Left: Queen of the dancehall, Lady Saw, was on her best behaviour. Right: The comical and lyrically witty Justice Merchant amusing the crowd, as he sings about US President-elect Barack Obama.

western bureau

The drums kicked loudly, the bass guitar rumbled and the rhythmic sounds of the guitar and keyboard signalled that patrons were in for a night of musical treat at Sav Impact.

Although the grounds of the Llandilo Entertainment Complex in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, remained virtually scanty for the duration of the show on New Year's night, those in attendance were determined that nothing would prevent them from enjoying themselves.

Slated to start at 9 p.m., the promoters delayed the start of the show for an hour. When the Impact Band opened and the musical key synchronised, a different vibe was instantly created.

Low turnout

Some persons outside were concerned that the show might have been cancelled due to the low turnout. However, when the music echoed across the precincts, they started entering to witness the action for themselves.

A number of Westmoreland-based upcoming artistes who christened the stage demonstrated that they had the talent, the professionalism and the lyrical content to move a notch further into musical stardom.

Attempted to arrest him

They included Granson, Edge Michael, the comical Justice Merchant, Vengeance, Iyah Blaze, Whisky Baggio, Timmi Burrell and Ras Slick. The performances were free of foul language for the most part of the show, except for Whisky Baggio.

It even turned uglier when Busy Signal was introduced onstage to do his stint. His performance was punctuated with expletives. Busy was being backed by a soundtrack and about 10 minutes into his set, he was angered when a group of musicians were testing their instruments onstage.

Respect for the law

He reeled off a barrage of profanities in the presence of police officers. At the end of his performance, the police attempted to arrest him but he escaped their dragnet.

Respect was observed for the lawmen when Etana, Queen Ifrica, Coco Tea, Bugle, Stevie Face, the girls group M.B.C, queen of the dancehall, Lady Saw, and Vybz Kartel performed.

Lady Saw and Vybz Kartel made frequent outbursts that they would maintain a clean performance and showed respect for the law. The Westmoreland police said they would be taking steps to have a summons served on Busy Signal.

Etana did not fail to thrill the audience, as she gave a sterling performance.

Singer/DJ Bugle in concert