Richie Spice - Contributed
The rain and murky ground wasn't enough to dampen the high spirits of the patrons at All Spice - 'Culture in the hills' in Red Hills, St. Andrew, on Saturday night.
Though the turnout wasn't a large one, no one seemed to mind because they were kept moving by sounds from some of music's most energetic stars. Even the much feared, 'fresh act' section was loved by the patrons.
One artiste, Juice, was almost a replica of Natural Black with his sharp jerks and coarse voice. Natasha, the Red Stripe Big Break winner from Denmark, was also a hit with the crowd. Her style reminiscent of old-school dancehall and Supercat's flow, had the crowd in a frenzy, so much so that this young artiste was called back for an encore!
To get the 'star' section started, Bongo Herman performed a few songs, and went into his drumming after. The crowd, however, was unable to hear the drumming because it was drowned by the sounds of the band.
However, it was Etana, who stole the segment. She and her back-up singers gave a solid soul performance that had the crowd waving, singing and screaming. She opened her set with Killing the youths dem slowly, a sample of Lauren Hill's song and it was an indication of what was to come. She also sang Wrong Address, then decided to take her patrons down memory lane with If you knew (how much I love you) and Dawn Penn's You Don't Love Me.
Etana also did a tribute to Bob Marley, but before she got started, there was no sound coming from her guitar for a few minutes. It almost seemed to threaten her performance, but she simply requested 'Guiti' a member of the band, to hand over his. She then did Redemption Song and closed with Live and Love Life.
Still, no one was prepared for the acts in the next segment. When Beres Hammond hit the stage, there was pandemonium. He gave a medley of his songs including She loves me Now, Step aside Now, Putting up Resistance, Rock away and others which had everyone rocking and those who had them, waving flags.
Spanner Banner followed by Chakka Demus and Pliers gave short performances, though they were not as 'spicey' as many expected. Long timer Coco Tea had the crowd screaming throughout his performance, but when he decided to call up Sizzla - oh boy.
"Come Sizzla a mash we a go mash it up now", he said, and he was right. Patrons who had been sitting before, now flew to the front to get a better view and perhaps scream louder. It was like a game of catch: Sizzla opened with Paise ye Jah then Empress Divine then Coco Tea followed up with a song; Sizzla then did Woman I need you and Give me a try which had the crowd screaming for an encore; sadly that didn't happen.
The spirits of the crowd were elevated once again with the entrance of Pinchers in his long black pin striped suit and felt hat. He teased the crowd from beginning to end. Soon after he opened with Desperate Scenario he ran offstage, leaving the crowd to wonder what had happened. He soon reappeared in a short black jacket and did Enemies (on my borderline) and left with Bandelero.
Chuck Fendah came on and 'gashed' all the evil-doers and those who were against his song and the crowd loved it. Anthony B was also a favourite, especially his line "although me lonely, is a woman me a hold, naw push me h—d inna no b—-hole."
Some minutes after 5 am, the time had finally come to hear Richie Spice. He built up the anticipation by doing Streets getting Hot off stage, then when he made his appearance, did an energetic Earth a run Red. He soon asked the 'fire man' Capleton to join him onstage and nothing could hold the crowd back. There was even a torch being lit from someone's home in the hillside at the sound of Capleton's voice. Again there was a to and fro set; after Richie Spice did Ghetto Girl, Capleton chipped in with Tun it up, Consuming and She want it hard.
When it was time for Richie Spice again though, the police were already on stage asking for the show to be stopped. He therefore thanked the people for coming out as Capleton did another song while exiting the stage. For those who attended, they will admit that there was a lot of spice that went a long way.
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