Headline performances at Speyside Jazz on Sunday from Jamaican reggae artists Richie Spice and Everton Blender saw hundreds in the audience shake off their worries, stress and heavy hearts caused by an absence of the event over the last 3 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Day 3 of the Tobago Jazz Experience’s cultural calendar took festival goers east of the island at the Speyside recreational ground for an outdoor experience that rumbled with excitement along the coastal village.
Shortly after 4pm decked off festival goers began shuffling into venue with the aroma from food booths traveling through the open air, they told Guardian Media that they were elated and excited for the return of the event.
Longtime fan Lennox Bacchus said, “I have been attending the Speyside Jazz from the inception and I’m just looking forward to good music. It is really a welcoming feeling to be back, it was missed.”
Percy Luces and his friends, have been at several Tobago Jazz Experience events since it kicked off on Thursday .Luces said he was overjoyed to be back.
“We follow jazz and it’s been a long time I haven’t been to Tobago and we were told we had to be here for the return, we were at the gospel, it was really good and entertaining Seafood Jazz at Buccoo was also really great, I rate the festival as very good so far,” he said.
Both seated and standing members of the audience quickly settled for the music under a cool Speyside sky which was kicked off by smooth performance from Charlotteville native Franz Job.
As the evening progressed the audience was entertained with a mix from other crooning artistes and high energy ones including Benjai, KMC, Sekon Sta as well as a lively, lusty and rekindled collaboration between veteran Soca Monarchs Ronnie McIntosh and Superblue. The soca legends not only had the crowd rocking but also journeying down memory lane as they belted out some of their early hits.
Reggae artist Everton Blender known for his smooth tenor vocals received a huge roar from the audience when he took to the stage shortly after 10:30pm. The singer delivered his hits such as “Lift up your head” and “Ghetto people song” along with other tracks before a crowd that had risen to their feet to sing along with the 68-year-old. During his performance, Blender paused several times to “Big up” Tobago and Speyside. During his nearly 45 minute time in stage, the singer known for his spiritually themed lyrics prompted responses from the crowd when he would end a song by saluting “Jah”.
Jamaican Artiste Richie Spice commanded the audience until the end of what was an exciting evening.
Other performances included Tobagonian Franz Job, followed by Anomaly who gave way to violinist Carylle Warner. The soca started flowing when KMC hit the stage, he was followed by vocalist Keisha Taylor and Tony Williams. Benjai then took control of the stage and gave an outstanding performance as usual.
Speyside’s very own Gada Knight took the tone down with some conscious lyrics before he made way for the big socal band Brass 2 the World that featured the talents of vocalists Ronnie Mc Intosh, Super Blue, Kyle Cowie and Amrika Mutroo. Following what could be a spectacular performance by Brass 2 The world was none other than the Sekon Sta who made way for the Jamaican artistes.
