By Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE MONTEGO Bay leg of 'The Hopeville Tour: 3 The Lord's Way' surpassed the expectations of the promoters as a mostly full Caribbean Beach Park rocked for just under four hours to gospel music at its finest.
The show, which featured internationally famous gospel performers Yolanda Adams, Donnie McClurkin and Kirk Franklin, had its first leg in Kingston on Saturday night, but not even late afternoon showers prevented a large turnout in Montego Bay on Sunday night.
Errol Service, the vice-president of Premium Entertainment, the promoters of the show, told The Gleaner midway the night's proceedings that he was 'very pleased' with the turnout and enthusiasm shown adding, "...money (profit) is no concern here, we are overwhelmed by the turnout and glad to see the spectators enjoying themselves."
Profits must not have been a problem, as early in McClurkin's performance the barriers separating the reserved section (priced at $1500) from general admission ($800) were opened and the patrons invited to fill what seemed like a chasm between the stage and the majority of the audience.
While there was not a mad rush, the gesture seemed to add momentum to the already increasing tempo as the patrons jumped, danced and sang every word along with the talented McClurkin.
He had started with the prayerful Just For Me and Great Is Your Mercy then upped the tempo after calling for 'crazy Christians who are not afraid to worship'.
The crowd quieted somewhat as he explained that to get through cultural barriers while not exhibiting 'American arrogance' one had to 'be everything to everyone' and had to speak their language. He then backed up his claim by singing in four other languages Japanese much to the delight and approval of some Japanese in the front row; Dutch, Afrikaans and Spanish.
This was simply to set the stage for his now famous medley of Jamaican gospel favourites, which he introduced by telling the crowd he was going to 'fallah fashan'. The medley included favourites such as I've Got My Mind Made Up, Goodbye World and S-A-L-V-A-T-I-O-N.
This set the stage for Franklin, who did mostly songs from his latest album The Rebirth but went down well.
Brighter Day and the Jamaican patoisinflected Speak It To Me Jesus, where he invited a young girl from the audience to help him sing, got the hour-plus long section off to a bright start.
This was followed by a solemn and prayerful interlude that included Something About The Name Jesus, It's Over Now and My Life, My Love, My All segued smoothly into Why We Sing, which came from his first album.
A brief interlude on the piano in accompaniment to Now Behold set the stage for Don't Cry before he was joined on-stage by DJ Papa San for the uptempo He Reigns.
There was an interesting and brave decision to take a break but luckily this did not interrupt the flow, as the last half hour was a fitting climax to a great night of entertainment.
All three headliners, including Adams who had opened the second segment, came on after the break with McClurkin leading off with the favourite I Fall Down then going into the Franklyn songs Hosanna and Stomp.
Adams' set had included Still I Rise with McClurkin and Believe, which also had members of her back-up group Yvette Williams, Anthony Evans and Victoria Purcell being featured with solos.
