desperate to stay awake.
So,
it go suh.... Luciano comes on stage with a suitcase and his locks
tied up in a hat. Him put down the suitcase and open
it, tek out a bible, open to Jeremiah, (unfortunately I don't
know my bible THAT well, so I can't tell you what verse he read
but...) proceeded to pray, and we all prayed together. Then him
close the bible, set it aside, and let his locks fall from his
hat as he removed it, shook them out well, and started his show.
The
crowd ate it all up, you could see the flags waving in the crowd,
everyone was under the vibe, especially since they had all been
waiting so long. He did all his hits and some milder ones.
About
45 minutes into his show, my friends said they were ready to go
and I was relieved to hear that. The battery died after tekking
only four or five pics of luciano. Suh life go. It was like 3:30am,
and we were all dog-tired. We bid Luci au revoir and cut. I wish
I could have seen all the show, but I think it was his loss more
than it was mine, after such a late arrival. I will probably rethink
going to another Luci show if I know that he is the only headliner.
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