Bunji and Fay Ann, and every performer who came before them launched onto the Hard Fete stage at Sound Forge as if given one instruction: "Mash the X and stop for nothing." There was no lull, no lapses in energy, and no way you didn’t hit at least half of your daily step goal before 2 a.m.
From GBM Nutron’s opener just after 10 pm to Pumpa, Iwer George and Voice, each performer brought more energy than the last.
But it was Shurwayne Winchester—who, unfortunately, has not been given his well-deserved respect recently—who reminded the crowd (jumping off the stage, and joining them) why he is a back-to-back Road March champion and one of the best to ever do it.
"Everything Shurwayne Winchester doing with that crowd right now is what HARD FETE was brought for. Time to fete like licensing fete. #HARDFETE," Bunji tweeted from backstage.
For years, Bunji Garlin has longed for the nostalgia of fetes gone by—where patrons, free from the burden of spying cell phone screens and social media, could fully experience the euphoria of the music; where flag crews helped you find your friends in the massive crowds. But as the all-inclusive continues to reign, Bunji, like Thanos, grabbed the gauntlet and said, "Fine, I'll do it myself."
It all started with a tweet featuring the event’s poster on 29 January: "Yuh know what? F%#^ it! Details later today." He gave the audience a strict dress code: short pants, T-shirts, and sneakers. They showed up and showed out.
Soca’s power couple took their own advice. At a time when men perform in elaborate suits and women in the skimpiest outfits, Bunji and Fay Ann looked most comfortable in matching black oversized Hard Fete T-shirts.
At one point, Fay Ann stopped to take it all in and told the crowd that the comments on the live stream were amazed—no one was on their phones.
But they didn’t come to record a show. They didn’t come to see a show. They came to be the show.
Clearly from an era where if you stood in the crowd, you either moved or you were moved, the audience wanted to give Bunji and Fay Ann as much of a performance as they were receiving.
If either dropped the microphone, the crowd finished the lyrics for them—unlocking words long thought forgotten from the late '90s and early 2000s.
If it is the wish of the Alvarez family, Hard Fete may have cemented its place in the Carnival Calendar, as long as the crowd can keep up.
