By Mel Cooke, FREELANCE Writer
Gardener
WESTERN BUREAU:
WITH THREE top-flight performers on hand, Lloyd Parkes and We The People on the stand and a fair-sized audience of the young and forever young present, 'Island Vintage Showcase' got off to a great start on Saturday night at the Island Village Mall, Ocho Rios, St. Ann.
The soul of Boris Gardener, harmony of The Mighty Diamonds and charisma of Leroy Sibbles combined to give a great deal of variety with an emphasis on the 'great deal', as the singers had room to present full length shows.
And that they did.
With a choice of lawn, low wall on the fringes of the greenery or wooden walkway to choose from, the audience also had plenty of room to dance, sit and rock or stroll around and they exercised their rights to the full.
The soul was up first and Boris Gardener took the audience down Lover's Lane, where an ardent fan was happy to hear Someone Loves You Honey. The love must have been strong, as they decided Let's Keep It That Way, because It's So Nice To Be With You, for which Karen Smith combined her vocals with Gardener's.
VERSATILITY
Mr. Gardener showed his versatility by borrowing Lloyd Parkes' bass guitar, moving on to a medley of Pledging My Love and Never Let Me Go, before doing This Old House and the show stopper, I Wanna Wake Up With You.
An encore was requested and Mr. Gardener paid a backhanded compliment to the strong women with Commanding Wife.
One Blood International sound system kept the audience rocking with a string of Alton Ellis tunes, among other selections, as the way was prepared for the next performers, The Mighty Diamonds. Bunny, Taby and Judge. From the trio hit the harmony on There is no place you cannot go, the audience felt the sweet pain; The Mighty Diamonds showed that harmony and message can be combined beautifully with Lying Lips, before upping the tempo with Natty Dread (You Never Run Away).
INEVITABLE
The 'forwards' were inevitable, and the musical temperature was kept high, as The Diamonds had no mercy with Guide Us Jah Man.
Variety was the order of the night and they dipped into the catalogue of another famous trio for Keep On Moving, then went back into their own stock and came up with I Need A Roof (Over My Head).
Soul came to the party and Bunny Diamond did a Louis Armstrong, Judge came up with Smokey Robinson and Tabby was easy like Sunday morning.
Pass De Kutchie switched the style and tempo and the audience loved it.
They took it down to a smooth end with Just Don't Want To Be Lonely and, on the encore, kept a very early Sunday service with Amen and Behold I Live.
There was no break, as MC Deon Matthis brought on Leroy Sibbles without delay. He came on with a broad grin and invited the audience to "Come and walk with me". The unruly students in the musical class chose to dance instead and the area separated from the stage by a mini-waterfall and a pool suddenly seemed fuller than before.
OFFICIALLY ON
He moved into Baby Be True and the party was officially on; he tipped his hat to Marcia Griffiths with Feel Like Jumping the audience obviously felt the same way as well.
Toot's 54-46 was given the treatment, up to 'four time', and, as the groove continued, even a speaker to stage left got into the rocking vibe and was dislodged. There was no break in the music and, as the speaker was being replaced, Sibbles decided We're Having A Party Tonight.
They were.
With a mixture of love songs and classic rock steady, with the philosphical Book Of Rules being a high point, Sibbles patted his forehead with a handkerchief intermittently as he worked up a close.
He announced the closing number Fatty, long before he got there, asking the guitarist for an 'A' and delivering These Arms of Mine, then switching to a reggae groove to do Girl I Want To Make You Sweat and For Old Times Sake, as well as Let's Get It On, before wrapping up with the ode to much flesh. One such lady in a red dress staked out 15 metres of the lawn for herself and got it on in style and with class.
As the audience filed out, MC Deon Matthis announced the next instalment of Island Vintage Showcase for December 27.
