Last Saturday night, the Fairmont Southampton Princess played host to a very special inaugural event: the Premier?s Command Performance.

This event was designed to pay tribute to four of Bermuda?s most decorated entertainers; four men who have paid more dues on the local entertainment scene than a schizophrenic union member.

Ghandi Burgess, Gene Steede, George Smith, and Freeman (King) Trott were honoured for their massive individual contributions to the development of Bermuda?s entertainment industry, and their continued service to the local community.

The Progressive Labour Party was the official honouring body, making this event a kind of national recognition of the immense contributions that these four men have made over their respective careers (which constitute well over 200 collective years of entertaining us).

The vision is to make this event an annual affair; an evening that will become a high water mark on the local entertainment scene.

Premier Alex Scott has described this event as something akin to the Queen?s Honours in the United Kingdom; an event with all the prestige, pomp and circumstance befitting the recognition of a national treasure.

The inaugural event recognised four national treasures, so I?m sure you can imagine the pageantry involved.

And speaking of pageantry, the festivities opened with a grand entrance by The Premier and Mrs. Scott, followed closely by a procession of VIPs that included local dignitaries and honourees.

The capacity audience stood in reverence for the entering dignitaries, and remained standing while they took their positions on the raised seating platform.

Then the incomparable (and incorrigible) Gene Steede was announced as the MC for the evening. Steede was on song from the start, inducing hysterical laughter with extreme ease every time he touched the microphone. The local acts were quite good as well.

Stevie Darrell was the first act to bless the stage. He delivered a solid performance that included an outstanding rendition of the Sam Cooke classic ?Change Gon? Come? and a less-than-spectacular a cappella encore of ?Oh Danny Boy?.

Darrell received a well deserved standing ovation for his initial offering, but sounded overextended during the encore.

The audience was gracious though, and only a very cruel writer would describe this performance as anything less than excellent. Wanda Ray Willis (a.k.a. Wanda Raynor) was next to perform.

She delivered two pieces with style and flair to spare. The standard ?I Got Love On My Mind? was first, followed by an original piece called ?Why Do The Children Have To Cry,? which was very well received.

The rejuvenated Spellbound rounded out the local crooner portion of the show, delivering a thoroughly satisfying set.

They opened with the bouncy ?Backstabbers? and moved through ?Love Train,? and the beautiful ?La-la-la (Means I Love You)? before closing with the fabulous ?Didn?t I Blow You?re Mind?.

The ovation was emphatic, and fully deserved as well! After a short intermission, the Premiere took the stage to acknowledge the evening?s honourees.

Each of the four veteran entertainers was brought to the stage with a comprehensive pre-recorded introduction, presented a quite handsome framed certificate and a medal, and seated before the massive crowd, which showered them with adulation.

Freeman (King) Trott was the first man honoured, followed by George Smith (who was represented by his daughter), then Ghandi Burgess (also represented by his daughter), and finally, Gene Steede. The scene was magnificent.

After the official tribute, there was a performance by the Two Fools (Nadanja Bailey and Jah Simmons) featuring Miss Tina.

The guys put on a superstar clash featuring Michael Jackson (Bailey) and James Brown (Simmons), which won the crowd over almost immediately, and drew massive laughs from them throughout.

By now the capacity crowd was already satisfied, and had the show ended here, I don?t think there would have been too many complaints.

The show did not end here though, for the headliners were still to come. And when they did take the stage at sometime around 11.30 p.m., they delivered a show that few will ever forget.

The Stylistics were awesome! They performed classic after classic after classic, and by the end of the night, lovers were dancing in the aisles to the smooth voice of Russell Tompkins Jr. and the New Stylistics.

I have to admit, however, that I was somewhat distracted by the sleeping beauty at table 17 during portions of this performance, but that?s what the Stylistics? music is all about anyway isn?t it?

Pieces like the charming ?Stop, Look, Listen,? the sweet ?Stone In Love With You,? the stunning ?Betcha By Golly Wow!? the sentimental ?Break Up To Make Up,? and the heart wrenching ?It?s Too Late? went a long way towards raising the romance meter to red hot on Saturday night.

This generous, and decidedly brilliant set ended at something to one, but before the end, we were all pampered with splendid renditions of ?You Are Everything,? ?People Make The World Go ?Round,? and the marvellous encore, ?You make Me Feel brand New?.

By all accounts, this was an outstanding night. The good people at Treble Clef Productions, Yoshi, Spanish Town, and Electronic Services put a lot of work into making this event as glorious as it deserved to be, and they should all be congratulated for a job well done. Congrats guys!

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