Great performances at Love Jamaica Music and Food Festival
Published:Monday | November 25, 2024 | 12:08 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
It was lots of positive energy and fantastic musical vibrations from both the performers and the selectors at the inaugural Love Jamaica Music and Food Festival last Saturday at the UWI Bowl, Mona, St Andrew. It was a night on which a rising star rose to the occasion following a brief sound outage; an internationally acclaimed star drew for Gregory Isaacs’ Night Nurse in his set, wooing the audience, including the late singer’s widow, June; and Sanchez wore what is arguably the shiniest pair of ‘gentleman’ ever made.
On a line-up that featured both international and homegrown acts of the highest calibre, the fans were the biggest winners. They were treated to more than five hours of musical mastery coupled with top-class performances. On the bill were LUST, the Manhattans, Sanchez, Joe, and Rising Stars winner Akeem Fennell.
Scheduled for a 7 p.m. start time, at 8:15 p.m. the organisers apologised for the late start and quickly ushered Fennell onstage. Lo and behold, five minutes into his performance, mid-song, the sound decided to quit. Like a professional, Fennell urged the audience to sing with him as he finished the song, and then he started singing One Love, in which they joined him enthusiastically. And this was from a crowd who initially, was just polite. After a long five minutes, the sound returned and Fennell completed his job so smoothly, that emcee Debbie Bissoon was tasked with asking him - on behalf of some new fans - about his status.
He exited stage at 8:40 p.m. and four minutes later, the quartet LUST made their appearance, but as a trio, because Thriller U was snowed-in overseas and regrettably could not make it. The camaraderie that is LUST is an added layer to their on-point performances. Fans laughed as Tony Curtis and Singing Melody helped Lukie D out of his too-tight jacket and called him out him about his pants.
“Mi nuh know why your pants so tight,” Singing Melody told him. Lukie D would later get back at the birthday boy Melody when he observed that the singer didn’t want to jump and prance onstage because “Melody look like him don’t want di rhinestone dem drop off him pants.”
But, teasing aside, the music was their focus, starting their hour and 10 minutes-long set with Your Goodness is Running After me and including gems such as You’re the Inspiration, Let it Flow, I Believe I can fly, they also sang “the song that started Tony Curtis in life and put food on his table,” Love Should Brought You Home; and songs such as Shower me With Your Love, “that make a lot of babies in Jamaica”.
At 9:25 pm it was church time and in defence of Jamaica’s much-talked-about over-abundance of churches LUST declared “Mek we full a church till we weak”. A rousing gospel segment with songs such as What a mighty God we Serve, Lead me to the Rock and By the Rivers of Babylon. made way for the ladies time. Lukie D serenaded his mature fans, doing a masterful job on Brook Benton’s Just a Matter of Time. Want you Back for Good signalled the end of their set at 9:50 p.m.
A band change made way for Joe, the singer who Don’t Want to be a player no more, and who closed his set with the hugely popular, I Wanna Know. Giving a taste of why he has been a big name for three decades, Joe performed songs such as Ride wit you, Make it Last Forever, and reggae artiste Gregory Isaacs’ Night Nurse. “Oh ... that’s what it took?” he said to fans noting their enthusiastic response.
“I don’t believe this! Joe is singing Gregory’s song!” an excited June Isaacs shouted.
Joe also gave props to the Dawn Penn single, No no no, as “one of the sexiest tunes ever”. Telling fans that “Joe is here for a good time not a long time” he left the stage, a little less than an hour after his arrival, leaving his diehard fans totally satisfied.
At 11:39, dressed in a black velvet jacket, neatly fitted dress pants, crisp white shirt Kevin ‘Sanchez’ Jackson walked onstage and wasted no time as he reeled off hit after hit. Barely pausing in between songs, Sanchez delivered tunes such as, Never Going to Let you Down, Brown Eyes, Missing You, Lonely, One in a Million, Old Friend, I Care for you, Funny Familiar Forgotten Feeling, Baby can I Hold you Tonight, Rock With me Baby, Brown Eyed Girl, Are you Still in Love With me, Love and Hate Night Nurse, and When the Roll is Called up Yonder.
At 12:17 p.m. Sanchez dedicated part of the show to the ladies, and the predominantly female crowd was more than ready for him. Put on Your Red Dress, My my my, All of me, and So Amazing, were among the numbers and the singer also dropped in Never Dis the man, Praise Him and calmed the crowd with Amazing Grace. By 12:34 Sanchez was saying adieu, but he was called on for an encore and obliged by singing a cappella, You Raised me up.
Super slick choreography, harmonies tighter than Lukie D’s jacket, and rich, familiar sounds were the hallmark of the age-defying group, The Manhattans. Lead singer Gerald Alston shared that he has been coming to Jamaica with the Manhattans since 1973 and that the group is “celebrating 62 years of togetherness”.
Digging into their extensive catalogue of hits, they serenaded with songs such as It Hurt, I’ll Never Find Another Like You, Smile, Sun Will Come out Tomorrow, Dance to a Love Song, Feels so Good to be Loved so Bad, No me Without You and My Shining Star.
“They just don’t make songs like they used to,” Alston said as he sang more of the hits that have endured. And there were many. For example, their biggest song to date, Let’s Just Kiss and say Goodbye, was released in 1976 and still sounded fresh in November 2024 when it appropriately closed a fantastic show.
Promoter Richard ‘Richie D’ Martin, who showed his skills as a great selector, told The Gleaner that he was happy with how the event turned out.
“The performances were truly incredible. It was my goal to create a night where everyone could sing and dance from start to finish. I feel humbled and grateful that we achieved that vision. Although we faced one or two minor hiccups at the start, they were quickly resolved, and the rest of the evening ran seamlessly. We’re excited to announce that this will be an annual event. See you in 2025!” Martin said.