The opening of the Kaiso Showkase calypso tent last Thursday night promised to be a spectacular event. However, the southern tent got off to a slow start, as many of the calypsonians simply could not move the crowd. There was hardly a vacant seat available as hundreds of patrons, eager to hear their favourite kaisonians, flocked to the Palm's Club for the 8 pm start. The first artiste onstage was Bernel C, who attempted to get the crowd going with his upbeat song, Party. He was followed by Sexy C, whose song, Women Doh Give Up, was a passionate plea for battered women to get the courage to leave abusive relationships. Mc Gruff, Juiceman, Abbi and Prospector all followed with their contributions, but it was not until Short Pants took to the stage that the crowd came alive.
Performing in position seven, Short Pants' song, entitled D Infidel, placed the lyrical spotlight on golfer Tiger Woods, targeting his highly publicised acts of infidelity. As he cleverly used the golfer's name to make his point, Short Pants received three encores and wrung every ounce of laughter from the patrons, some of whom held their stomachs in their glee. Also generating similar reactions from the crowd were Protector and second half performer Slicky. Protector, in his piece called My Vision, sang about the various ills of society, but urged the nation to remain positive in spite of all adversities. The audience, which lapped up his performance, suddenly surged to life as Protector's younger brother joined in, singing the chorus to Jimmy Cliff's Bright Sunshiny Day. With their hands waving from side to side, members of the crowd, who seemingly could not get enough of the performance, rose to their feet, calling for encores.
LEFT: Victor Mc Donald (Mr Mack) performs his humourous calypso–Too Much Cats.
RIGHT: Lighting up the night, performing Ass Mas, is Slicky.
On the other hand, there was nothing remotely serious about Slicky's Ass Mass, but the sheer idiocy of the song was something that all could identify with, as he sang about people who publicly make fools out of themselves in the name of revelry. No other artiste on the cast however, even came close to matching the energy level shown for Protector, Short Pants and Slicky. In spite of the sound performances of the other first half calypsonians, the crowd's participation was noticeably low and the encores were few. The momentum hardly changed as Adanna opened the second half with the song We Doh Understand. Newcomer Malice, with his tune No Gaza, failed to impress patrons as his style and lyrical content left much to be desired. With neither melody, lyrics nor proper diction to his credit, the tune (which one would assume denounced the glorification of the Gaza strip and all types of criminal activity) sounded like a jumble of words and shouting.
"He singing no Gaza and he name is Malice? He singing about peace or he singing about war? Is long time I haven't heard so much crap in the tent," shouted one woman from her seat. Other performances came from Jerry Howai, Kaiso Nobby, Mr Mack, Kinte, Ras Kommanda, Trevor B, and Cyclops. At the end of the show, patrons had mixed reactions about the quality delivered on opening night. "The performances were poor. There were a few exceptions but I think the show was very poor. I don't think they will ever get a crowd like this again for the rest of the season," one said as he exited.
Patrons at Palms Club, San Fernando, enjoy the fare at Kaiso Showkase calypso tent.
