Patrons in the Socadrome at the Jean Pierre Complex in Port-of-Spain were yesterday treated to almost an entire Carnival experience on one stage.
For the first time since its inception, the Scoadrome was part of the route taken by revellers as they paraded through the nation’s capital on Carnival Tuesday. First to cross the stage yesterday morning was Harts, followed by Bliss, Pure, Yuma and Tribe, who took the stage heading into the afternoon.
Tribe’s “palance” across the stage was led by Machel Montano and Skinny Fabulous, who sang their Road March contender Famalay, followed by Kees Dieffenthellar who performed his contender Savannah Grass.
After the first salvo of bands, Nailah Blackman and Farmer Nappy had patrons jumping out of their seats as they performed their biggest hits, including this year’s favourites such as Blackman’s Iron Love and Nappy’s Hookin’ Meh.
David Rudder and National Carnival Commission’s (NCC) chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters, who was accompanied by Colin Lucas, also performed their nostalgic hits, giving the crowd a tour through time with soca and calypso.
As the artistes belted out their lyrics, patrons were also treated to some “ole mas,” as revellers donned costumes of classical characters such as Baby Dolls, Bats, Dame Lorraines and others.
Immediately following the musical performances, patrons were given a taste of steelpan as the Starlift Junior Steel Orchestra took the stage to render their version of this year’s soca hits, including Iron love.
Speaking during the event, Socadrome organiser Dean Ackin told Guardian Media: “The Socadrome is also a show. You could come here and you can see not only mas and different types of mas but also steelpan and kings, queens, traditional mas. I’m really happy to see that it’s (Socadrome) evolving and it’s evolving in a positive way.” —Rishard Khan