Soca Kingdom soars to great heights

“SOCA Kingdom”, the Machel Monday fête which touted itself to be the place for every creed and race to enjoy themselves and kick-start Carnival week, delivered on every front at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

With stellar performances from soca titans like Iwer George, Erphaan Alves and Destra Garcia against the backdrop of mystifying mas costumes designed by Peter Minshall, patrons were so entertained that they didn’t even seem to be bothered with the king’s ransom which had to be paid for the eight-hour spectacle.

Prices for tickets ranged from $300, general admission, to $600 VIP, but neither general nor VIP were inclusive of drinks or food.

It was, however, worth every dime to see a show which almost seemed like the coronation of the king of soca.

The gates opened from as early as 6 pm but performances did not start until about 10 pm, and the show went on until about 3 am.

Machel was the first to perform, with a half-hour set of high energy music, featuring his latest hits like “doh play dat” and “Showtime” supported buy extremely flexible dancing girls in the background. “Soca Kingdom” could have been heard throughout the show, but in the opener, the performance of the song could have been enough to trample any competition, had he entered the soca monarch.

The Soca Kingdom stage was shared with Machel and plethora of A-list performers like Bunji Garlin, and Erphaan Alves, but newcomer to the soca scene, Nailah Blackman shook the crowd with her performances of “SOKAH” and “Oh Lawd Oye” and “Baddish” in which she was accompanied by Shenseea

Voice’s “Year for love” and “Far from finished” was also met with cheers and roars from the crowd. He also brought out Marge Blackman to perform “Full of vibe” with him.

Several of the artistes made sure to hail the “king” of soca, Machel Montano. Destra Garcia, for one, took a pause in her high energy performance to serenade Machel, and remind everyone in the Soca Kingdom that they were also royalty.

“You see, in the Soca Kingdom, there are many lords, ladies, dukes and duchesses, but we know Machel is the king, and I’m your queen!” Destra said to a cheering crowd.

The night was not without a little picong, which was provided by the “Water Lord”, Iwer George.

While performing on his set he poked at Machel and SuperBlue’s collaboration which is running against his song, Savannah for the Road March.

“Machel bring out SuperBlue to help him win the Road March. Tonight I bringing out someone to help me win Road March too” Iwer said. He called out Sonny Bling, who did a remake of Iwer’s song and titled it Channa in Meh Barra. The performance was as funny as it was entertaining. The spectacle culminated with the “king” of soca – Machel Montano – sharing the stage with SuperBlue, and his daughter Fay-Ann Lyons, while Montano and Super’s road march hopeful Soca Kingdom was performed.

The three soca legends have 20 road marches among them, and the performed every single one to the delight of the crowd.

The patronage was close to a thousand people as all walks of life, even outgoing president Anthony Carmona, filled the Hasely Crawford Stadium to capacity. Patrons were packed in front the stage, on the field and in the bleachers, jumping and waving to performances from Trinidad’s elite soca artistes, and foreign stars.

By the time the show was done, there was not a single disappointed face in the crowd. Veterans to the show and first-timers alike told Newsday they plan to go to the show again next year.