By Kandré McDonald, Staff Reporter
DYCR on-stage at Font Hill Beach Park in St. Elizabeth last Saturday - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
THE CROWD prompted him to do it. He complied, and when Delroy, Delroy... echoed across the venue, a thunderous shout of approval from the patrons followed.
DYCR had already left the stage at Font Hill Beach Park in St. Elizabeth twice, however the capacity crowd that turned out on Sunday night was not prepared to allow him to leave the venue without doing his current piece Delroy.
Although most of the artistes that came before him did a few minutes and exited the stage, DYCR could not, even if it was his intention.
He stomped and pranced across the stage as he delivered some of his more popular pieces. Some patrons in the front, who were obviously enjoying the performance, took on the task of selecting what they wanted to hear from the talented dub poet. DYCR, who took the stage at about 11:58 p.m., was later joined by Richie Stephens, who received a warm reception from the crowd. However, DYCR had already embedded himself into the hearts of the patrons and could do no wrong.
When he finally began Delroy the eruption in the venue could be compared to that of the Soufriere Hills volcano in Montserrat. Silence then swept across the crowd as the patrons greedily consumed each word of the dub poem, erupting intermittently whenever a line struck their interest.
WELL-SATISFIED CROWD
DYCR finally exited the stage at 12:19 a.m., leaving a well-satisfied crowd behind.
Performers who came before DYCR that held the attention of the patrons were Tanto Metro and Devonte, Pickney, Ghost from the Monster Shack Crew, Vybz Kartel, Wayne Marshall and Cobra.
Cobra was all 'guns out' and briefly launched an attack on Ninja Man, who was not present.
"Him (Ninja Man) lucky seh him run from the clash a Sumfest," Cobra said before delivering a new 'gun tune'.
The show had began at 9 p.m. with the revelation that Big A, a popular radio disc-jockey, would be doing MC duties. However, the few minutes that followed could only be described by one word - boring.
Big A's statement: "The real show time is about to begin," was done a great injustice by at least four acts that followed. It was not until Pickney graced the stage that some justice was done to Big A's statement.
Dressed in long, thick 'bobby socks', a bib, a shirt neatly tucked in a shorts and comical lyrics to match his appearance, Pickney had the crowd in stitches. The patrons were attentive as they grabbed on to his lyrics. Queen Paula accompanied him on-stage.
Vybz Kartel appeared on-stage soon after and the noise from the crowd elevated above that coming from the Stone Love sound system. It got more deafening when Wayne Marshall joined Kartel on-stage as the two performed New Millenium. They engaged the crowd in a few more songs before leaving the stage.
A more that 45-minute long intermission, which saw Adonai, Renaissance, Stone Love and Nite Traxx juggling consecutively, created a damper in the proceedings. Not that the juggling was poor, but it was 'drawn out' and all the selectors kept repeating the same punch lines in trying to get the crowd involved.
The final segment of the show saw Elephant Man, Predator, Angel Doolas, Bounty Killer and Kiprich along with a number of unrecognised individuals cramming on-stage and entertaining the crowd. The barrier which was used to separate the patrons from the stage was soon lying on the ground as the patrons forced themselves to the front of the stage.
The show was good in parts, even though the artistes' lyrical content was sexually-based and expletives were 'abused' throughout the night. Powerman was earlier booed for his effort since the crowd was not prepared to tolerate his slackness.
