Charles Kong Soo

So­ca star Machel Mon­tano was the fron­trun­ner in the Road March race at Adam Smith Square, up to press time.

Dur­ing yes­ter­day's Pa­rade of Bands at the Wood­brook, Port-of-Spain, judg­ing point, Mon­tano's Wait­ing On The Stage was clear­ly the most pop­u­lar song.

There were more peo­ple on the pave­ment than in the stands along the venue.

When one of the mu­sic trucks of Car­ni­val band Dream Team's pre­sen­ta­tion Mag­ic Car­pet Ride was near the stage, Mon­tano's song was played so loud­ly, how­ev­er, that an an­nounc­er asked the mu­sic truck to low­er the mu­sic be­cause the judges and the peo­ple need­ed to hear the in­for­ma­tion on the band.

For Adam Smith Square on a Mon­day, ac­tion be­gan ear­ly at 10.30 am with Lega­cy's Life is... which was fol­lowed by Ron­nie and Caro's Tears Of... then a lull around 11.45 am and a steady flow of large, medi­um and small bands in­to the af­ter­noon pe­ri­od.

Un­der a hot sun the rev­ellers danced with aban­don as if max­imis­ing their time on­stage in one of the short­est Car­ni­val sea­sons in years as if to ex­tract every ounce of en­joy­ment.

There were Is­land Peo­ple Mas now re­brand­ed as IP Mas with its 2016 pre­sen­ta­tion Pan­theon: Sum­mon the Guardians; Yu­ma's In­dulge In The Sweet Life; D Krewe's Lov­ing The Mas; Roam The Mas band's Kings, Queens and Vagabonds; Show­time Trinidad's Dance War­rior Dance; Veni Friends' Dev­ils and An­gels: To Hell and Back; Frenz N Dem's We Like It So; Shh­hh En­ter­tain­ment & In­dul­gence's Sat­is­fy Your Every In­dul­gence; Just Wee & Friends Cel­e­brat­ing Wee Own; The Bel­mont Jew­els' Con­quest De La Chiq­ui­ta; Star­lift Steel Or­ches­tra's Through The Years; and The Orig­i­nal Jab Jabs.

Last year, Mon­tano cap­tured the Road March ti­tle with Like A Boss; and if he wins this year it will be his eighth ti­tle.