Marathon reggae session at Redemption

THE Redemption VI concert held at the Queen’s Park Savannah last Saturday turned out to be an eight-hour marathon session, sometimes more of an ordeal than enjoyment. The time for the band change was way too long. It started with 30 minutes, gradually moving to forty five minutes then close to an hour.

The show got going on time as advertised with internationally acclaimed singer Maxi Priest churning out hit after hit to a somewhat small audience. But by the time he was joined on stage by local soca star Shurwayne Winchester, the much larger audience went wild. Towards the end of his set, Maxi Priest performed Bob Marley’s Redemption Song.

One of the best acts on the evening was Christopher Martin who was able to hold his audience captive with his smooth voice. He did several of his songs before he was joined by The Major, and together they performed several hits including Otis Redding’s I have been Loving You too Long and Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing. The massive crowd showed their appreciation by singing along with the duo.

Just about 10 pm, Romain Virgo was introduced on stage and he caught the crowd’s attention with his remake of Sam Smith's Stay with Me. He seemed to lose the crowd's interest for a while but recaptured it with his massive hit Soul Provider. Virgo then called out his friend Christopher Martin and together they performed the popular Leave people Business and had the entire savannah singing along with them.

From here the first long wait for live performances started. It took about 45 minutes before the Harmony House Band was ready to play. When they got started, the band performed several instrumentals in order to get everything right. Beres Hammond was introduced to join the band and he performed for just about an hour. Hammond had everyone in the audience singing along with him and by the time he left the stage it was 12.45 am.

Although the DJs played music to keep the audience active between the band change, it proved to be a very tiresome wait.

Just on seven hours after the start of the show, Dean Fraser and the Blak Soil Band were ready to bring on Tarrus Riley. He came on stage to a thunderous applause and was able to move members of the audience with his hit songs and a good performance.

The final act of the evening was Half Pint who performed well into the morning, giving those who remained a taste of his popular Substitute Lover.