Cavalcades end with a bang

NEW Crop-Over band Soka Kartel set the stage on fire last Saturday night at the National Stadium car park with a performance that was unrivalled at any festival locale so far. Even before MC Mac Fingall could finish their introduction, the soca-hungry thousands that showed up were already jumping, waving and screaming for frontmen Mikey and Blood.The curtain-closer capped a night of performances from the likes of Linskee, Queen T, Bucky, Lorenzo, Statement, Nard, King Shepherd, plus a welcome appearance by Mr Dale.Parish ambassadors, Kadooment band models and public announcements aside, Fingall kept the showing flowing from the first note, and the crowd lapped it all up, just like they did the fish cakes, burgers, hot dogs, grilled meats and endless drinks on sale.Linskee and his Dream Squad belted out Tax Man and Force Ripe, the lyrics of both not easily lost to anyone within earshot.Anyone within eye-shot could not miss – and certainly won’t forget – the presentation by Queen T (Tamara Bailey) and her backup dancers, who sang and demonstrated how to Wiggle And Dip.Bucky then took over with Licky T’ing and Lorenzo followed with Open The Gate.Statement followed with Too Drunk, which provided the best lead-in possible for the high-energy, high-jinx duo of Nard and John Mohameed. These were the two who finally got the crowd in a dancing mood. From the time Nard’s not-so-toned legs and wild hairdo hit the bright lights, it was a wuk-up hey, a juk dey and nuff hands waving as they went through last year’s repertoire.King Shepherd teased with Wuk Up Pon It and then closed his set with Don’t Bite Me.Master comedian Trevor Eastmond was up next, and spent his half-hour giving the crowd some hilarious advice about naming children, stealing and Bajan relationships.Before the cavalcaders could settle down, out came the long balloons and two bursts of fire roared on stage to announce Soka Kartel. The jury is still out on who has the most energy, Blood or Mikey.Together, they put on a heart-stomping act. Patrons as far as 20 feet from stage were caught in the frenzy, which didn’t let up until the soca tag team paused to get the Soca Junkie on stage. From Bandana to Night ‘Til Morning, Bumper To Fender, The Plumber all the way up to Boom Bam and That Is My Party, it was dancing non-stop.