Francine Black, Staff Reporter

Beenie Man - File

Patrons had a long wait but at 8:30 p.m., they were granted their wish when Beenie Man, Munga Honourable and Voicemail entered the stage to bring the curtains down on the inaugural staging of the Red Bull Soapbox race in Port Rhoades, Discovery Bay, St. Ann, onSunday.

On hearing Beenie's signature "Zaga Zaga Zow", the audience erupted into screams and those who had run out of patience raced back to the stage area to see the artistes in performance.

Prior to their performance, the Live Wyaa Band kicked things off with a short yet spicy set. Several young artistes followed, including the group You've Got It, which performed covers of Shaggy hits.

Benzly Hype from Innocent Crew also graced the stage doing a number of tunes. He brought on his African friend, Zimbo who delivered two comical tunes about ugly girls and safe sex, before Benzly took back the reins.

However, after the performance given by his friend, the audience did not want to hear anymore and clapped him off the stage. He quickly took the hint and exited.

Dance lessons

Dancing was brought into the mix when the nimble Crazy Hype Dancers showed off their moves before bringing on several female partons for dance lessons.

I-Octane was next and reeled off some popular songs, including his joint hit with Teflon, Gun Rise.

Little Hero, a son of the parish, was next to 'bless up' the venue and when he left the stage it was indeed on a high note, doing tunes such as God Alone, Genuine Love and No Gun Nuh Dung Deh. During his performance he had the thousands of patrons in the venue waving and singing along to every song.

A one-hour break followed his set, but the party resumed with the three heavyweights. Beenie Man performed several songs an with Munga and Voicemail at times Beenie did longer segments than the others. From old to new, he had the crowd singing along.

The audience, however, was very pleased to see Munga and each song earned thunderous shouts. The day of fun and frolic aptly closed on a high note.

The driver of the Pier One lobster design soapbox makes his way down the track at Port Rhoades, Discovery Bay, St. Ann. The team later went on to win the Red Bull Soapbox race, which was held on Sunday. - Contributed

Munga Honourable. - file

H.S. Services Ltd. sponsored this soapbox shaped like a duck. It was one of over 30 soapboxes which participated in Red Bull Soapbox races. Thousands of Jamaicans attended the event which was won by Pier One from Montego Bay. - photo by Hugh Stone