The Tribune

By LESH

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

A LITTLE rain did not dampen the experience for patrons who are calling the recent Guinness Talent Search Concert featuring Reggae stars Sizzla and Tarrus Riley “a classic” one.

Rain began to pour down last Saturday at Club Luna in the midst of the opening act performances done by the talent show finalists. Avatar, the performer on stage, stood his ground and continued performing to the music mix of Deejay Redz while spectators moved from the court yard and into the covered sides of the venue. The weather soon cleared and the concert continued as planned.

Event organiser and promoter Tom “Terrible T” Butler told In Ya Ear  he expected people to enjoy an electrifying performance from both international artists, and they did just that.

“Both of the these guys are headliners and it has been a while since we had both headliners on a show. Usually, each one of them would headline their own show, but we decided to put them together to give people an awesome performance.” Both Sizzla’s and Tarrus Riley’s performance was supported by Dean Frasier and The Black Soil Band.

Mr Butler said Dean Frasier was Sizzla’s official band when he was first starting out in the industry, so this event was seen as a reunion between the two acts.

“ With this show, we took a poll on what people wanted to see. Sizzla was here about three years ago and he had about over 3,000 people show up to see him perform, because they hadn’t seen him in so long. But he said he wished he had done it with a band. And although people enjoyed the performance, they could have gotten a stellar performance with a band,” said Mr Butler.

Tarrus sang a mixture of his greatest hits, including “She’s Royal” to “ Never Leave I,”. Sizzla was no different, as he came on stage as energetic and vibrant as ever. The crowd chanted along with the singer, the sounds of “Words of Divine” and “ Praise Ye Jah”.

“In terms of the majority of people that came out, I think the concert was successful. There was hardly any moving space in the section that I was in. I’ve seen both artists in concert before, so I expected that kind of crowd,” said Stacey Thompson.

Denise Stubbs said: “I like the fact that we got the best of both worlds. The two of them gave us most of all of their songs. It was not no 10 minutes on stage. They spent some time up there giving us what we paid for and I had a great time, my friends and I.”

Akila Johnson said: “I love me some Tarrus and I enjoyed his performance. I am sure I’ve seen him in concert more than 6 times but it never gets old to me. He just keeps getting better and better. As long as he keeps coming to the Bahamas, I am going to keep attending and supporting his concerts.”

In addition to the two chart-topping artists, audience members also saw aspiring Bahamian singers from the final round of Guinness’ talent show. The lucky winner was a duo, Rocsi and Bolo.

Big L of Playhouse Entertainment, the group responsible for the talent search, said: “We came up with the talent search a few years ago as an opportunity to not only give back to the community, but also to display some of the hidden talents around us. As radio and club deejays, so many times upcoming artists bring their CDs to us and the talent is world class. So we wanted to give them a forum to be heard, and also win cash for a jump-start in their dream pursuit.”

He said the turn out for the talent portion could have been a little better, but overall, they were very pleased with the level of talent that was presented last Saturday. “Of course there could only be one winner. Congrats to the winner and all of the finalists, and best wishes moving forward with their talents,” he said.