By TEINO EVANS, Staff ReporterIT WAS NOT just the usual perform and leave the stage type of stage show at Heineken Love Symbol's 'Salute To The Doctor' that was held at the Goshen Sports Complex in St. Elizabeth last Saturday.
The event, which was also celebrating its fourth anniversary, paid homage to 'The Doctor', Beenie Man.
Patrons turned out in their numbers to celebrate the occasion and to get a glimpse of 'The Doctor' in action, but first, they were in for a treat, as the pace was set by an extremely talented line up of artistes.
At approximately 1:30 a.m. the show got on the road after the patrons had been earlier entertained by the juggling of sounds like Black Cat, Exclamation and Bass Odyssey.
Singing Melody took to the stage, not in his usual capacity as entertainer, but played the MC role for most of the night's proceedings. Patrons were in for a treat as they were given some talented young acts.
However, it was not before the wee hours in the morning, that the real big artistes took to the stage. Starting them off was Delly Ranks who did a number of his hit songs including old favourite, Headache.
Not long after, Jah Mason 'blessed the stage' delivering some of his favourites. There were some patrons however who were not satisfied and they impatiently called for him to perform his currently popular, Ma Princess Gone. In response Mason gave a stern warning; "Uno fi know uno self," he said, as he left the stage abruptly. He was then recalled by the promoters, and he did the opening line for the hit song and left.
Patrons however would soon forget all this as Richie Spice took to the stage at 3:30 a.m. He wasted no time in spicing up the vibes as he did It Nuh Pretty, The Highest Grade and Groovin My Girl, songs the patrons all went wild for.
A burst of energy was at this point injected into Spice's set as he brought on 'The Poor People's Defender', Chuck Fender, who delivered raw energy in the form of one of his hit songs. This was followed immediately by a flash of Natural Black chanting 'Yuh nah guh mek it if yuh bad mind.'
Immediately after, before patrons could recuperate, Spice rounded off his set on stage doing Earth A Run Red. It was sheer madness and pandemonium inside the Goshen Sports Complex as patrons could hardly contain their pleasure.
The madness didn't end there, as 'the real bad man,' Ninja Man took to the stage, clad in an army general's attire. He got things started by doing Real Ninja Man and a couple of his 'gun tunes'. The crowd loved the lyrical genius, as he dropped tune after tune while giving his signature poses in between acts.
Unexpected appearance
However, the crowd went haywire, when the doctor made an unexpected appearance on stage at approximately 4:45 a.m. Beenie and Ninja immediately broke into a friendly battle, first, trading on-the-spot lyrics about their recent motor vehicle accidents. The crowd loved it.
"Come wi guh back inna di 80's", Ninja Man requested of Beenie, as both deejays traded tune for tune. Ninja Man did tunes like Mi Long Fi Release while the doctor pulled back hits like Ole Dog.
It was not long after that Beenie placed the friendly battle on a pause and invited Ms. Thing on stage to perform Dude.
After Ms. Thing did her thing, Ninja insisted on continuing his friendly battle with the Doctor, and the two performed for more than three hours in total.
The show ended at some minutes after 6 a.m., and apparently Ninja Man was right when he said "Nobody nah lef yah til a morning."
It was a show well produced and patrons who jam-packed the venue, left feeling satisfied.
