Port of Spain – As if to mirror the outcome of the results of the 2013 Soca Monarch Competition on Fantastic Friday, in which Austin SuperBlue Lyons and Machel Montano tied for first place, most of the bands crossing the stage at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, yesterday chose Fantastic Friday and Float as their songs of choice.
In fact, the trend was started by Bliss, the very first major band to put in an appearance, at 11:30 a.m. with their presentation Savage Beauty. Their DJ first played SuperBlue’s Fantastic Friday followed by Machel’s Float.
Another large band, Tribe, quickly followed with their presentation Butterflies, Beasts and Bacchanal. Their first song choice was Float but they too jumped and waved to Fantastic Friday.
The majority of the masqueraders, as is customary on a Carnival Monday, opted not to wear their full costumes and made little, if any, effort to get in a section. Most of them were clad in costumes specifically designed to be worn on day one of the revelry.
The situation was different with the traditional mas players from bands such as the Chinese Minstrels Band, the Original Jab Jab Band, Vintage People with their fancy Indian presentation Satinka – Magical Dancer, Belmont Original Stylish Sailors with Under D Big Top, Tribal Connection Cultural Promotion with Visions of Crazy Horse and Touch D Sky Jumbies with Mokos Of Rebellion.
Although moving quickly across the stage, the masqueraders savoured the moment most of them were preparing for.
Among the other bands parading before the judges and the sparsely populated North and Grand Stands were Wee International’s Magnifique – Earth’s Most Colourful Creatures; Genesis’ Mirror, Mirror Who is The . . .; Spice Carnival Band Ltd with Let’s Dance and Island People Mas/Spirit International with Re-Humanize.
Defending champions in the Medium category, The Word and Associates, more popularly called The Catholic Band, crossed the stage at around 1:15 p.m. with their presentation Leviticus and they too chipped to Fantastic Friday.
