PURE VIBES! That pretty much summed up the highly anticipated show Gimme Soca which came off last weekend.
From as early as 8 p.m., soca lovers started to assemble at Daiquiri Beach, Bay Street, St Michael, for what was expected to be a spectacular Saturday night, given the proposed line-up. The featured international and local artistes did not disappoint.
To set the pace, local artistes Hypasounds, Mole, Scrilla, Jawga De Champ and Fadda Fox got the crowd going. Though rain threatened at times, the soca junkies were able to jam without interruption.
The first of the overseas acts was Motto out of St Lucia, who joined Fadda Fox for a performance of Shell Down That. It went from St Lucia to Trinidad, the Land of the Humming Bird. Lyrikal did Cloud Nine, Dip and Roll and Loner.
Soca princess Patrice as usual was the one the crowd was waiting on and she did not disappoint.
Dressed in a very eye-catching jeans outfit, Patrice joined Lyrikal to perform their duet Criminal Wine and the two put down some dance moves that had everyone’s full attention.
She also did Old And Grey, Big Girl Now and Like It Like This, which was originally sung with Kes.
Patrice, who is very popular in Barbados, also got up close and personal with the crowd during Sweet Fuh Days.
Shal Marshall, performing his 2018 hit song Splinters, then hit the stage to further hype the crowd and as it sang along.
Up next was Voice, the three-time International Soca Monarch. He really just needed to stand centre stage, let the backing deejay run his track and the crowd was quite content in singing his mega hits Year For Love, Cheers To Life and Far From Finished for him. Of course, he didn’t let them sing alone.
He faced some technical difficulties during his set, and even temporarily left the stage. The slight glitches were fixed and he returned to give the cheering crowd more.
Skinny Fabulous closed out the show with hits like Party Start, Push It, Watch Thing, Monster and When The Lights Go Down.
At the end of his performance, mirroring the end of last year’s show, Skinny invited all artistes back on stage to sing parts of their songs to allow the still hyped crowd a chance for one last jam.
