A BITTERSWEET ENDING to Mahalia’s Corner. Last Sunday, the lights switched off after the final show of the season and the largest audience, estimated at close to 600, bid farewell to the end of the fifth season of Mahalia’s Corner.
As the time drew near for the scheduled 8 p.m. start, there was still a line stretched out from the Hilton’s lobby to the kerb of the driveway.
And with each passing moment, a sense of anticipation filled the air in the Needham’s Point Ballroom. The room was abuzz.
But although the start was 30-minutes late start, and some people were turned away at the door due to a packed house, the audience survived the waiting.
And with a doubled crowd, many of whom stood at the northern end of the room, the entertainment also doubled as Hal Linton and Marvay were co-headliners.
Even before the challenge was thrown out, the audience accepted it. Without prompting from Marvay, the chorus of Survive The Weekend was being sung by the audience. By the end of the performance everyone had risen to their feet with loud cheers and applause.
When Marvay took the stage at 10:43, he grabbed a chair, perhaps a signal of a mellow, laid-back performance. But that was not to be. Though he sat for most of his performance, his energy was not lacking.
Backed by NexCyx, he sang Concrete Jungle, jamming and rocking the crowd from his seat. And for the most of his performance there seemed to be singing dialogue between performer and audience.
Mid-performance he asked, “Y’all does feel the pain in Bob’s [Marley] heart?” He then asked the audience to complete the “Ohs” in the 1973 Bob Marley And The Wailers reggae cut.
The audience loudly obliged, and sang the “ohs” until the end of the performance.
During his performance, which lasted close to 40 minutes, the interaction between Marvay and the audience kept on as he sang These Woods, A New Idea, Bajan Fishermen and Vice Versa Love and he charitably handed the microphone over to an audience member who helped him sing the Barrington Levy track.
That was the prelude to Hal Linton (left). Like his co-headliner, he interacted heavily with the audience.
By the time he hit the stage, the crowd was noticeably smaller as those who remained got comfortable and sat on the floor stage-side. And while performing a jazz infused version of his original song Cardiac Arrest, he picked up the harmonies coming from stage-side.
It was here he gave his microphone to an audience member. And the two then got into a harmonious exchange, trading note for note.
In a “nice and easy” performance he set the tone for the rest of the night by singing Sexy. It turned out that he was the perfect fit for the alternative song Big Shoes as he passionately sustained note after note. He also sang Freezer Burn, a song which he wrote with Allen Stone.
At the end of Linton’s performance, Marvay returned to the stage and the two, accompanied by Mahalia herself, sang Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together.
The unofficial open mic title arguably went to Nathan Richards. Putting an operatic twist to John Denver’s You Fill Up My Senses, the young performer wowed the audience and got one of the loudest rounds of applause of the night.
Kevin Milano expressed his troubles through the song Ghetto while Spotlight artiste of the night was local alternative artiste Alexander Mills, who did his original song St Peter. He also covered Hold Back The River by James Bay.